Hero or Antihero?

I don't think it's a secret that I don't think too highly of Big Brown's majority owner, Michael Iavarone and there is a great profile in Friday's New York Times by Robin Finn that just confirms my perceptions. Calling him, "racing's entrepreneur du jour," Finn assures us, the "spirit of Gordon Gekko [greed is good] is alive and well--and bursting at the seams, actually..." in his persona.

Finn does a great job of painting Iavarone as he is: an investor who made a small fortune on Wall Street and is now applying the same tactics to horse racing. To be fair, his 84 horse stable (read portfolio), International Equine Acquisitions Holdings, is currently leading the country in earnings with $4.7 million in 2008. And that is no small feat. But Iavrone does not think small.

He readily admits to "overpaying" for the current centerpiece of his holdings, Big Brown ($2.5 million for a 75% stake) but so be it. "I had to have the horse, so I flattered the owner and overpaid to get the deal done, and now we're on the verge of rewriting history," Iavarone says.

Proving his point, Iavarone has already made an endorsement deal with UPS ("I liked his name a lot better after I made that deal," he admits) and insured the horse for $50 million, amazed that the policy was so easy to obtain. Rumors are rampant about Big Brown's stud value, about which Iavarone will only comment that inquiries have come in from the top stud farms.

Make no mistake about it. Big Brown is in no way "America's horse" because he is not going to race long enough for anyone to develop a relationship with him. He is an asset that Iavarone ideally hopes to flip in record time for a record profit. And should we fault him for getting incredibly lucky or praise him for spotting potential and going after it?

I don't know because just when I wonder just what kind of players this sport is attracting, I discover that IEAH has donated $17 million toward the new private equine hospital that is being built near Belmont and slated to open in 2009. The Ruffian Equine Medical Center even tapped Dr. Patty Hogan (of Smarty Jone's fame) to be its head surgeon. Oh wait....Dr. Hogan is listed on the Advisory Board of IEAH....

Draw your own conclusions. I'm betting on what goes around, comes around. It usually does.