Stories

You know what brings people together in every walk of life—and especially in racing?

A good story.

During my years in this business, I've had the pleasure of speaking with thousands of horseplayers. It never failed. The moment the conversation turned into a story, their ears perked up. Racing is one giant book of stories. We use them to teach lessons, make a point, relive memories, and simply entertain. Some stories are about champions. Others are about heartbreak. The best ones usually have a little of both.

I've always believed that everything happens for a reason. Sometimes a decision made ten or fifteen years ago quietly pays dividends today. Racing has a way of rewarding patience, although it rarely does it on your timetable.

My partners and I entered this industry as owners. We learned by making mistakes, taking chances, and looking for value where others weren't. Over the years we've managed to maintain a 17-19% win percentage. We've bought yearlings, raced them, bred them, and, more often than not, we've tried to make something out of horses that didn't carry seven-figure price tags.

Truth be told, I'm a thrifty buyer.

The most I've ever paid for a yearling was $109,000 for Ronin Dax at the 2010 OBS February Sale. He came from Tapit's first crop. He rewarded us immediately, winning first time out and earning over $100,000. Looking back, if I knew then what I know now about Tapit, I probably would've stretched a little further.

Our success, though, has rarely been about expensive horses.

Bridget Moloney cost just $8,000 as a two-year-old in training. She earned over $300,000 and won twenty races the hard way.

Ms Locust Point cost $17,000. She earned nearly $700,000, became a graded stakes winner, allowed us to sell portions of her for high six figures during her career, and later sold for just under half a million dollars as a broodmare prospect. She turned out to be a $1.8 million dollar horse.

Bo Cruz was a $45,000 yearling who developed into a Grade III winner before colic tragically took him from us as a four-year-old.

We've also created opportunities for our investors, buying horses for $25,000 and later selling them for well into six figures.

Those are wonderful stories.

But my favorite story is one that, for a long time, didn't look like a success at all.

It looked like a disaster.

It was the tale of two fillies.

Years ago an investor purchased a 25% interest in two beautifully made fillies—one by Afleet Alex and another by Dialed In. The Afleet Alex filly represented a second-generation Racingwithbruno pedigree, tracing back to Taxi Dancer, whom we purchased at the Fasig-Tipton Maryland Sale in 2011.

Taxi Dancer showed ability early. She won once and finished second twice, including a stakes race for Maryland-breds, earning valuable black type. Unfortunately, physical issues ended her racing career much sooner than we hoped.

So we bred her.

She proved to be every bit as valuable in the breeding shed.

Her first foal, Lea's Dream, became a ten-time New York-bred winner from 28 starts, earning over $325,000. Then came Mizzen Max, who won three races from only nine starts while adding five runner-up finishes and earning another $186,000.

Then came Darby Shaw.

If there were ever a horse that understood the expression "death by a thousand paper cuts," it was her.

None of those paper cuts were of her own making.

One of our partners stopped paying his bills.

Not for a month.

Not for six months.

For nearly eighteen months.

That left everyone in an impossible position. The trainer understandably backed away from investing time and resources into preparing horses with an uncertain ownership situation. Darby Shaw sat and Dialin Sis, a Dialed In filly out of Street Cry mare, they sat.

Neither lacked quality.

They lacked opportunity.

My partner and I faced a difficult decision. Either continue paying someone else's obligations or take ownership of the problem ourselves. I still remember the phone call. The partner refused to pay what he owed, yet he also refused to relinquish his ownership interest.

Finally, I had enough.

I told him I was prepared to retire both fillies and breed them rather than continue chasing someone who had no intention of honoring his commitment.

That's when the truth finally came out.

He admitted he simply didn't have the money, but only after screaming and yelling on the phone.

He relinquished his shares.

Sometimes the biggest victory in racing doesn't happen in the winner's circle. We got both fillies out of debt. 

It happens over a difficult phone call.

We finally bred both mares in 2022.

Dialin Sis heartbreakingly aborted her foal.

That left only Darby Shaw.

In 2023 she delivered a colt by Paynter.

My partners and I couldn't have been happier.

I chose Paynter for reasons beyond his pedigree. I admired his mind. While standing at stud he was siring runners like Knicks Go, but what always impressed me most was his constitution. This was a horse that nearly died battling laminitis and somehow fought his way back. That kind of mental toughness isn't something you can measure on paper.

It's something you hope gets passed along.

Fast forward to 2025.

The Paynter colt started receiving glowing reports.

One of the people handling him at the farm was veteran exercise rider Nick Bush, someone I've known since my Saratoga days from 2012 through 2019, when he was one of Todd Pletcher's primary exercise riders.

Nick wasn't exactly known for being quiet.

On the Oklahoma Training Track he'd breeze by aboard a Grade I horse and yell at the top of his lungs,

"Hey Bruno...catch this one!"

You always knew when Nick was around.

Then one day in October of 2025 my phone rang.

It was Nick.

"You own this Paynter?"

"I do."

There was a brief pause.

Then he said something I'll never forget.

"This Paynter. He's a good horse. I ain't gotten to the bottom of him yet."

Those are words every breeder dreams of hearing.

We eventually sent the colt to David Fawkes and his assistant, Eric Gary, and they've done a tremendous job bringing him along.

His name is Banksy's.

After finishing second five times in his first six starts, he finally broke his maiden, showing the determination we'd hoped he inherited from his sire. Along the way he's become known for his rivalry with Baby Vino, this year's Haskell winner. Banksy's and Bobby Vino have met three times, with Banksy's finishing in front twice.

Not bad for a horse who wouldn't have turned many heads with his auction price at a yearling sale

Today, Banksy's has become more than a successful racehorse.

He's validating a family.

Just recently the breeding manager at our farm sent me a message that made me smile.

"These two mares have really foaled some outstanding individuals."

We now have yearlings and foals from both mares that are athletic, balanced, and built the right way.

We got two two year-olds, by Beau Liam and Creative Cause, and they look like they got talent. 

That's the lesson.

You can have all the pedigree in the world, but if a horse isn't athletic and doesn't possess the right mind, pedigree alone won't carry you very far.

Banksy's doesn't own the flashiest page.

He wasn't the most expensive horse.

He wasn't bred to make headlines.

But he has heart.

He has talent.

And perhaps most importantly, he's establishing his mare.

What started as a nightmare—chasing a deadbeat partner, dealing with years of delays, making difficult decisions, and simply waiting—has slowly become one of the most rewarding stories of my career.

That's racing.

Sometimes the best stories don't begin with a sales topper or a blue-blooded pedigree.

Sometimes they begin with adversity.

And if you're patient enough to let the story unfold, you just might find yourself standing in the winner's circle, realizing every chapter had a purpose. Who knew?

We are currently entertaining the idea of buying a couple of yearlings this fall. Join us, and let's get lucky without dealing with six figure purchases.