Jerry Antonacci on forging alliances that led to the Breeders Crown returning to The Red Mile
by Dave Briggs
In a conference room at the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion in Kentucky, Jerry Antonacci sits at the head of his family’s table minutes after watching another of his Lindy Farms yearlings sell at the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale via the large television on the wall.
Family means everything to the Antonaccis, so it’s not surprising that seated around the table is Antonacci’s brother and business partner in their many equine and business interests, Frank “The Elder’ Antonacci, as well as Jerry’s son, Guy Antonacci, and The Elder’s son, Frank M. Antonacci.
The day prior was a big one for the family, part owners of both the sales company and The Red Mile racetrack in downtown Lexington. At a Red Mile board meeting on Monday (Sept. 29), Jerry and The Elder, along with their fellow track owners Joe Thomson of Winbak Farm and George Segal of Brittany Farms, voted to bring the Breeders Crown back to Kentucky for 2027.
The group has owned the famed racetrack for some 25 years and Jerry said, for much of that time, it hasn’t been easy.
“We lost a lot of money a lot of years,” Jerry said. “[My partners] had a lot of fortitude… They saved this track for harness racing.”
“Probably up to year 20, it was really hard,” The Elder said. “Truthfully, one of the reasons why the Breeders Crown is coming back is because this sales company helped us carry the burden half the years.”
Even that part wasn’t easy. The owners of The Red Mile also own the Tattersalls Sales Company which, for years, was in fierce competition with the Kentucky Standardbred Yearling Sale. In 2005, Tattersalls and the Kentucky Standardbred joined forces to create the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale. The growth of that sale has been phenomenal. This past week, the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale grossed more than $60 million for the fourth straight year — more than double what the sale grossed 10 years ago.
“It wasn’t easy for our ownership to have a new partnership that we were competitors with for years,” The Elder said. “It took us a while, but we got together I give [co-sales manager] David [Reid] and [the late] Randy [Manges] a lot of credit. David navigated it for 20 years, and it wasn’t easy. It wasn’t that easy for Randy, either, but they got it done.”
In 2015, another partnership – this time with the powerful thoroughbred interests that operate the Keeneland racetrack and sales company – built another important stretch of road to the Breeders Crown.
The Elder said The Red Mile’s president/CEO Joe Costa, along with chief financial officer Shannon Cobb, were essential to making a deal with Keeneland to operate the gambling hall at The Red Mile in partnership. Reid agreed.
“No one wants to give Joe Costa credit, but if it wasn’t for Joe Costa, the machines wouldn’t be here in Kentucky,” said Reid. “Then he went and negotiated with Keeneland, the powerhouse in this… and came away with a 50/50, partnership. Look what that’s done for the sires stakes program, the residency program. That’s Joe Costa.”
Reid said Jerry hasn’t received enough recognition for his role, either. Beyond owning part of the sales company and The Red Mile, Jerry and The Elder also share ownership of Lindy Farms, the family waste disposal business USA Waste & Recycling, the GreatHorse golf course in Massachusetts and the Sonny’s Place entertainment center in Somers, CT where Lindy is located.
“The [Lindy Farms] training center is at Jerry’s house,” The Elder told HRU in 2023. “He’s not as visible as I am [in the horse business], but we own the family garbage business and really run the family horse business and golf business [together]. All those things are just different family enterprises. Again, the sum is much greater than all the parts. That’s the attitude we have for all of this.”
As for bringing the Breeders Crown back to The Red Mile — the home of the very first Breeders Crown event in 1984 — it is just another step in the rebuilding of the standardbred industry in the Commonwealth.
The Elder said the reason the series is returning to Lexington is simple. The Red Mile is, “a breeders’ racetrack… it’s owned by breeders.”
Also, he said Kentucky, “is the horse capital of the word… and the state was fortunate enough to give us the money for the purse account to run the races, which means they want us to run the races… The state has given the horsemen the exclusive right to have those machines here. It’s the horsemen and the racetrack’s obligation to host the [Crown]. It wasn’t really a hard thing for us all to decide.”
It’s been no secret in recent years that The Red Mile has been flirting with bringing the Breeders Crown back to Lexington.
“The horsemen come here every year and spend a load of money on these horses, and we have to have a venue for them to race at,” The Elder said.
Jerry said part of the plan from the beginning was to have horsemen move to Kentucky, buy houses and horses and train there all winter.
As for the facilities at The Red Mile, The Elder said the plan is to build a hotel at the track.
“I’m not sure if it’s going to be done by 2027, but it’s probably going to happen,” The Elder said. “I think that’s part of the whole thing, that when the state gives you the exclusivity they expect you to grow tourism, the business and everything else… We’re going to start, little by little, improving the backstretch every year a little bit.”
