Gerald Sandin has followed horse racing for 37 years, from the time he grew up around the block from longtime friend and trainer William Morey to present day where he is a stakes-winning owner. A global operations manager for a strategic data solutions team within Apple operations, Sandin felt he was at the point in his career where he could begin to invest in horse racing. On Aug. 8 he scored his first victory when the very first horse he bought this year, Pico d'Oro, trained by Morey, broke his maiden in the Runhappy Juvenile Stakes at Ellis Park. BloodHorse MarketWatch spoke to Sandin about his foray into ownership as well as the 2-year-old colt that helped kickstart the stable.
MarketWatch: What was your introduction to horse racing?
Gerald Sandin: My first trek into horse racing was back when I was younger out here in (the) California Bay area. I was also friends with Billy Morey. We played Little League together. I always knew that his dad was a trainer. I used to go to Bay Meadows and his dad would run horses there. As we grew up, Billy became an assistant trainer under his dad. Once I went to Bay Meadows—my uncle used to work the front gates there—and I saw the horses coming around the stretch, you hear the thunder of their hooves as they're charging down the stretch of the finish line, I was just kind of hooked on the whole sport of it. It was captivating.
MW: And Pico d'Oro is your first horse?
GS: This was the first horse I purchased. I've been a fan of racing. I've been watching it for over 30 years, paying attention to everything from the pedigree to the dirt foot to the turf foot to the Triple Crown, the American classic races, all of it. I'd asked Billy about this previously, but I've finally got to a point in time where I'm established in my career and saved up enough that I kind of wanted to start up my own stable and have a couple horses to start with.
I founded my LLC at the end of last year, and reached out to Billy, who recently relocated to Lexington, and asked him, 'Hey, what's the next big sale that we should target?' We went out to the Ocala Breeders' Sales in March of this year and that's where we found "Pico" and I also found another filly, a daughter of Malibu Moon, who we haven't raced yet. She's training up; we're hoping to have her ready sometime in September. I started it off with those two, and then at the Fasig-Tipton Maryland Sale I picked up another (Will Take Charge) colt. Just like the filly, we're beginning to train him up and will hopefully have both of them to the races in a maiden special weight in late September, maybe early October.
MW: What kind of horses are you targeting?
GS: Mostly I'm looking at yearlings or 2-year-olds, that way it gives us the best opportunity to develop them and bring them along. I'm really fond of the A.P. Indy bloodline. That's one of the reasons I loved "Pico," because he was a son of Curlin nicked to a daughter of Bernardini. And I know that the cross from Mr. Prospector to A.P. Indy has always been strong. So, Curlin, a grandson of Mr. Prospector, being nicked to a granddaughter of A.P. Indy, I knew that was a great nicking line. And "Pico" wasn't a big horse. He's slightly compact but yet muscular, and just well built. That's what drew me to him in person at the Ocala Breeders' Sales in March.
MW: What did it mean to see Pico d'Oro break his maiden in the Runhappy Juvenile at Ellis Park?
GW: It's incredibly meaningful. We had a conversation back when we first purchased him of, "Hopefully we can develop him into a stakes winner," and here we are three races in. We started him at Churchill back in late June and the only things available were five-furlong races for 2-year-olds. We knew that was a little (short). We knew he had some speed, but it was a little shorter than we really wanted to go. We put him in there and he drew the rail so he took some dirt in his face coming around the turn, veered off real wide. That was against Jackie's Warrior (who won the grade 2 Saratoga Special Stakes Presented by Miller Lite next out) in his maiden-breaker. We were like, "OK, we need more distance."
A month later—we gave him three weeks to recover and build back for the next race—we found a six-furlong at Ellis in July. The only other horse in that field that had experience was Medicine Tail, and of course he was a speedster and we knew that. We made a run at that one and (Pico d'Oro) was closing around the turn, and he ran into some traffic and got blocked. But then he continued to re-rally and came again and was actually closing on Medicine Tail in that race and galloped out past him. We were like, "OK, let's find a race with more ground."
Billy came back with a handful of maiden races that were six to 6 1/2 furlongs. Most of them were at Indiana. Nothing really lined up to the timing we were looking for. We wanted something three to four weeks out, and it was either two weeks out or five weeks. I said, "What about the Ellis Park Juvenile? Medicine Tail entered in that and you give us another furlong we might be able to run past him so I think we have a pretty good shot not only for a top-three placement but an outside chance to run by them all with his stalking style."
I asked Billy and he said, "We'll look at maiden races but we can definitely nominate and give that one a shot." And we did. We didn't think he had no chance but he definitely surprised us. The way he came home was really impressive, and it was his first untroubled trip and he really showed that he can rally and keep that kick going the whole stretch long."
MW: Getting into the sales market this year as a buyer, how did you find it with the effects from the COVID-19 pandemic?
GS: We had planned to go down to the Ocala Breeders' Sale and then meet up there, Billy and I, then the COVID situation started to evolve. We were just grateful they still had the sale and we flew down. There were less (attendees) there than previous years, at least that's what Billy was telling me, and I think that played a role into it. I've always been a fan of seize your opportunities when you can. I don't know that I would have been able to afford "Pico" or get that good of a deal on him if it hadn't been for the COVID pandemic, but we seized that opportunity. I had a budget to work within and I got "Pico" and I got another filly and it worked out. I was thrilled. I'm not sure that without COVID (he would go) for that price, if not for potentially up to double that if you get the full attendance for that sale.
MW: Do you plan to shop at the yearling sales that are coming up?
GS: I planned that this year I started with two (horses) and I picked up a third at Fasig-Tipton Maryland and I want to get all three racing and see how they come along. Then probably next year I'll plan to both revisit and reinvest into the next crop of either yearlings or 2-year-olds, that way we continue to develop the stable and continue to feed runners into it. Hopefully the success of the existing runners, "Pico" and the other two, continue to fund the operation.
MW: Do you all have any future race plans yet for Pico d'Oro?
GS: We're looking at the Iroquois Stakes (G3) coming up on Derby weekend because that gives us the one mile we're looking for to further stretch him as a 2-year-old. We think that he's got a great stalk-and-pounce, closing style, and that will work well with 2-year-olds. It's very rare that 2-year-olds come from off the pace. Most of them are need-the-lead or want-to-be-up-front-near-the-lead types and we think we have a style that befits for the added distance.
