by Murray Brown

Sylvia Hanover, the No. 1 horse in the Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown poll is owned by Hudson Standardbreds, the nom de guerre for the husband-and-wife team of Tony and Betty Infilise. Tony has been involved as an owner in the business since 1980. Although Betty has always been at his side, it is only in recent years when she has taken a hand and a significant interest in being involved in the stable. “That’s when the stable evolved from a perennial loser to a money maker,” Tony said. Tony and I had a conversation on the eve of Sylvia Hanover’s victory in the Shady Daisy on Hambletonian Day at The Meadowlands.

You’ve been involved in horse ownership for roughly 40 years now. Where and how did it begin?

“I had gone to the races as a fan and a bettor at Richelieu Park and Blue Bonnets in Montreal. I liked it, but really hadn’t thought anything about becoming involved as an owner. Although we are both native Montrealers, Betty and I were living in Toronto where we were working towards building our fledgling company Quadra Chemicals. We had some associates who owned horses. It seemed like fun. I thought I’d give it a try. Now here I am, hundreds of horses later.

How many horses do you own now?

“All told, I would say about 50. That would include 10 broodmares, their foals, seven yearlings, and the rest are racehorses that we either own ourselves or in part.”

Are all your racehorses in the Steacy Stable?

“They are right now, but I have also had horses with Dustin Jones, Dr. Ian Moore, Marcel Barrieau, Ben Wallace and others.”

How did the association with the Steacy family come about?

“They represent two things that I value quite highly: integrity and family. Of course, their record in racing horses was also excellent. Mark has been in the game for a long time without a single blemish on his record. He is well regarded throughout the business as being a very thorough and capable horseman. I approached him with a view towards having him train some horses for us. He agreed. That was in 2008 and we are still together. It has been a very satisfying relationship. I cannot recall a single cross word ever having been spoken between the two of us.”

You’ve had some good horses before Sylvia Hanover. Has she been the best one?

“The short answer is likely yes. But her book is far from having been completely written. Perhaps we can speak of her a little later. The first really good one, by really good, I mean Grand Circuit quality, was a horse we bred ourselves named Shanghai Phil (p.1.50.2, $545,630). He was a real good 2-year-old, who I believe was destined to become better than he ultimately became but illness prevented him reaching his true potential. Shanghai Phil has stood stud in Ontario and has been what might be described as a good poor man’s sire. The next top one that we had was Sunshine Beach (p.1.47.4f, $971,037). We bought him as a yearling at Harrisburg for $85,000. I suppose one might say that he was the first yearling we really stepped out on. He was close to being a great horse. He might have actually been one, but he had the misfortune of having been born the same year as Captaintreacherous. Then came Sylvia Hanover. Other than being a great filly, Sylvia is far from an ordinary one. She is exceptional in a variety of ways.”

How did you come to own her?

“We were looking to buy top quality fillies. Sylvia fit well in that profile. I had always been a great admirer of her sire Always B Miki. He was making waves with his first performers on the racetrack. She came from a great family. She was a sister to a millionaire in Western Fame. I wasn’t at the sale, but Mark and Shawn Steacy loved her as an individual. She was big and strong and was without any faults. We thought we would go up to $125,000 on her. I was on the phone with Mark Steacy who was doing the in-house bidding. We bid $125,000. Another person who I later found was Chris Ryder went to $130,000. ‘Let’s try once more,’ Mark said. We did and bought her for $135,000. We took her home and all winter Mark said she was fine, but was also somewhat lazy. Even then, she was showing that she had a mind of her own.”

When did you get an inkling that she might be something special?

“Certainly not early in her racing career. James MacDonald drove her in her first baby race. Even though she won, he apparently wasn’t overly impressed with her. Neither were we. We thought that we had a nice filly. We knew she had talent, but really didn’t dare to think she might be very good until the [Whenuwishuponastar] where, excuse the pun, she really began to shine. James booked off her for her next start and that is when we retained Bob McClure. Bob has been with her ever since. In all his modesty Bob has said that when he sits behind her she becomes the boss. She gets better with every start. She does just what she has to do. In her last two starts I was worried about the ground she had to make up. But she just does her thing and continues to win.”

You raised the stakes last year. You went to the sales and bought a filly for $275,000.

“We’ve been trying to buy a top bred yearling trotting filly for a few years now. The prices have been out of our price range. We went to the sales last year more determined than previously. If those were the prices that the market dictated, then so be it. If we found the right filly, we would meet the price. This time we brought in a couple of partners, Nancy and Ozzie Malik and the Landmark group to share the risk. We bought the Walner half-sister to Cool Papa Bell for $275,000, the most, by far that we’ve paid for a yearling. The filly’s name is Cool Ma Belle. She won at Mohawk [Thursday] night in 1.57.2, last quarter in :27.3. We also have a 3-year-old Captaintreacherous filly, Front Page Story, who is in the same race as Sylvia on Saturday. The Steacy’s think quite highly of her. She has already won in 1.49.4 and is getting better with every start.”

You are a successful owner and breeder, but haven’t you also been involved in racetrack management?

“Not really. I was initially involved in the formation of the Quebec Jockey Club which runs the meet at the Trois Rivieres racetrack. It’s a small meet which is doing reasonably well despite serious obstacles presented by the politics of the government of the province of Quebec. The major tragedy is that there is not a harness track in Montreal. Here we have a place which at one time was the leading harness center in all of Canada.

“The property of the former Blue Bonnets which is worth millions upon millions has been lying dormant for 14 years now. It’s certainly not because people from Quebec are not involved in the sport. Just look at the training, driving and ownership of the horses racing at Mohawk now. Names like Filion, Roy, Moreau, Tourigny, Baillargeon, Jones, Zeron and others race, drive and own horses that could be racing in Montreal. It’s a darned shame. I’m not smart enough to come up with a solution and sell it to the politicians. But there has to be someone who can seize and build upon an opportunity that a racetrack in Montreal would present.”