With the first group of horses purchased for Starlight Racing already yielding smart winners Bullion Cache at Churchill Downs and Take the Points at Belmont Park, we returned to the auction rings this summer and fall to acquire our next stars. As promising as any yearlings we have ever bought, the new Starlight contingent consists of 11 colts and eight fillies by leading sires such as Unbridled’s Song, Tiznow, Giant’s Causeway, Mr. Greeley, Pulpit and Gone West.
While we prepare for the second year of competition under the Starlight Racing Partners banner in 2009, we invite you to review our roster and consider joining us as we aim for more of racing’s most prestigious prizes. We have built an unrivalled foundation of success, having raced champion Ashado and other Grade 1 winners Harlan’s Holiday, Octave, Purge and Monba since we initially became involved in the sport in 2000.
With our horses conditioned by four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Todd Pletcher and usually ridden by such national leaders like John Velazquez and Edgar Prado, we offer our partners access to the most elite level of racing in North America. We have been privileged to compete at the best tracks, to see our silks represented in the Kentucky Derby four times, to sell Ashado for a world record $9 million and Octave for $4 million at the end of their racing careers, to travel to Dubai and finish second in the world’s richest race while earning $1.2 million for the effort, and to make so many unforgettable memories and lifetime friendships along the way.
If this sounds like the kind of experience you would like to have in Thoroughbred racing, we welcome your inquiries and look forward to the chance to share more of our unique program with you.
Jack and Laurie Wolf
Both longtime racing fans, the Wolfs founded Starlight Stables in 2000 when they purchased six yearlings at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July sale. Among the group was a bay colt by Harlan who developed into multiple Grade 1 winner Harlan’s Holiday and launched Starlight into racing’s upper echelon. Today Harlan’s Holiday continues to make a name for himself as one of America’s brightest young sires.
A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Jack earned a master’s degree in economics from Murray State University in Kentucky and went on to teach and become a hedge fund manager with Columbus Partners in Atlanta before retiring to concentrate on racing. Born in DeRidder, Louisiana, Laurie graduated from McNeese State University with a degree in communications and theater. The couple resides in Louisville and Saratoga Springs, New York.
Donald and Barbara Lucarelli
Residents of Duanesberg in upstate New York, the Lucarellis spent part of every summer for three decades at Saratoga Race Course, envisioning the day when they might have their own racehorses. When Donald Lucarelli’s family business, Bellevue Builders Supply, was sold in 2004, the couple decided to invest in some runners. They turned to the Wolfs, whom they had met at a party the year before, and immediately scored with Grade 2 winner Keyed Entry.
In 2006, the Lucarellis were able to enjoy their first Saratoga stakes winner and first Breeders’ Cup starter with Starlight’s Octave, who blossomed into a multiple Grade 1 winner in 2007.
Stable Manager
Jane Buchanan
Originally from County Down, Northern Ireland, Jane joined the Starlight Racing team in 2007 and is based in Lexington, Kentucky. From a family that has always been involved in racing, she completed the British Horse Racing Board Graduate Development Programme after finishing her university work with honors in French and Arabic. While in Europe, she worked for Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley operation in England and Ireland and later for Khalid Abdullah’s Juddmonte Farms in Kentucky.
Additionally, she has served as an assistant to high profile trainers John Kimmel and Wally Dollase and, to broaden her skills, worked for the well known veterinary practices of Dr. Mark Cheney and Dr. Bill Yarborough. Her other positions have included three winters in the racing office at Gulfstream Park and a stint with leading pinhooker Wavertree Stables in Ocala.
Trainer
Todd Pletcher
Honored with the Eclipse Award as America’s outstanding trainer in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007, Todd has shattered many of racing’s most significant records for trainers. Over those years, he has set several records for single season earnings, with his runners amassing $28,571,697 in 2007 alone, nearly $8 million more than the first such mark he set in 2005. He also set records in 2006 for stakes wins with 100, which was eight more than the mark set by his mentor, D. Wayne Lukas, and for graded stakes victories with 57, four more than Lukas’s record.
Todd, 41, began working with racehorses at age seven when he served as a hot walker for his trainer father, Jake Pletcher, at Ruidoso Downs. After graduating from the University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program in 1989, he went to work for Lukas and helped develop champions Thunder Gulch, Serena’s Song and Flanders. Todd took out his trainer’s license in 1995 and earned his first classic victory when the champion filly Rags to Riches won the 2007 Belmont Stakes. Other champions he has trained include Left Bank, Lawyer Ron, English Channel, Speightstown, Fleet Indian, Wait a While and Starlight Stables’ Ashado.
Bloodstock Advisor
Barry Berkelhammer
An integral part of the Starlight team from the beginning, Barry grew up with horses, showing Quarter Horses and working as an equine dentist. He and his wife, Tiki, bought a 20-acre farm in the Ocala, Florida, area in 1983 and have built it up to the 240-acre full service Thoroughbred center AbraCadabra Farms. They were among the first to enjoy success at pinhooking young horses. After connecting with the Wolfs, Barry has demonstrated he is among the best in the industry at selecting moderately priced horses that can win major races. He has tapped such outstanding runners for Starlight as champion Ashado and Grade 1 winners Harlan’s Holiday, Octave and Purge. Once the young horses are acquired, Barry oversees their early training at AbraCadabra.
Lisa McGreevy
Working closely with Barry Berkelhammer, Lisa plays a major role in the purchasing of Starlight horses at the yearling sales. Her eye for a horse that fits the Starlight criteria has enabled the stable to buy some of its most outstanding runners. She spent her early years in Miami, where she worked for the highly respected veterinary practice of Teigland, Franklin and Brokken. She then relocated to Ocala and worked for Barry and Shari Eisaman with their successful farm and pinhooking operation, Eisaman Equine. It was a natural progression for Lisa to start her own business, and her Abbie Road Farm specializes in the breaking and preliminary training of young horses as well sales representation.
Carlos Belmonte
Although his official title is assistant trainer at AbraCadabra Farms, Carlos is more like part of the family. Originally from Puerto Rico, he was a successful jockey in the United States before eventually settling in Ocala, where he has been associated with AbraCadabra for more than two decades. An accomplished horseman, Carlos plays a key role in the breaking and education of the yearlings. He gives the horses their early ground work, and when they are ready to be ridden, his skills as a rider give the horses confidence and make their time spent at the farm a valuable learning experience. He lives at AbraCadabra with his wife, Janitza, and has two sons, Carlos and Jonathan.
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