Anthony MacDonald says his wife Amy helps keep TheStable stable
by Murray Brown
I last wrote about Anthony MacDonaldon May 14, 2023. At that time TheStable.ca was about to embark on its most successful racing year ever. Each year that the enterprise has been in business has seen an improvement in its racing fortunes over those of the previous year.
As this column is being formulated, it brings to mind the great Frank Sinatra/Count Basie song The Best is Yet To Come or another great hit, You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet.
We are just in early July and it appears as though TheStable’s group of 2-year-olds are by a considerable distance, its greatest group ever. As of this past Wednesday (July 1), they number the homebred Lou Armstrong, a strong favorite for last night’s $150,000 Next Generations colt trot at Scioto and Dublins Ferani an entrant in the $150,000 filly event of the Next Generations; Atomix Hanover a winner in 1.52.3f in an overnight at The Meadows last Saturday, two strong candidates in the first legs of The Kindergarten Series at The Meadowlands, the trotting colt Super Way and the trotting filly Exquis, Dame Hanover, a good second in the Stallion Series on Wednesday, plus numerous other 2-year-olds, now beginning or about to begin their racing careers.
These, plus significant entrants in races in just about every jurisdiction where breeding incentive races take place. This year’s crop of freshmen includes eligibles in Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, and Ontario.
We last discussed TheStable back in May of 2023 what has changed since then?
“In terms of actual change, not all that much. Our people are pretty much the same. Of course, we still have my wife Amy and I overseeing it all.
“In Ohio, where the greatest part of the operation is situated, Jason McGinnis is the main man. Jason will also be going to supervise in New York and New Jersey, where Amy is currently holding down the fort.
“Back in 2023, we were still headquartered in Ontario.
“In Ontario, Dominick Gladu and Harry Poulton are still our two main trainers, with my baby brother James as our ‘dollar a year’ man.
“Tim Twaddle remains our person in charge in Pennsylvania.
“Cathy and Eric Patalan run things for us in Kentucky.
“I kind of float around driving the horses where I feel I can be useful and in situations where I can’t be there, making use of the best drivers available.
“Before I go any further, I believe I need to make note of Amy’s importance to the organization. In short, she is the rock and the foundation of TheStable.ca.
“People sometimes ask me ‘How do you do it? How do you manage 100 or more horses?’ The simple answer is, I don’t. Much more than me, its Amy who does. When we were first beginning, it was Amy who urged me to risk everything to embark on the dream that we both shared.
“In addition to being the best wife and mother to our three kids, her involvement in TheStable is always as big as necessity asks it to be. An example is this week’s Kindergarten races at The Meadowlands. She drove to New Jersey with the horses and took and supervised Super Way and Exquis there…
“She will oversee all of the horses we race in the upcoming New York Sires Stakes, plus anything else that might come up where she can be of help.
“Regarding our clients, we have somewhere around 900 fractional owners from 15 different countries involved. A majority of those have been with us from at or near the beginning. Most of our losses as far as owners are concerned have sadly been due to death. I look upon our operation as a big family. We delight together in all our successes and we also share in the disappointments.”
From the outside looking in, it seems to me that in terms of your yearling shopping you have raised your level of involvement. It seems that you are more inclined to go for that home run horse at a sometimes-higher price rather than looking for that diamond in the rough at a more manageable number. Is that the case?
“Yes and no. In instances where we spend more than we
have done in the past, it is because our financial status has allowed us to do so. Even in our formative years, we would step out at a significant price if we felt the horse in
question was a good buy and good value for what we were spending. Of course, in all cases, we needed to have the means to pay for what we were buying. In every situation, our guiding motivation is value. We probably bid on more than a hundred yearlings each in Lexington and Harrisburg. I’d guess that
we probably end up buying 10 per cent or less of what we bid on.
“This past year, we bought three Day 1 Yearlings in Lexington and four at Harrisburg. All seven of those horses have already or are soon to have raced. At least three of them are now what I consider to be stakes horses.
“I like to think that we have improved the quality of our shopping. When we first embarked on this voyage, neither Amy nor I had a whole lot of experience in buying or training yearlings. As with most encounters in life, we have learned from experience. I’d like to believe that we are better shoppers than we were before. Are we perfect? Far from it. Is there a perfect shopper? I don’t believe so. If there is, I haven’t yet met him.”
In addition to your strong group of 2-year-olds and your always good group of overnight horses, it appears as though you have one of the very best 3-year-old trotters in the country.
“We bought Jailbird Jog in Lexington in 2023. We gave $52,000 for her. That’s more than our average price for a yearling. We looked at her and immediately liked her. She is one of those hybrids combining trotting and pacing blood that have had a great deal of success in recent years.
“In her case, she is by Tactical Landing, a sire who we like a lot and with who we have had lots of success and out of an unraced SJ’s Caviar mare who is a full sister to the great European champion Don Fanucci Zet.
“Where the pacing blood comes in is that her dam, Miss Don Fanucci is out of another unraced mare, this one by the pacer Western Terror.
“From that point on, the family is one entirely of pacers.
“She was a lovely filly and she trotted well in her video. So, we took a shot.
“She was a very good 2-year-old. We only raced her six times. She won three of them, took a record of 1.51.4 and earned $182,500. Thus far this year, she has already won the Oak Grove Oaks and has earned over $100,000. If all goes well, we are looking forward to starting her in this year’s Hambletonian Oaks.”
In addition to managing a stable of over 100 horses, you and Amy are the parents of three precocious youngsters, Ava 15, Oliver 12, and Adeline 7. How do you manage to get enough time to give all that is needed to do justice to your parental duties and the needs of your large stable?
“It’s not always easy, but we have found, for our family, the best method has been to combine the two responsibilities and in various areas to compartmentalize them. I’d like to think that we never shirk our responsibilities in either, but in the very few, if any, times where push comes to shove, that we act in a manner, where the needs of our kids become foremost.
“This week Amy is in New York and New Jersey and I’ve been racing horses in Ohio and Pennsylvania. I drive between Northfield, The Meadows, and the fairs. When I’m driving, the kids are usually in the car with me. If I’m on the road, Amy has the kids with her. Oliver is a pretty good baseball player. I try to get to most of his games. Last Friday evening was an open racing night for me, so the family took in a Guardians game in Cleveland. On Monday I was racing at the Marion Fair and the kids came along and enjoyed the fun, both at the fair and the racing.”
