COLONIAL FARMS: THREE GENERATIONS AND COUNTING Fieramosca family farm in Colts Neck, N.J., dates back to 1950, when a dashing young businessman unintentionally landed in Thoroughbred country. Story by Ryan Goldberg. Photographs by Bill Denver.

24 MID-ATLANTIC THOROUGHBRED SEPTEMBER 2009 he late John Fieramosca The following year he received didn’t envision a Thor- a letter from his father with Toughbred dynasty back news from home that surprised in 1950 when he purchased 113 him. acres of farmland in the New “He said did you know we Jersey township of Colts Neck. were in Thoroughbred coun- He was simply looking for a try?” Sam Fieramosca, who will place where he and his son, turn 79 in October, recalls with Sam, could ride their trail horses a hearty laugh. “He said he had and enjoy life on a farm. just bought two broodmares. Fieramosca owned a cloth- He said they were at a sale at ing factory in Elizabeth, N.J. a neighboring farm, nobody He had built a highly success- wanted them, and he bought ful business, bolstered by gov- them. They were both in foal.” ernment contracts he received John Fieramosca knew during World War II. Although nothing about race horses. But still a young man shy of 40, he was intrigued, and his deci- he already had plans to sell his sion turned out to be fateful. business and retire to the quiet “One of them turned out of the property located slight- to be of no importance,” Sam ly more than a dozen miles Fieramosca says of the original from the Thoroughbred racing investment, “but the other one, mecca known as Monmouth Midi’s Mom [a foal of 1945 by Park. Arabs Arrow], turned out to be A year later, Sam volun- a very, very good broodmare.” teered for the Korean War. He Fieramosca paid $600 for was never deployed though, the discarded Midi’s Mom; she being stationed domestically. had been unplaced in five starts. Sam Fieramosca and his son, John, oversee the 100-acre farm that for decades has ranked among the leading breeding facilities in New Jersey.

MID-ATLANTIC THOROUGHBRED SEPTEMBER 2009 25 It was the beginning of the Fieramosca family’s Colonial Farms, and she its unlikely matriarch. Father and son dove head- long into horse breeding, assembling from scratch what stands today as the oldest active commercial farm in a state that once had many such opera- tions. Colonial Farms is the gray old lady of New Jersey breeding and racing. FAMILY VALUES Inside the farm’s office on a July morning, as Sam Fiera- mosca tells the story of Midi’s Mom with clarity and humor, as if it happened yesterday, his son, John, 43, enters the office. “This is John – the second John,” Sam says proudly. The third-generation Fieramosca horseman currently manages the farm. “Young” John grew History surrounds John and Sam Fieramosca in the farm office, including photographs such as this one featuring up working alongside his grand- homebred Accordant. Presentation shows patriarch John Fieramosca (left) accepting trophy from Ed Kilroe. At father and father, and left in his right is Fieramosca’s longtime trainer Joe Kulina (father of current Monmouth Park general manager Bob Kulina). early 20s for a nearby farm. He

26 MID-ATLANTIC THOROUGHBRED SEPTEMBER 2009 Barns at Colonial Farms, as viewed from the gardens, were constructed from scratch by founder John Fieramosca, who was closely involved in the day-to-day operation until a few years before his death in 1998 at 87. It was the life of a farmer that he had dreamed of as a boy in his native Sicily. then worked as a manager at He served as president of the City casinos, and along with it In 1999, Fieramosca sold 70 Home Depot for 11 years, but Thoroughbred Breed ers’ Asso- money for the state breeding of his 170 acres to developers in 2001 he wanted to return ciation of New Jersey, and was program, is set to expire after so that 100 acres of it could to Colonial. Sam gladly made a committee member of the next year. be preserved in an agreement room. New Jersey Horsemen’s Benev- In addition, an out-of-state with Colts Neck. He says it “Best thing we ever did,” olent and Protective Associa- bonus for New Jersey breeders, was the only way he could keep Sam Fieramosca says. tion (NJHBPA) for 35 years. a program Fieramosca helped the farm. The sight of million- Fieramosca and his wife, He also labored on the farm create five years ago, has not dollar homes on Rancho Polo, Inez, raised John and three every day until a few years been renewed since distribut- an “estate development” at the daughters – Linda, Diana and before he died. ing money in 2005 and 2006. edge of his farm, breaks his Joanne – in a house adjacent to Sam Fieramosca has run the With five months of racing in heart. that of the elder John. The farm since his father died. He New Jersey, the opportunities Says John Forbes, the long- younger John and his wife and was employed as the executive for state-bred horses have nar- time conditioner who has their two daughters still live on director of the NJHBPA (the rowed. trained for Colonial over the the farm, as does Joanne. Sam group succeeded by the New “I’ve seen it shrivel to noth- years, “Sam could sell the farm and Inez live in the stately main Jersey Thoroughbred Horse- ing,” Sam says bluntly of the and live comfortably the rest of house where his father once men’s Association) from 1968 state breeding industry. his life. But he wants to keep lived, which, with its white to 1999, all the while help- Only a few farms on the the legacy of Colonial alive.” columns and yellow shutters, ing his father with the farm’s scale of Colonial remain, The legacy is tangible inside looks like it came from the set operations, his second job. which itself is smaller than in the cluttered office where Sam of Gone With the Wind. its prime. Sixty-five horses are and John are sitting this July John Fieramosca died in there now, of which Colonial morning. Nearly every inch of 1998 at the age of 87. In the UNCERTAIN FUTURE owns 20. At one time in the the wood-paneled walls is cov- golden age of New Jersey rac- Colonial is nearing its 60th 1980s there were 100. Thirty ered with photographs, articles ing and breeding, there was no year, but the next few years may foals were born on the farm and memorabilia. Dust covers one more prominent within the be its most critical. Uncertainty this year. Colonial has only four the frames of old winner’s cir- industry. John Fieramosca was hangs over the heads of New horses in training, and by late cle pictures, lending the office named to receive the state’s Jersey horsemen because the July, only two wins in 2009. the smell of an old attic. first Thoroughbred Owners purse supplement provided by Sam Fieramosca says the farm Sam is straightforward and, and Breeders Award in 1985. an agreement from the Atlantic does not make money. perhaps as a result of vigor-

MID-ATLANTIC THOROUGHBRED SEPTEMBER 2009 27 John Fieramosca looks debo- $29,233 from a record of nair and handsome, a man with 14-10-14 in 83 starts. movie star looks. (“He was a But the best was yet to good-looking son of a bitch,” come. Midi’s Mom’s next foal, Sam says, pointing to another by Scobeyville, was Mom’s Pal, photo of John located under who finished second in the the glass top of his desk.) 1957 edition of the New Jersey Colts Neck was all open Futurity. fields and farms when the A few years later came Fieramoscas shifted their tack Decade. A fast sprinter by from Elizabeth. The property Decathlon, he won the Home was an old chicken farm, and Bred Handicap and New Jersey the only structure standing was Breeders Stakes as a juvenile an old barn. Nearby there were in 1961. The band leader and renowned horse farms like television host Lawrence Welk Greentree, Brookdale, Berna- purchased Decade the follow- dotte and Lincroft, as John ing year for $60,000 – then an Fieramosca soon discovered. impressive sum. Fieramosca’s first brood- Midi’s Mom’s foal of 1960, mares were part of a Lincroft a chestnut son of Travers dispersal. He met his longtime Stakes winner Ace Admiral trainer, Joe Kulina, through a named Accordant, turned out mutual friend about a year later. to be her best. Sam Fieramosca Kulina was then in his early chose Ace Admiral for the mat- 30s. Bob Kulina, Monmouth ing when the stallion relocated Park’s current general manager, from Kentucky to New Jersey recalls how his father told John at the tail end of his career. The Fieramosca that Midi’s Mom’s Fieramoscas were in the breed- first foal born at Colonial, by ing shed when Ace Admiral then old enough to train, had arrived to service their mare. some talent. As Sam recalls, six men were needed to hold him down. As Kulina remembers it, Fieramosca did not want any- “The noise that he made, Yearlings (top) are part of Colonial Farms’s stock in the future. Horses thing to do with race horses, that son of a bitch,” Sam says, graze next to Rancho Polo, the upscale housing development constructed but he reluctantly gave the guffawing. “I never saw a horse on land where the Fieramoscas once grew and cut and baled straw. filly – Hello Mom, a 1952 foal move like that in my life. He by Helvetian – to Kulina to was blindfolded. When his ous farm work, still coltish and and then built a big factory in train. Fieramosca and Kulina back was to her, he knew she decidedly younger looking than the center of Elizabeth in the remained together for two was there. He whipped around his age suggests. He has gray early 1930s. When World War decades, their relationship sadly and jumped on her. . . bingo! hair and a gray mustache. A II arrived, his company manu- cut short when Kulina retired With a roar.” prolific storyteller, he prefaces factured thousands of Navy because of poor health. (He Unsuccessful in two 2-year- his tales with “that’s another pea coats, Air Force bomber died in 1987 at age 63.) old starts, Accordant returned the next year and won half story” and a chuckle. To jog jackets and Army field jackets. “I think they were both his memory and illustrate his Sam was born in 1930, an of his 14 starts and finished lucky to stumble upon each second three times. He won stories, he paces the room and only child. His parents divorced other,” Kulina says. points to photos. His son lis- when he was 5, and he lived Monmouth’s Oceanport and tens raptly to stories he has not with his mother in Paterson, Hello Mom won two Longport Handicaps (the for- 1 heard before. N.J., until he graduated from races as a juvenile and two mer in 1:09 ⁄5) and Aqueduct’s high school. Then he moved more the next year. She was Fall Highweight Handicap in with his father in Elizabeth a hard-knocking runner and against older horses. He fin- ROOTED IN and, after a short time in col- compiled a record of 11-10-7 ished second to Ahoy twice, THE PAST lege, joined him at the factory. in 71 starts and earnings of and, in his final start, he missed They started horseback riding $43,300. She won the seven- by a half-length to 3-year-old John Fieramosca, the patri- together around this time. furlong Pawtucket Handicap at champion Chateaugay in the arch, was born in 1911 and “There he is,” Fieramosca Rhode Island’s Lincoln Downs one-mile Jerome Handicap. grew up in Ragusa, Sicily. His says, pointing to his father in a on April 20, 1957. The winning Accordant’s brief career uncle had a large horse breed- framed photo of them side-by- purse was $5,500. The photo ended because of sore ankles, ing farm – its main contract was side on horseback. Sam esti- hangs in Colonial’s office, a but he still stands out as one with the Italian military – and mates he was 16 when it was grinning John Fieramosca and of the fastest New Jersey-bred John used to spend summers taken after World War II, in the Joe Kulina in the winner’s circle sprinters ever. there. At 14, he and his three town of Kenilworth in Union after their first stakes score. Standing at Colonial, siblings joined their father in County, where they boarded Hello Pop, Hello Mom’s Accordant became one of the Elizabeth. John started work- their horses at the time. The year-younger full brother, was first big New Jersey stallions. ing in clothing factories, soon brown wood on the frame has similarly sturdy. Though not He led a burgeoning stallion started his own in Linden, N.J., chipped off in several spots. as fast as his sister, he earned roster at Colonial that started

28 MID-ATLANTIC THOROUGHBRED SEPTEMBER 2009 Colonial Farms keeps 30 broodmares, nine home-owned. Mares are bred to home stallions as well as others in New Jersey and Kentucky. At left, with her Flower Alley colt, is the farm’s star broodmare, Little Ali Oop (Lost Code—Eggs Binnedict, by Naskra), a full sister to stakes winner Hash It Out and half-sister to two graded stakes horses. Tippy Toe Tessa (Swain-Ire—Dixie Sunrise, by Dixieland Band) grazes next to her colt by Private Interview. in the latter half of the 1950s tant third to him and Sonny John Fieramosca built the tion. His goal was to breed with a son of Count Fleet Werblin.” Sitting in his barn at farm from scratch – three barns horses who could compete in named Ennobled. Monmouth, Thompson con- (including a stallion barn), tin open races. tinues, “John was a flashy guy. run-in shed, paddocks and In 1970, he put together A FLAIR FOR THE What the hell – he was Italian!” houses. After the construction a syndicate to buy the stayer He laughs robustly. “You can of Highway 18 seized 13 acres Chompion, the 1968 Travers BUSINESS quote me on that!” from the farm, he bought 70 Stakes winner who had placed in adjacent acres. He handled the The golden triangle of New Bob Kulina spent his youth a long list of great handicaps on breeding and fed the horses Jersey racing – Garden State, traveling with his father and both surfaces. At the end of his every day. It was the life of a Monmouth and Atlantic City – learning the game. In the win- 5-year-old season, Chompion farmer he had dreamed of as a was never healthier, and John ter, they stabled in Aiken, S.C., was being sold as a stallion boy in Italy. Fieramosca became a big part and John Fieramosca would prospect in a Belmont Park auc- of the scene. He had a thick visit his horses there. Bob and “I used to walk around with tion. Fieramosca approached Italian accent, was always neatly Joe Kulina greatly admired John when he would feed,” his trainer, Ivor Balding, with dressed in a suit and tie, and the jovial owner. Fieramosca says Thompson, whose Quiet an offer of $125,000. Balding drove a white Cadillac convert- bought the young Bob his first Winter Farm is down the road declined, saying he could not ible. He was close to many bicycle, and every winter he from Colonial. “He was unbe- reach the owner, C.V. Whitney. great horsemen and officials, and his sister received leather lievable. He knew every horse. Fieramosca paid $104,000 at and a dear friend of Sonny coats. He’d adjust the feed according- the sale. Werblin, then a part-owner of Kulina says, “What I remem- ly. . . I’ve seen him out putting Joe Kulina received the Monmouth and the New York ber most about John was he was up new fencing, digging out horse and pronounced him Jets football team. the owner every trainer today post holes. He was an incred- sound and fit, and urged the “John was a Damon Run- longs for. He didn’t have a ible person. He was a pleasure Fiera moscas to keep him in yon character,” says Willard condition book; he didn’t want to know and a pleasure to be training for Aqueduct’s final Thompson, 74, a close friend a condition book. He didn’t friends with.” two distance races of 1970. and longtime trainer. “He loved want to tell Dad where to run Even though Sam Fiera- He finished second twice. Sam to go out to dinner. He put me or what to run. ‘You train my mosca left the daily labor of the Fieramosca intended to retire under the table many times; horse, you tell me when he’s farm for the NJHBPA in 1968, him then, but Kulina begged I couldn’t keep up with him gonna run, I’ll come and watch he had discovered a knack for him not to. His stallion career drinking. I would finish a dis- him run.’ ” the pedigree side of the opera- could wait another year.

MID-ATLANTIC THOROUGHBRED SEPTEMBER 2009 29 sitting there and all of a sud- In part, *Slady Castle filled den – shoo! – this horse comes the role set aside for Chompion, flying by. He said, ‘That’s *Slady who collapsed and died in the Castle.’ Oh!” breeding shed in 1977. One of Fieramosca got out of the his first offspring was the win- car and the agent explained ning filly Chompelle, a foal of why he asked him to see *Slady 1973 out of the Vertex mare Castle in the flesh. He was Forbidden Lass. Chompelle small – “barely 15.1, maybe 15.2 retired following a short career, hands” – but Fieramosca was and, mated with *Slady Castle, undeterred. He bought *Slady produced the good Colonial Castle for $125,000. “I just Farms homebred Castle loved him,” he says. “He was Guard. so gorgeous, kind of refined, Castle Guard won two but a beautiful horse. stakes, including the New “Mr. O’Brien said to me, Jersey Futurity, in his juvenile ‘Young man, I have only one campaign in 1981. The chest- suggestion for you. I know the nut colt was a stakes winner way you train in the States. Tell the next three seasons, win- your trainer to throw away his ning 14 of his 56 starts, plac- stopwatch. This horse does not ing in 23 others, and earning need a lot of work.’ ” $398,754 before retiring in 1985. He finished second in In other words, *Slady Castle the Salvator Mile Handicap-G3 was supposedly ready to run. and third in the Longfellow-G2, But when he arrived at Garden Lamplighter-G3 and Ocean- State, everyone involved was port-G3 Handicaps. He was shocked. Recalls Fieramosca, named New Jersey-bred Horse “When he got off the van, he of the Year in 1984. had an old blanket on him; he Castle Guard stood at was very thin, he did not even Colonial for 17 seasons, the look like the same horse. Joe majority of them alongside Kulina said to me, ‘Oh boy.’ *Slady Castle. In 1993, Castle He said, ‘This isn’t the way he Guard was New Jersey’s leading Sam and Inez Fieramosca have been married for 56 years. The couple looked over there ?’ I said, ‘No, sire. *Slady Castle died in 2001 raised four children at Colonial Farms while Sam Fieramosca also served Joe, he was gorgeous.’ I was and Castle Guard in 2004. as the longtime executive director of the New Jersey horsemen’s group. embarrassed.” The 1970s and 1980s were Chompion started 1971 ing another stallion, or another Bob Kulina remembers high times for Colonial, but with yet another runner-up fin- race horse – *Slady Castle.” *Slady Castle looked like a none of its horses was as popu- pony. Joe Kulina told the Fiera- ish, and then won the Quaker In March 1972, Sam Fiera- lar as Dan Horn. A gelded son moscas he would need three Handicap at Liberty Bell Park mosca met a representative of Accordant out of the Prince months to work with the colt. in February. Switched back to of the British Bloodstock John mare Rosy Moon born in As promised, the second week turf, he won Gulfstream’s Pan Agency at an HBPA conven- 1972, he did not find his best of July he entered him in a American Handicap, setting a tion in London. The man called stride until 5, when he moved one-mile second-level allow- course record. He then gained Fieramosca afterward and said to the turf. Harry Wells trained ance on the Monmouth grass. a victory in Pimlico’s Dixie he had two 3-year-olds for sale. Dan Horn, who had bowed a With Paul Kallai aboard, *Slady Handicap upon the disqualifi- One was *Slady Castle, a son tendon as a young horse, but Castle spurted to the lead and cation of Fort Marcy. He won of *Tudor Melody who had he and the Fieramoscas were led comfortably throughout, the Massachusetts Handicap been one of the leading 2-year- patient. winning by three lengths. six weeks later – another course olds in Ireland the previous In 1977, Dan Horn won record and his final victory. But year. A full brother to 1966 The rest of his career was the Cliff Hanger, Lincroft he was facing the best horses English 2000 Guineas winner rocked by injuries. He won and Linwood Handicaps, and in training, and other standout Kashmir II, *Slady Castle was once more in 11 starts. As a placed in two graded races. The performances included plac- a pure speed horse, and thus stallion, however, his influence next year was his best, as he ings in the Washington, D.C., Fieramosca believed he would was unprecedented in New won the Donald P. Ross-G2, International, United Nations fit in well in America. Jersey. Longfellow-G3 and Lincroft and Manhattan Handicaps. Fieramosca flew to Ireland “He really made this farm,” Handicaps and finished third In all, the son of Tompion to see him. *Slady Castle’s train- Sam says. *Slady Castle was in three added-money races, out of the *Mahmoud mare er, the legendary Irish condi- New Jersey’s stallion of the including the Grade 1 United Mahratta earned $300,349 for tioner Vincent O’Brien, picked year for 11 consecutive sea- Nations Handicap. He won the the Fieramoscas. up Fieramosca and drove him sons. His first runner, Castle Grade 3 Longfellow again in “They all thought you were to the gallops. There, O’Brien Bell, won the 1976 New Jersey 1979, as well as the Grade 3 a genius,” John Fieramosca says told him, “ ‘You don’t even Breeders Stakes in her debut. Kelly Olympic, and took the to his father. Sam Fieramosca need to get out of the car, he’ll He went on to sire a career total Lincroft for a third time in 1980. laughs, saying, “Yeah, on the be coming by in a moment,’ ” of 17 stakes winners, including At the age of 10, he retired basis of that we ended up buy- as Sam remembers. “So we’re Grade 1-placed Castle Royale. with earnings of $390,411.

30 MID-ATLANTIC THOROUGHBRED SEPTEMBER 2009 Dan Horn was known as the Rancho Polo homes on their Forego of New Jersey-breds, old ground and recalled how and John Fieramosca considers they once grew straw there, cut him the horse who drew him it and baled it. into his father and grandfa- “John used to do it with his ther’s sport. grandfather,” Sam said. “Five thousand bales a year,” NOT FINISHED YET John said, proudly and simply. “The fields look good, The last two decades have John.” been quieter years on the race track, but Colonial is still known “The fertilizer seems to be for breeding good horses and, working.” as old-timers like to say, doing Sam turned and admitted, things the right way. with a measure of sadness, “I think it’s a great honor to “There aren’t too many farms Sam to keep it going,” says Bob left.” Kulina. “It’s so hard today, you Near the road, their two stallions – Private Interview know, to have a working man’s Colonial Farms stands two stallions: Private Interview (at top, farm. . . I think that’s an honor and Park Avenue Ball – relaxed with Sam Fieramosca), a graded-placed son of Nureyev to be called that, because it’s in their paddocks. who currently ranks as second-leading sire in New Jersey, and hard work running a farm.” Private Interview, a graded- Park Avenue Ball (by Citidancer), whose first foals arrived this season. As farm manager, John placed son of Nureyev and Fieramosca handles his grand- half-brother to Kentucky stal- and Marianne Hesse and a path to the office. John trailed father’s old responsibilities. He lion Doneraile Court, has been trainer Jimmy Ryerson, stood behind, looking out over the cuts the lawn, repairs fences a leading New Jersey stallion his second season in 2009. grounds. Sam Fieramosca and barns, oversees a small since 1997. Optimistic about Park Avenue stopped and thought aloud. staff, feeds the horses. As Park Avenue Ball (by Citi- Ball’s chances, Sam Fieramosca “I don’t know where the morning turned into afternoon dancer), a New Jersey-bred mil- supported him with four of the hell it all went,” he said. “From on this July day, he and his lionaire who won graded races farm’s own mares. 1952 on it has been all racing father lingered near the aged over three consecutive seasons Beyond those paddocks, and breeding. And it’s been main barn. Sam pointed to the for his owner/breeders Charles Sam Fieramosca strolled along wonderful.” Y

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