Clay Horner is bucking the trend by doubling down
The longtime owner/breeder has recently increased
his investment in harness racing.
by Murray Brown
Normally my interviews take somewhere from 30-60 minutes. When I got off the phone with old friend Clay Horner on Tuesday morning, we had been on for over 140 minutes – that’s well over two hours. Over two hours and I felt we could have probably gone on for another two and still not come close to covering everything. But when you are speaking with someone as well versed in this game of life as Horner, two hours might just touch the surface. Then again, it might not even reach that level.
What did we speak about? To begin with horse racing – both of the thoroughbred and harness variety. We then segued to kids and grandkids – how today’s youth are so much smarter than we are and were. Yet, they face so many more challenges than we did. We also discussed the old guy’s refrain about how our youth was so much more enjoyable than what is faced by young people today.
But this is a harness racing column, so let’s focus on that subject and Horner’s status in it today.
At a time when most people in the game are in effect pulling in their horns so to speak and some are just leaving it entirely, you are expanding both your interest in the sport and your investment in it. Even though you’ve been in it fairly continuously since your youth, its only in the last couple of years that you’ve spread your wings in becoming significantly more involved in both breeding and racing. Why?
“There are several answers to that question. I suppose answer number 1 would be that the bulk of my time for the previous 40 years had been devoted to the practice of law. To be a successful lawyer, as I suppose it applies to most professions, you must in effect become its slave. A good part of your life becomes enmeshed in it.
“After 40 years, I decided that I had enough. There were other venues available for me to explore and with which to become involved.
“It’s not only harness racing that has picked up the void created by my leaving the legal profession. My typical day might be divided thusly: Three hours devoted to investments. Two hours to the study of pedigrees, almost all to standardbreds, but a small amount to thoroughbreds and the happenings in our sister sport. That includes a daily perusal of the various websites involving both sports and discussions with people involved with them. An hour, sometimes more, involving working with charitable boards and organizations with which I am involved. At times, I’m involved in mentoring people in the legal profession and out of it, reaching down to my experience in several facets of it.
“In all of these areas I’ve been immensely aided by the advances in artificial intelligence available to those who have the desire to learn from them. This is especially so in the study of standardbred pedigrees.
“In all of these pursuits, relationships with people play a very significant role. Although there are undoubtedly those who might disagree, I consider myself to be at heart a people person. A good part of my involvement in harness racing is based on my mission to get more people involved in our great sport and to have them reap the many pleasures involved in having them do so.”
Let’s speak specifically to your standardbred involvement. In slightly more than a year, your horse numbers have more than doubled from 13 to 27. That number includes 2-year-olds in training, broodmares, yearlings, and newly born foals. Where are you going with these numbers? Will they increase? In a business, where many look upon it as being moribund, you are increasing your involvement to a number previously unmatched in all your years of having been involved. How are the various parts of your horse holdings made up?
“To answer your first question, they will almost certainly increase. Although I really don’t know by how much.
“In terms of broodmares, I am focused on those descending from great matriarchs who in turn have established their own significant branches of great families. Although Cabrini Hanover may not have quite yet reached that status, I look upon her as being, at least in my mind, a sure thing towards getting there. My breeding portfolio includes her daughters, granddaughters, and will include two or more of her great granddaughters.
“All of the horses which I pay bills on are owned by partnerships. They include:
• Seven 2-year-olds in training, five with Tony O’Sullivan and one each with Blair Burgess and Linda Toscano.
• My 12 broodmares are booked to Bulldog Hanover (two), Captaintreacherous (one), Cattlewash (three), Confederate (four), Legendary Hanover (one), and Papi Rob Hanover
(one).
• We have 2026 foals by Bettor’s Wish, Cattlewash, and Confederate.
• We also own 24-year-old Cabrini Hanover who looks great at 24 and is living out a well-deserved retirement at Seelster Farms.”
With having that large and growing number of horses, one might ask why haven’t you started your own farm?
“I really haven’t given it that much thought. I suppose that if I were 20 years younger than my present 66, I might.
“If I would put pen to paper, I think I’d find more reasons to not do so than to go in that direction.
“If one were building a new farm today, the logical place to start would be in Kentucky. The most important reason for doing that would be the Kentucky residency program which has been a bright star with what some see as a renaissance of standardbred breeding.
“Starting a new farm calls for a great deal of capital investment. At my age, am I prepared to make that significant a long-term investment?
“Another question might be who would I get to run it. My horses are presently in the hands of Steve and Cindy Stewart at their beautiful Hunterton Farms. Why would I be so presumptuous to think that I could possibly match or even improve upon their knowledge and proven stewardship.
“Steve and Cindy have proven to be great sources of advice. They bring timely and substantive communication to our relationship. Of at least equal importance, they have become great friends.
“Another reason might be that I am Canadian. I don’t live in the States. A foreign investment in the United States today might include some unforeseen problems especially in these sometimes-troublesome days.”
Speaking of all your horses. I notice that you have only pacers. Not a single trotter among them. Why?
“There are probably a few reasons. I was raised with pacers. The vast majority of the horses with which I’ve been associated were pacers. That’s certainly not to say that I have any sort of antipathy towards trotters. Through the years, I’ve actually owned a few of them – with no success. The natural tendency is to go in the direction in which you’ve been successful and maybe to steer away from where you haven’t done well. That’s not to say that if the right situation came to pass and that if the stars were properly aligned, maybe? If the chance to own a trotter presented itself and I liked the situation, I would likely avail myself of the opportunity.”
It might be argued that in just a handful of years in being involved in the thoroughbred business, you have reaped earlier and more success than in your 40-year involvement with standardbreds.
“I suppose you could make that argument and that there are a couple of factors which might support it. However as with most areas of life, the answers rest with the minutiae. With the [thoroughbreds], we got very lucky in two ways. The first and most fortuitous was that we placed our fate in the hands of one of the greatest horsemen, Donato Lanni, with whom it has been our fortune with which to have been involved. If one were looking for the ideal bloodstock agent, one would certainly choose Donato Lanni. He brings together a great combination of horse knowledge, the ability to plan, either for the short or long term and the great ability to work with those people for and with who he works. I look back and think of how lucky we are to have become associated with a person whose advice and ability is also counted upon by many leaders in the thoroughbred business.
“The second most important factor is luck. Luck, in that Donato chose to work with a group of Canadians who in effect, relative to his ordinately successful present clients were prepared to just be dipping their toe into a market where he had among his clients the great thoroughbred trainer Bob Baffert and such world-wide personages as George Soros and numerous others. Luck, in that with a relatively limited bankroll, he chose a filly named Moira from among the thousands of blue-blooded fillies he might have otherwise chosen and some of which he actually picked.”
We’ll close on your telling us how your thoroughbred group X-Men came into being and its success story.
“The X Men group was formed in 2020. The first group consisted of 12 of us each putting up $150,000, plus existing Donato Lanni clients George Soros and Mandake who invested $500,000. Among the group were several standardbred people including myself, David Anderson, John Fielding, Robert Leblanc, Daniel Plouffe, and Robbie Pryde. We put Donato Lanni in charge. We decided to concentrate on reasonably well-bred fillies that Donato liked. We knew we couldn’t afford the top of the colt market or even a step or two below that. That’s not to say that we could compete for the top pedigreed fillies. Most of them were well beyond our price range. Donato knew how much we had to spend. He determined how and where the money would be spent. Wouldn’t you know, we struck gold right from the beginning. One of the fillies that Donato bought for us was named Moira. To say that she turned out well would be a vast understatement. We bought her for $150,000. She went out and earned three million. She won several graded stakes included the Queens Plate and the Breeders Cup. We then sold her for $4,300,000. She was bought by Australian breeding powerhouse Yulong Investments.
“Through the years the X Men Group has transitioned in several ways, including budget, its members, and in some cases varying investments. We get a weekly update on how each one is training and a timely report on its health. Thus, we are kept apprised as to how our horses are doing on a timely basis.
“The present group of, 2-year-olds, X Men Group Number Six consists of 21 fillies and one colt. Donato bought the colt for get this – $6,000. We asked him, why a colt, and why that colt? He said the colt that he bought last fall was not the colt that he believed it would become. So far, he is right on the money. He appears to be one of the most precocious colts in training at [Woodbine]. He has grown into a strong, robust individual as Donato believed he would become. Like the New York Lottery guy says – “You never know.”
