There's not much that Jimmy Ventura hasn't done in racing. He's trained, owned and bred horses. He's worked at Three Chimneys and Spendthrift and has worked in the racing office at Monmouth. But he's never had that big horse.
That may be about to change.
Ventura, who works in commercial real estate, has partnered with celebrity chef Bobby Flay on a son of Justify that they bought as a weanling at Keeneland November for $350,000. The horse's name is Crudo (Justify) and though he's only had three lifetime starts he will take on the heavyweights in Saturday's GI Belmont Stakes.
“We know we're throwing him in the deep end of the pond, but this horse has trained well and came out of his last race well,” Ventura said.
Flay's intention was to pinhook the horse, but he didn't meet his reserve at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale the following year. Flay decided he would race him and asked his longtime friend Ventura if he wanted a piece of the horse.
“Bobby is a really dear friend and a great guy,” Ventura said. “The one thing I must say is that he has allowed me to play above the rim. I couldn't afford to go sales and spend $1 million on a horse. Bobby has the ability to do so and has done so on more than one occasion. He always tells me you can take any piece of any horse I have. Bobby doesn't need my '10 cents,' so to speak to buy a horse. It's not like we have this relationship that every horse he owns I'll be his partner. I couldn't afford that. So I'll pick my spots.”
Crudo finished fourth in his first start before winning an allowance race at Keeneland. Trainer Todd Pletcher reeled him right back and he won the Sir Barton S., part of the Preakness undercard, by 7 ½ lengths in a very impressive effort.
“We know we're running against the best of the best. I am a handicapper,” Ventura said. “I looked at the Ragozin sheets and every type of number that is out there. The good news is that Crudo can't read the numbers. He's really talented and Todd has been very high on him. I'm just going to enjoy this whole experience and hope for the best. It will be a lot of fun no matter what. The cherry on top will be if he performs well. That would be unbelievable. I know how difficult this is. It's an American Classic, it's the Belmont Stakes.”
Ventura started going to the track at a young age with his father and his uncles and says he's immediately fell in love with the sport. It didn't hurt that one of the first bets he ever made, a $2 win wager, returned $104.
“I said to my dad, mommy is going to be so excited,” Ventura said. “He said, no Jimmy, we are going to tell her that we broke even.”
Ventura said that he never lost the racing bug, but had a lot less time to devote to the track after joining a high school buddy who was starting a commercial real estate business.
“Real estate is where I have made my money, but the race horse world is my love,” he said. “The majority of my friends are involved in it.”
It also didn't help that he turned out be allergic to horses and had such a bad reaction that he had to be hospitalized. He said the allergy is now under control.
“I had to change careers,” Ventura said, explaining why he largely stepped away from racing. “I got into commercial real estate in 1990 because a high school friend started a real estate firm in New York City. For the last 35 years I've always been in commercial real estate at some point. I've owned horses in partnerships. I was talking to Bobby the other day. I reminded him that on Belmont Day 16 years ago, I had a horse named Brave Soul (Bodemeister) that I owned. Bobby came to the race with me. It was first winner's circle picture that we were both in together. I've always been pretty deeply involved in the sport, but not publicly.”
Now he's got a piece of the type of horse everyone dreams of owning.
“He is certainly on my highlight reel, the top of the list for me,” he said. “I had a nice filly that Jerry Bailey won on. She was 3-for-3 and her name was Yankee Tradition. She got hurt in her fourth race. It's been a long time between drinks from there. Crudo is far and away the nicest horse I've ever had.”
Just how good he is will be determined Saturday. That he is so lightly raced is definitely an issue. But he's fresh and talented, which makes him a contender. That he might someday become involved with a horse like Crudo, is one of the reasons Ventura kept coming back for more.
“I've been involved and continue to be involved,” he said. “I'll keep doing this until I can't breathe or can't afford to do it anymore. I'm in this forever.”
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