The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Connecticut man running down Derby dream
They have one Desormeaux. They have another Desormeaux. And they have a dream. There is no dream more romantic than winning the Kentucky Derby.
Mike Gualtieri, president of ProCourier in West Hartford, didn’t tell his wife and put down $800 to join a group of his buddies from the courier industry to get into horse racing in 2010. The next thing you know — OK, it wasn’t the next thing you know — Gualtieri will be at Churchill Downs for the first time next Saturday cheering on hard-closing My Boy Jack in the world’s greatest thoroughbred race.
“Oh, my God,” Gualtieri said. “It has been an unpredictable and crazy few months.”
My Boy Jack, co-owned by Don’t Tell My Wife Stables, trained by Keith Desormeaux and ridden by three-time Derby champion Kent, needed a top-two finish in the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland on April 4 to guarantee enough points to qualify for the Derby. He won by a head.
“He falls to the back and gives you conniptions for three-quarters of the race, but the way he closes is exciting,” Gualtieri said. “Lexington was the last day of points earnings. It was a calculated risk. As it turns out we probably didn’t have to race, with horses dropping out of the Derby, but he won.”
Since My Boy Jack is based in Southern California, he was flown into Lexington and has remained the month in Kentucky. That helps. He was made a 20-1 shot. Yet as an all-out closer in what figures to be a race with a very strong pace, there is some legitimate hype by experts like Jody Demling of SportsLine.
At the very least, when Gualtieri and his son Mike head for Louisville on Thursday, it will be a family story of a lifetime. A story that starts in New Orleans where Kirk Godby, Rob Slack and Gualtieri, former presidents of the Customized Logistics and Delivery Association, gathered for a board meeting. Godby has known Keith Desormeaux a long time and he set up an insider’s tour of Fair Grounds Race Course.
“We had a day off,” Gualtieri said. “I knew the name Desormeaux from Kent. They asked me, have you ever seen what goes on the backside at the track? I never had.”
They met there at 4 a.m. The place already was a beehive of activity.
“It was like this welloiled machine, it was fascinating,” Gualtieri said.
Rob Johnstone, former owner of Priority Express, even was bitten by a horse.
“Keith said, ‘I’m a little slow. I’m using eight stalls and have a couple open. Why don’t you buy a horse? It won’t be a lot of money.’ ” Gualtieri was hesitant. “I could see it being a lot of money,” Gualtieri said. “But starting out, the majority of the purse went to Keith. Normally, he’d get 10 percent. We were giving him 75 percent. That’s crazy. But he was housing, feeding, transporting, all
the expenses.”
So the guys adjourned to the best place possible: the French Quarter. Between beverages, they discussed the idea. Gualtieri is a big sports fan. He has gone to Final Fours and Super Bowls with UConn and the Patriots. Beyond watching the Triple Crown, however, he did not pretend to be an expert on racing. Even now, he says, “I know just enough to be dangerous from reading a racing form.”
Godby’s dad owned a few horses and has been around the sport his entire life. Slack grew up in the Saratoga area and worked as a mutuel clerk at Saratoga during college.
“The rest of us were kind of pikers,” Gualtieri said. “After talking about it, I didn’t see a downside, anybody getting really hurt,” he said. “I pushed for it. It was short money. We wanted to have some fun, say we were horse owners.”
So eight guys initially put in $800 each, gave it to Desormeaux and, as they say in New Orleans, expected to bid the $6,400 adieu. The darnedest thing happened. Desormeaux claimed a horse named Alcazar for $5,000. He won in September 2010 at Delta Downs. He won there twice more. He was claimed after a fourth win.
“He went on a tear,” Gualtieri said. “It was remarkable. The horse got claimed for a much higher price, and (with $60,000 made) you slowly increase the quality of your horses. There have been a lot of losses in between, some ugly stories, but we’ve stayed with it, somewhat changed our arrangement with Keith and he’s done well. He’s a really good judge of talent.”
Naming the stable is its own story.
“As we were writing the checks, I said ‘Don’t open your mouth for a while, I’ve got to formulate a story,’ ” Gualtieri said. “’ Don’t tell my wife. She’ll think I’m nuts. Deposit the money, but don’t tell Sharon for a couple of weeks.’ ”
Voila! A stable had a name.
“She wasn’t too thrilled at first,” Gualtieri said of his wife of 37 years. “I’d forgotten about Facebook. Rob Slick posted something. Two weeks? I couldn’t even get two days. It was unintentional, he didn’t realize they were friends. I came home and …”
And?
“She has come to enjoy this,” Gualtieri said, laughing.
Keith has moved his operation from Louisiana to Southern California. Kent, 48, has won seven Triple Crown races, six Breeders’ Cup races, is in the Hall of Fame. That’s what made his fall so harsh. Struggling with alcohol, he had trouble finding a mount. Keith, who hadn’t worked much with his brother, gave him a chance. Together they won the 2016 Preakness with Exaggerator, but Kent went on a bender afterward and checked into rehab. He has rebounded.
“Kent seems to be doing OK,” Gualtieri said. “He deflects credit, but I think he has been responsible for the success (of My Boy Jack). He is extremely talented. They’re the first to tell you they weren’t the closest growing up in Louisiana. They see the world a little bit different. But as a working partnership, it has been a blessing.”
Keith bought My Boy Jack, the son of Creative Cause out of Gold N Shaft, for $20,000 at the September 2016 Keeneland Yearling Sales. He has Mineshaft, Storm Cat and A.P. Indy in his blood. He also has three wins, three seconds and two thirds and made nearly $650,000 in 10 starts. Don’t Tell My Wife Stables, which co-owns the 3-year-old colt with Monomoy Stables, has had entries in the Breeders’ Cup, but this is the first Derby.
“I hate to sound like a delusional part-owner, but I think he has a legitimate shot to win,” Gualtieri said. “Who knows? But if you’re looking for value I’d put him in the top three like a lot of people.”
And it’s OK to tell his wife.