Her TURN at the Homestretch Women and Racing Syndicates

WRITTEN BY L.A. SOKOLOWSKI PHOTOS PROVIDED (UNLESS NOTED)

The year was 1904; The New York City subway system opened, Teddy Roosevelt won the presidential election, and a bay colt named

Elwood won the 30th Kentucky Derby by a nose.

Dubbed the “Missouri Mule,” Elwood had barely risen from the claimers before heading to Louisville, where (at 15-1 odds) he delivered one of the biggest upsets in then-Derby history on a fast track against trainer John Fay and Henry Wehmhoff’s favorite, Proceeds. But the rustle of jockey Frank Pryor’s silks in that winner’s circle were no match for the swoosh of Edwardian taffeta as racing history was further written, for Elwood was the first Kentucky Derby starter — and champion — bred, owned, and trained by women.

Elwood was bred and trained by Emma Holt Prather (Mrs. J.B. Prather) at Faustiana Horse Farm in Maryville, Missouri, and owned by Lasca (or Laska) Durnell. Durnell shrewdly entered the horse that her husband, Charles Elwood Durnell of Burlingame Stables, gifted her three years earlier as a wedding present.

Without telling him.

And just like that, women’s racehorse ownership was off and running.

Syndication 101

What is a racehorse syndicate?

Equine Legal Solutions, PC, a well-reviewed equine law firm licensed to practice in California, New York, Oregon and Washington, states that syndicates historically have been formed to finance the cost of racehorse ownership and to spread business risk among multiple investors.

ELS points to Sackatoga Stable: 10 friends who pooled their resources to buy a promising two-year-old Thoroughbred named Funny Cide, who went on to win the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. Each of the members had invested $5,000 to buy their first racehorse and after some initial success, added money to their pool to invest in a trainer (Barclay Tagg), who purchased Funny Cide for the syndicate for $75,000. Funny Cide earned over $3.5 million in a five-year, 38-start racing career that garnered 11 wins, five graded stakes titles, and enormous public appeal.

There are different kinds of syndicates, but the basic principle is that those who buy in become co-owners of fractional interests in the racehorse. Syndication helps share the expense, not only of the purchase of a horse, but also its upkeep and training.

Sport Of Queens

Mrs. Durnell was hardly the only woman to fancy owning a racehorse, if not a Derby contender, although it would take another 20 years before Mrs. R.M. Hoots had her Kentucky champion in Black Gold, followed by Mrs. John D. Hertz (1928, Reigh Count) and Mrs. Payne Whitney (1931, Twenty Grand).

By the 1940s, women owners were not uncommon and by 1942, four of the top eight finishers in the Kentucky Derby were women-owned (With Regards/Mrs. Ted D. Grimes, First Fiddle/Mrs. Edward L. Mulrenan, Fair Call/Josephine Douglas, Dogpatch/Ethel Veronica (nee Healy) Mars).

Three decades later, Columbia Business School-educated Penny Chenery revived Meadow Stable and produced Secretariat, the first Triple Crown winner since 1948 and that heyday of owners on the distaff side. Her achievement would add Chenery, with Martha Gerry and Allaire DuPont, to the list of the first women members admitted into The Jockey Club.

Closer to home, the Queen of Saratoga, Marylou Whitney, was the first woman in 80 years to breed and own a Kentucky Oaks winner (2003, Bird Town) and the following year, she had the winner of the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes in homebred, Birdstone.

Taking Ownership

“I’ve been told by a number of partners that they wanted their own horses, their own voices, their own K-1’s (end of year tax statement),” says Maude Walsh, who started her career as a NYRA hospitality manager, paddock host at Breakfast at Belmont, and color commentator for morning workouts at Saratoga before managing partners at America’s Pastime Stables approached her last spring with their idea for “a ladies division.”

“I thought it was a great plan,” she says and, in keeping with the partners’ baseball theme, a women’s racing syndicate, A League of Their Own Racing Stable, was formed in 2022. “We are a group of 20 ladies with five horses in partnership. While the number fluctuates in the claiming game, we expect a stable of that size this season, and are partnering with breeding programs at America’s Pastime and McMahon Thoroughbreds.

“One of the first things I explain to women interested in our syndicate is that becoming a Thoroughbred horse owner is a lifestyle choice that provides unique thrills, so invest at a comfortable level, because the rewards are so much more than monetary!” Walsh says.

“Racing is a thrilling sport that has provided me with a great deal of personal enjoyment,” says Sheila Rosenblum, CEO and founder of Lady Sheila Stable, whose Thoroughbreds have earned over $6.1 million in purses, and produced 2015 Eclipse Award winner, La Verdad.

Lady Sheila Stable developed from Rosenblum’s desire to share her own passion for horses and the sport with friends, and to offer a guiding hand to others interested in buying into the experience. The kind of guidance, she confesses, she could have used in 2011 when she purchased her first yearlings and did “everything wrong.” Then she found the right trainer. “I’m a hands-on owner,” the Royal Ballet School-trained dancer and former model for Ford and Wilhelmina says. “Ballet taught me that the things that are worthwhile are worth taking time.”

In Linda Rice, Lady Sheila Stable found a trainer who devoted as much time and attention to young racehorses as she would to their green owners. Rice was the first woman to win a trainer’s title at a major U.S. racing circuit (Saratoga, 2009), with 75 starters compared to second-place Todd Pletcher’s 135, and with well over 2,000 wins at Aqueduct, is still one of the top female trainers in the sport. “That’s when my idea of offering syndication became reality. The second we met, Linda and I clicked. She showed an incredible work ethic and welcomed me, and the owners to come out in the mornings to watch our horses work, and we love doing that!”

“I strongly believe that increasing interest in the sport among women is crucial to the long term vitality of the industry.” Her focus on all-female syndications -- Lady Sheila Stable Two, Lady Sheila Stable III, Triumphant Trio – bring women along on the journey into what it takes to make a racehorse.

“Women, often mothers, see how they can be a part of growing with an animal. I like knowing my friends and I can watch our horses train. Linda loves the nurturing and talking with the new women coming in.”

Becoming part of a syndicated racehorse’s life includes responsibility for its aftercare. “Our breeding program is a natural extension of owning talented young horses and getting them to the race track, and then on to second careers,” Rosenblum says. Some become broodmares, while others find roles through numerous aftercare and retirement programs, including the New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program, the oldest and largest racehorse adoption program in the country.

Michelle Cuozzo Borisenok, of Old Tavern Farm in Stillwater, also sees syndication as offering women a chance to engage in a horse’s journey and not just its arrival in a winner’s circle. The entrepreneur and philanthropist underwrote renovation of the site of the Women’s Leadership Institute BOLD Women’s Leadership Network Scholars at The College of Saint Rose in Albany, one of a half dozen northeast institutes of higher education where BOLD centers “cultivate courageous leadership.”

After her own less-than-rewarding experiences with male partners, where she felt “left out of a lot of the decision making,” Borisenok took the reins in 2018 and launched Brown Road Racing LLC, a boutique Thoroughbred racing organization geared to female racing enthusiasts, and connecting women who want to learn more about racing while enjoying the camaraderie of a racehorse partnership.

“It’s not so much about winning,” she says. “It’s about education and experience. It’s about the journey.”

For the summer racing set, it’s also about a certain jockey outside the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. In August 2022, the coterie of statues along the Union Avenue entrance gained an historic, head-turning addition by Saratoga Jockey Painter and artist, Robin Schumacher:

The Brown Road Racing jockey sports blue-striped racing silks and… a long blond braid over her right shoulder.

“When I would look around the backstretch, what I saw missing were women and families,” says Borisenok. Adding a feminine touch, to syndicates and statues, is a start. “I’d like to be that connection. There are so many things under the umbrella of horse racing that we can learn from each other.”

The Brown Road Racing syndicate spurs involvement by guiding partners through the steps to obtain their owner’s licenses and go behind the scenes: “As a group of women on the backstretch, we used to be approached by Security to ask if we were ‘lost.’ So now we just show them our licenses.”

Ladies First

“The horse comes first. From a mare delivering her foal to a yearling preparing to go into the sale, or a two year-old going into training, we follow a horse to retirement. Being a partner means visiting babies on the farm and seeing them progress through different stages,” says Borisenok, whose first racehorse, Gotta B Bold, was a New York-bred yearling (Freud x Chamonix) she bought for $35,000 with a partner at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton sale and is now a broodmare at Old Tavern Farm.

“We have a ‘baby B,’ she says, referring to the farm’s next generation and her mare’s first colt, sired by Central Banker. “We look forward to following his journey!”

For Rosenblum, some of her “highest highs and lowest lows” came with the late, great New York-bred, La Verdad, trained by Linda Rice to 16 wins in 25 starts and 2015 Eclipse Award winner as American Champion Female Sprint Horse of the Year. She delivered three fillies (by Medaglia D’Oro, Tapit, and Curlin) before passing in May 2020 from complications after foaling her first colt, by Grade I winner Into Mischief. “I lost her on Mother’s Day. La Verdad was like my third child.”

Emotions are part of racing, she muses, and emotions ran high for all the right reasons when Lady Sheila Stable had its second Bouwerie Stakes winner at Belmont on Memorial Day in Downtown Mischief, with Jose Lezcano in the irons (who also rode winner Holiday Disguise for Rosenblum in 2017).

The only misassumption Walsh has found regarding women’s syndicates is, “People assume we only race fillies, work with female trainers, and ask female jockeys to ride. While that would be awesome, I think misperceptions about the abilities and talents of females in racing are decreasing as the number of women, in a variety of roles, continues to rise.

“I foresee a strengthening of women partnerships in the coming decade,” she continues, “parallel to the growth of Thoroughbred racing, and directly related to educating and including women partners and providing real opportunities to actively participate.”

Join the club...

Want to join a women’s racehorse syndicate?

Here’s a few more to check out.

• Celtic Magic Thoroughbreds Dana Schaefer, managing partner Celticmagicthoroughbreds.com

• League of Their Own Racing Stable Maude Walsh, managing partner MaudeCWalsh@gmail.com

• StarLadies Racing Donna Brothers, partnership inquiries StarlightRacing.com

“We can enjoy this sport as much as any man,” adds Rosenblum. She sees women’s syndicates as, “A whole package of happiness that we share together. I’ve watched women come in not knowing much about horses, who get engaged and, before you know it, they’re bragging about ‘Everyone’s Horse!’

“It’s time to bring more women into this sport. I’ve attached myself to women – female syndicates, agent and trainer -and that strategy has worked for me. I’m in the money probably 60% of the time, and have also had better success with fillies. Next,” she winks, “it’s time to win the Derby.”

Mrs. Durnell might agree. Only this time, maybe give the husbands a heads-up.