The Thrill of Thoroughbreds

In My Own Words Winstar Farms’ Owner Kenny Troutt The Thrill of Thoroughbreds Keren Blankfeld Forbes Magazine On the one hand, it's a real business--you put money into it. On the other, you have a dream, the raw excitement of winning. When I was in high school my uncle, who went to the races quite a bit, got me interested. Then when I went to college at Southern Illinois University, just a few hours from Louisville, we used to go to the Kentucky Derby, and I got to see Secretariat and Riva Rich win. In the 1970s I bought some cheap horses, then decided that if I was going to be in it, I was going to go big time. So in 2001 Bill Casner, a partner with me in Excel, and I bought a breeding farm, WinStar Farm, together. (I bought him out last year.) On the one hand, horse racing is a real business. It's like running a hotel: You gotta keep the rooms full, the stalls full and so on. You hope it's gonna be a real good investment, and you put money into it--I've spent $1 million on a yearling. And if it doesn't pan out, you think, "Ooooh, what am I doing?" And then you have the dream--the raw excitement of being at the races, being the best at it, winning the Derby, which is kind of like winning an Olympic trophy. Winning the Derby last year with Super Saver was a little bit like being in shock. You don't know what to expect when you're heading out there because there are cameras everywhere, you've got relatives and friends. It was a special, special moment. But here's the most special thing about it. My daughter Savannah was going to turn 10 a few days after. She came to me about two weeks before the Derby and said, "Dad, I want to walk over with the horses" from the barn over to the track and then go into the field. And she said, "I want to go over and be on national TV with the boys." Well, the boys know every trick with the horses. It rained that day, and we could be on only certain parts of the track. But then we won the race, she stood in front of me on the Winner's Circle, and the governor of Kentucky introduced her on national TV, and Bob Costas asked her a question. It was such a thrill and such a real moment and a joy for her, it was just unbelievable. And then I had a similar experience when we won the Belmont Stakes last year with Drosselmeyer. My wife, Lisa, and daughter, and Lisa's mother and sister and daughters, and my employee Nick and his family were all meeting in New York at different times. So I told them they needed to go to the Belmont, and this horse had a real special workout right before that, and he looked like he was going to be improving. I had a conflict that weekend and would be with my two boys, who were playing in a basketball tournament in Indiana. And so they all went--the horse wins the race. And Elliott Walden, who runs my farm, had Lisa go down and walk the horse into the Winner's Circle, and she got interviewed, and she just did an unbelievable job. I was in In diana watching it on TV and doing what I like to do a lot, which is being with my boys and watching them play basketball. There you have two very special mo ments for the two special ladies in my life. It would be very hard to top that. You would have to have a horse win the Triple Crown. WinStar Farm has 140 mares, and they have 112 babies, and then I have about 70 horses in training, so about 300 all in. I go to the farm generally every other week, but I'm on the phone with them every day, and I watch every race on TV. Not a day goes by when I'm not working on that. I had a horse one time break her leg. It was one of those things where the horse was going, and she went behind the tote board on the back side, and I didn't see it, and when the horses showed back up, she wasn't there. So I say a little prayer every time I see a race. I say a little prayer that the riders and the horses will be okay. .

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