The Next Generation | Horse Racing Free Tips

The Next Generation with Annise Montplaisir

Annise Montplaisir has come a long way from her childhood racetrack, North Dakota Horse Park. The 25-year-old is a Godolphin Flying Start graduate and is now pursuing her passion for educating newcomers in the industry. Montplaisir is the co-founder of Amplify Horse Racing, broadens her outreach through a Spanish racing talk show, and is the project manager for a new educational alliance called Together For Racing International. TRFI is an initiative which came out of the 2019 Godolphin Forum for Education, where attendees worked on developing strategies to grow and develop the Thoroughbred industry. The initiative launches later this week, when more details are expected to be revealed.

KR: How did you first get interested in horse racing?

AM: I guess I became interested in the industry when I was around 12 or 13 years old and I saw the movie Ruffian. I was really captured by the emotions of the story and just how incredible of a horse she was. I actually was fortunate to live very close to a tiny racetrack called the North Dakota Horse Park. All of my summers were spent going out and volunteering there and then eventually I got my first job in racing at the North Dakota Horse Park.

KR: What drew you to the sport?

AM: The thing that probably drew me the most to horse racing was the stories and the personalities behind the sport. I think there’s something really inspiring and capturing in that. You know, the horse is at the center of all of this, but it’s really the horse-human connection that keeps it going and there’s the different backgrounds of all the people involved at the different levels.

KR: Could you take us through your career path in the industry?

AM: My pathway in the industry started with my first volunteer role as a racetrack ambassador at the North Dakota Horse Park. They had a retired racehorse named Barracuda Boy who was their track mascot. I would stand by the front gates as people would come into the track with his past performances and people would come up and pet him.

Then from there, I was able to do a little bit of everything. I’d say that’s the value of tiny racetracks like that is I started working as a pony rider, and then I assisted the director of media relations, I learned to gallop, I was the official clocker one year and then worked my way up to becoming the director of communications one summer. Whatever I wanted to get me hands on, they threw me right in.

Then a big step along the way was interning for the Saratoga Special newspaper as a staff writer. During my time in Saratoga, I was introduced to everyone at Fasig-Tipton. When I moved down to Kentucky after graduating from North Dakota State University, I interned with Fasig-Tipton and then for Keeneland in the Communications department.

Another great experience I had was doing yearling sales as Mill Ridge Farm before I was accepted into the Godolphin Flying Start program which I spent the last two years doing and I graduated remotely this July.

KR: What was the most challenging part of being a newcomer in the industry?

AM: I would say the greatest struggle for most newcomers to the sport is finding information about the industry. It’s pretty spread out. We have a lot of amazing educational and workforce training initiatives, but if you didn’t grow up in the industry it can be difficult to figure out how to get started.

That was what spurred the start of Amplify Horse Racing, which I co-founded in 2019. It’s meant to be an education platform for a newcomer that googles how to get into Thoroughbred racing, so they can find organized lists of resources and initiatives about careers that might not be what most people think of, but some that are more on the periphery like benevolence, marketing or media.

Last year we had a chance to do some pretty cool pilot projects- doing some enhanced educational tours, collaborating with a few different initiatives to enhance their programming and expand the promotion of it.

This year has been a bit different for everybody in terms of in-person engagement, so as everyone has we had to pivot. I’ve been hosting monthly virtual hangouts. Every month is focused on a different sector of the industry. We host a panel of industry professionals and they talk about their own educational pathways in the industry and what their current job entails.

KR: Could you tell us about your current position?

AM: Amplify has been a great launch point for my current role working as the Project Manager for Together For Racing International (TFRI). This is a global alliance to promote and progress education, community engagement and workforces that connect people to the Thoroughbred industry around the world. TFRI has been developed through a network of global steering committee members from Australia, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Japan and the US, who represent a multitude of educational and workforce organizations.

The launch of the TFRI website will be on Nov. 20, which we’re very excited about.

It will be an amazing platform to showcase the stories and the positivity that is coming from these programs. It really speaks to a wide array of audiences. Industry members and stakeholders can come to this and learn about some of the programs that even they might not know about. Students, parents and educators can come and see how the Thoroughbred industry is assisting with educational attainment and how different regions are engaging with their communities to solve different issues.

KR: If you could change one thing about the industry, what would it be?

AM: If I could change one thing about the industry, and actually this is something that I feel like is already in progress of being changed, it would be improving the number of Spanish resources that we have within the US industry. We have a large population of immigrants working in the industry, specifically Hispanic immigrants, so I think we need to provide more for them to consume within the sport to learn about the industry.

One of the projects I’ve been involved with for the last few months is co-hosting a web show called La Trifecta with Claudia Spadaro and Darwin Vizcaya. We talk about horse racing in Spanish and English and it’s really the feeling of three friends who are getting together to talk about racing. We’ve had viewers from all different countries across Central and South America and Mexico, so it’s really fun.

KR: What’s your all-time favorite racing moment?

AM: I think one of my favorite moments in racing was when I was on Flying Start in Australia, my externship was with Chris Waller, which was pretty cool. I had never really worked with a trainer before and so a moment that really stood out to me was when I had the opportunity to saddle a horse named Mister Sea Wolf (Ire) (Amadeus Wolf {GB}) before he went on to win a million-dollar race called The Gong at Kembla Grange. They threw me right in and let me get my hands on as many things as possible, so to saddle a horse for a million-dollar race was pretty cool.

The Next Generation is an ongoing video series featuring young people who were not born into the Thoroughbred business, but are now excelling within the industry.

The post The Next Generation with Annise Montplaisir appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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The Next Generation with Corbin Blumberg

“It’s all I’ve thought about for forever,” said 25-year-old Corbin Blumberg.

And he’s not really exaggerating. The Potomac, Maryland native was just a toddler when one VHS tape sold him on horse racing for life. Blumberg learned to read by studying past performances, and has since traveled the world in pursuit of furthering his knowledge of the industry.

Less than a month before this year’s Kentucky Derby, the Godolphin Flying Start graduate signed on as the Racing Manager for Starlight Racing. It was an eventful start to the job when their talented Authentic (Into Mischief) sailed to victory in the GI Kentucky Derby and then ran a close runner-up effort in an epic edition of the Preakness S.

KR: How did you get started in racing?

CB: I fell in love with racing when I was two or three years old. My parents bought me a tape, The Best of the Breeders’ Cup from 1990 to 2000. I don’t know why they bought it for me, but that was it, I was obsessed. I went to my first Breeders’ Cup in 2000, which was Tiznow, and after that I was just hooked from there.

I was basically obsessed with racing from then on, and when I turned 16, I emailed Graham Motion. I went and lived with Graham and Anita during the summer. Animal Kingdom had just won the Derby so it was a great time to be there. They’re the best; I owe so much to Graham and Anita. I did four or five summers at Fair Hill with them, spent some time in Saratoga, and then went to the University of Kentucky for Equine Science and Management. Then I went and did a program in England called the British Horse Racing Graduate Development Programme, which was awesome. Then I did Godolphin Flying Start for the last two years.

KR: What drew you to the industry?

CB: I think mostly the excitement. I grew up doing Pony Club, foxhunting and eventing, so I was always involved with horses. But I think the excitement of racing and the competition really got me. From there I was hooked. It’s all I’ve thought about for forever.

KR: What was the most challenging part of being a total newcomer in the industry?

CB: I think for me it was when I got to Kentucky and I didn’t know anyone. That was definitely a little challenging. Being with Graham and Anita in Maryland was so great because I learned a ton, but Maryland is still a little removed from the epicenter of the industry, which is Lexington. But overall, the industry is so welcoming and inclusive and I got a lot of opportunities just from being lucky and being in the right place at the right time.

There’s definitely a barrier there in terms of knowledge at first, but I was so obsessed that I’ve been reading a Racing Form since I was five, so that helped.

KR: What’s your favorite part about the business?

CB: I think the transition from being a fan to actually working in it has been really great. I guess I’ve always worked in it, but it was always summers, programs and school. Now to be actually working full time, being involved in making decisions and seeing where horses go is really cool. I also love being able to follow some of the horses we worked with through Flying Start.

KR: Tell us about your job now as Racing Manager for Starlight Racing.

CB: Starlight is amazing. Jack and Laurie Wolf started it in 2002, and they’ve had Harlan’s Holiday (Harlan), Hall of Famer Ashado (Saint Ballado), Octave (Unbridled’s Song) and Shanghai Bobby (Harlan’s Holiday). There was a really amazing history of horses there, and since they’ve partnered up with SF Racing and Tom Ryan, and with Madaket, this whole partnership has been amazing with Eight Rings (Empire Maker), Charlatan (Speightstown) and obviously Authentic (Into Mischief).

It’s been amazing to meet all of our different partners and the people within Starlight, to get to know them and our horses. I really love it, and we’ll hopefully get StarLadies some big wins coming up too. I think we just had a really great [Keeneland September Yearling Sale], so hopefully there will be some really exciting horses for the future.

KR: Can you tell us your experience when Authentic won the Kentucky Derby?

CB: I was in Saratoga because we had a few horses running there that weekend. Jack Wolf was in Louisville, but Laurie, who is the managing partner of StarLadies, was actually in Saratoga. I get a bit funny about watching racing with other people, so I went and watched it alone and they were all two houses down. I went nuts when he crossed the finish line and sprinted down to their house. They were actually watching it on the internet so the race was still finishing. There were like 10 people there going nuts, so we went crazy and then had a pretty good night in Saratoga. I couldn’t believe it.

KR: If you could change one thing about the industry, what would it be?

CB: The racing side of the industry has always been my passion, so in terms of racing, I think probably the reliance on casino wagering makes me nervous going forward. I love our industry and I love racing, so I think trying to make it as self-sustainable going forward as possible would make me feel a lot more comfortable about the future.

KR: Who is your favorite horse of all time?

CB: So I have two. First is Cigar because that’s probably the horse that got me into racing, and then Animal Kingdom, because he was right there when I started at Graham’s and was pretty influential. When I started with Graham, there were probably 125 horses, and then the next summer there were 200. Then more recently, Authentic is on top of the list because that was a pretty good start to working at Starlight.

KR: What are your career goals going forward?

CB: Right now, I have the dream job off of Flying Start. I’m so happy, so I’m just trying to make Starlight operate on a day-to-day basis as well as it possibly can-working with Jack and Laurie to make that happen, and with our partners.

Then in the long term, I think for now I just want to stay with Starlight and try and work with Jack there, but definitely being involved with the horses and probably buying some at some point is at the top of the list.

The TDN has partnered with Amplify Horse Racing to present “The Next Generation,” an ongoing video series featuring young people who were not born into the Thoroughbred business, but are now excelling within the industry

The post The Next Generation with Corbin Blumberg appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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The Next Generation with Sam Bussanich

The only thing six-year-old Samantha Bussanich needed was a trip to Calder Race Course with her grandfather to know that racing was the sport for her. Flash forward less than twenty years later, and she’s now an alumna of the University of Kentucky, and has made a name for herself in many sectors of Lexington’s Thoroughbred industry from racing, to breeding, to marketing. ‘Sam’ just wrapped up a three-year stint working for top trainer Mark Casse, and is now preparing to board a plane for Ireland in a few weeks to begin her journey with the Godolphin Flying Start program.

One of Sam’s favorite moments in racing was when she joined Casse trainee War of Will (War Front) in the winner’s circle for the Preakness S. in 2019. She wanted other young people to experience that same thrill in racing, so she and two friends founded Nexus Racing Club, an organization dedicated to promoting youth participation in racing through partnerships with established owners.

KR: How did you get involved in horse racing?

SB: I got involved in racing when my grandfather took me to Calder racetrack when I was about six years old. Ever since then, I have loved horse racing. And then I got into riding horses, and I went to the University of Kentucky.

What I love about the horse racing industry is the competitive nature of it. I’m a very competitive person. I played basketball growing up in high school, so when that ended, I needed something to replace that in my life, and horse racing is definitely a good replacement.

KR: What is your favorite part about the business?

SB: I have two different favorite parts I would say. One is watching the 2-year-olds develop and seeing them hopefully become great racehorses. And then the second part is the team aspect. I enjoy working with everyone and it makes waking up at four in the morning a lot easier when you have a good barn to go to every morning.

KR: What was it like being a total newcomer in the industry?

SB: I do think there are a lot of challenges to not being born in the sport. I moved from New Jersey to Lexington to go to the University of Kentucky, which not everyone can do. So I do think there needs to be more ways to get involved in the industry. A few friends of mine and I created Nexus Racing Club, and there’s also Amplify Horse Racing.

Right now, just trying to get new ways of getting people involved in the sport is a little bit challenging because you do have to work. You have to be outgoing. You have to talk to people and kind of really make your own path for yourself.

KR: Tell us more about Nexus Racing Club.

SB: So two friends and I co-founded Nexus Racing Club in 2017. We thought there needed to be a better way to get new people involved in the industry because the barrier of entry was so high to get into the sport. So Nexus Racing Club partners with owners, and we have leases on racehorses. We also do a lot of networking opportunities to just try and reach out to young people ages 18 to 30, to get them involved in the sport. We think it’s really important because it is hard to get into this sport , and [so we want to] teach them the sport in an easy way because sometimes it does get a little complicated.

KR: Can you tell us about your career path and where you are today?

SB: I was a double major in Marketing and Equine Science and Management at the University of Kentucky. I started working for Mark Casse my sophomore year of college. Now I’ve graduated and I’m still working for him. I also interned for Godolphin and for Keeneland’s marketing department. I think it’s been really good to have all those different experiences in the office and with the horses working hands on with them.

I got into the Godolphin Flying Start program, which starts in August. After that, I’m not really sure what I’m going to do. I’m going to take it day by day. Luckily, this industry offers so much with so many different aspects of what you can do with your career, so I’m going to learn and see what I want to do.

KR: If there was one thing you could change about the industry, what would it be?

SB: I think something that I would change in the sport is make the start time a little bit later at the track every morning. It is hard to get new people, especially people my age involved when you say, “Oh, you have to get up at four every morning to get to the barn by 4:30.” So even if we pushed it back an hour, I think that would help and get more people out to the track in the mornings to work.

KR: Who is your all-time favorite horse?

SB: My all-time favorite Thoroughbred is War of Will. That’s always changing for me, but right now it is War of Will. He’s taken me on some of the best experiences of my life. He gave me the best day of my life when he won the Preakness. He’s just such a cool horse. He’s so smart and easygoing, and we all love him so much.

It’s been so rewarding to just watch him develop with all different strings. He’s been in Canada, New York, Florida and Kentucky. He’s also been at the farm for a while. So everyone that’s a part of Team Casse got to be around him. He really is a team Casse kind of horse because everyone has gotten their hands on him. So, he’s rewarded everyone in the program.

KR: What are some of your career goals?

SB: My career goal is not only to better the industry, but to make it easier for younger people to get involved. I want to be someone that hopefully a young girl will reach out to and say, “Hey, how do I get another step forward in this industry?” Hopefully I’ll be easy to reach, provide them with some good advice and make them want to stay and work in the industry.

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The Next Generation with Paige Gilster

Paige Gilster was long on hands-on horse experience but short on connections when she graduated from Iowa State University and moved to Lexington. Since then, she’s developed her skills as a horsewoman and in just a short time, has become the assistant farm manager at Timber Town Stables, where she looks over an elite group of broodmares that include dual Eclipse champions Songbird and Havre de Grace.

While still in college, Paige wrote up a business plan on how she would manage her own broodmare and presented the idea to her father. Together, the duo found Southern Classic (Southern Image) at a rescue facility in North Dakota, and purchased the mare for $500.

In 2016, Paige bred her new broodmare to Dialed In. The result was a colt with a bad eye, who she named Finnick the Fierce. The chestnut the Fierce broke his maiden on debut as a juvenile last June and later placed second in the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. behind Silver Prospector (Declaration of War).

This year, he ran third in the GI Arkansas Derby and now looks to gain more points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby this weekend in the GII Blue Grass S. at Keeneland.

KR: How did you get involved in the Thoroughbred industry?

PG: I went to college at Iowa State University, and in their equine program, we would bring about seven or eight Thoroughbred mares to Kentucky to breed, then bring them back and foal them out. We were very involved in the reproductive parts of the year, and I realized that I really loved working with horses every day and the Thoroughbred industry in general. The first time I came down to Kentucky is when I decided I was moving to Lexington as soon as I graduated and I was just going to make it work and try it all.

KR: What was it that drew you to horse racing?

PG: I fell in love with the reproduction and breeding. There isn’t a horse industry quite like this Thoroughbred racing industry we’re in, as they look so closely into the diverse bloodlines and the physical that ties directly to racetrack performance. There’s a lot of equine sports, but in my opinion, racing is the only one that is solely judged on the best horse of the day. It’s the horse that shows up that day in that race, and that’s what I love about it–it’s all about the horse.

KR: What was it like being a total newcomer in the business?

PG: You get a lot of, “Are you sure you want to do this?” or “Well, can you though? You’re not from around here and you really have no experience.” I just felt like I was a little more discredited when I came here because they didn’t know me, they didn’t know my family or the exact environment where I had gotten my horse experience. It was a lot of disproving the doubters and having to prove myself over and over again.

KR: What is your favorite part about the industry?

PG: I think my favorite part is the bloodlines and seeing the foalings after a year of waiting. Trying to match the matings and then hoping they get pregnant and have a healthy pregnancy, and then finally seeing a beautiful foal come out. Then when the mating is successful and if they win, that’s the greatest achievement of all for me.

KR: If you could change one thing about our industry, what would it be?

PG: One thing I would change is what the industry demands from each person. This a seven day a week, 24-hour job, and it’s very demanding on any individual that decides to pursue it. A work-life, personal-life balance is difficult. It’s great for me. I love what I do and I’ve accepted it, but it’s kind of tough for my family to understand why I’m not coming home to see them once a month. I think that deters a lot of newcomers. It’s asking a lot for young people to come into this industry and say, “Okay, devote your entire life to this,” when it’s not an easy ladder to climb as an outsider.

KR: Who is your all-time favorite horse?

PG: This is the easiest question in the book–Finnick the Fierce (Dialed In). He is the second horse I’ve ever bred when my dad and I got into the business with our broodmare, Southern Classic (Southern Image). He was her second foal, and he came out with one eye. I was able to sell him privately to Dr. Arnaldo Monge and Rey Hernandez. He has defied all expectations and made a lot of personal dreams come true to be on the Derby trail, even in this weird year. It’s just been fantastic and it’s hard to put into words how exciting it is. So, he’s easily my all-time favorite horse for crossing off a lot of personal checks.

KR: Tell us more about Finnick the Fierce’s story.

PG: Luckily, I was a senior in college in Lexington on a class trip when Southern Classic foaled. I was on the other side of town so I missed it, but I called my professor the next morning and said “I’m going to need a couple hours.” So, I was able to go out and see him. That was in April, and then I graduated in May and moved to Lexington to be a part of the KEMI program. As much as I could, I was with him every weekend handling him, because my goal for him was to go the sales and help with some college debt, and his sire, Dialed In, was on fire that year. I worked with him at least once a week.

I didn’t want someone naming him “One-Eyed Wonder” or something like that. I didn’t want that to be a limitation. I said, “We’ve got to name him something fierce.” And that’s where his name came from. It’s been fun to watch him grow and develop, and I’m very blessed that Dr. Monge and his connections have allowed me to stay involved with him. Dr. Monge is my mare’s vet, so it’s been great. They’re like family to me.

KR: What are your long-term career goals?

PG: My career path is kind of a question mark. I want to try it all. I love what I’m doing right now and I love being at Timber Town. Maybe I could eventually manage the farm, or have my own farm at some point. But I kind of take it month by month, and as long as I feel fulfilled and happy where I’m at, then I’m pretty happy for the future.

All of the bloodstock agents that I have met have been incredible. It’s a lot of time and reading pedigrees and learning. So eventually I may like to try that, whether that means working for an agent someday or if I try my hand at it myself at some point. But for now, I am really enjoying managing here and being Wayne’s [Sweezey] assistant has been awesome. There’s so much to learn every day. As long as I can keep learning, who knows where it can take me?

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