Hamm Enjoys Success With Blazing Meadows

In the life cycle of any construction project, there always are five key phases: initiation, planning, implementation/execution, performance/monitoring, and closing. While there always are unforeseen variables—setbacks, changes in design or direction—each piece is necessary to ensure that the final product, once completed, is successful. For trainer Tim Hamm, this model is as familiar as the steps are reliable. The former owner and operator of a successful construction company, Hamm has spent a lifetime moving from one phase to the next, building a career in the Thoroughbred industry that has helped him, his partners, and their horses reach the highest peaks of the game. Initiation A native of Ohio, Hamm did not grow up with any particular designs on becoming a Thoroughbred trainer. Growing up on his family's farm, he spent most of his youth helping his parents raise Arabians and showing Saddlebreds. Through the week he'd help his father, who worked full time for General Motors, train a handful of horses he ran at nearby Mountaineer Park in West Virginia. While Hamm's father would campaign close to 100 winners in his lifetime, Hamm drifted away from horses in high school as his interests shifted to football. He pursued the sport through college at Youngstown State, from which he graduated in 1989 with a business degree before going on to start his construction company. But in the early 1990s, with his business off the ground, and having a little disposable income waiting to be spent, Hamm decided that a return to his equine roots was finally—and fiscally—in the cards. "I just decided at one point that I needed to buy a young racehorse, so we did," Hamm said. Hamm made the trip to Ocala for the 1994 Ocala Breeders' Sales' Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training where he purchased a filly named Willowy Proof for $13,500. When he was informed that the filly's Pennsylvania-bred status meant she could earn more money in her birth state, Hamm sent her to Philadelphia Park where she made her debut July 25 of that same year. "I just wanted to have fun with her, but she won her first out by close to 10 lengths at Philadelphia Park and that spurred my interest even more," Hamm said. "It just went on from there." Planning Riding high on what he would now describe as beginner's luck, Hamm returned to OBS in 1996 where he purchased four more fillies who went on to stakes success. Working with his brother Tom, who acted as his assistant trainer, they expanded the program and the wins continued to roll in. With so many hard-knocking fillies in his barn, Hamm decided it was time to invest in a larger training space and eventually purchased a property in Florida that would become what is today Blazing Meadows Farm. "From early on, I think from '95 when I bought the training center in Florida, we have broken all our own horses," Hamm said. "We've probably had a couple of horses over the past years that have come from other places, but we break them all and start them from scratch. That was something we really did from early on—breaking the babies and getting them ready to run. I like doing it all." Taking a page from his experience as a successful businessman, Hamm made the decision early to partner on as many horses coming through his program as possible. While the arrangement was practical in terms of spreading the risk and costs that accompany training racehorses, it also functioned as a networking tool. Working to make a name for himself on the backstretch, Hamm quite literally offered to put his money where his mouth was to attract clients with horses to train. "I didn't come up under a big name, so it became the issue at first of if you want to train horses, you have to own them," said Hamm. "I'm not sure how many people are going to knock your door down to ask you to train their horses until you can prove that you can do it. "After I started training the horses we owned, we had enough success doing that that to me, I like partnering because I like to make that financial investment. It's like investing in stocks or real estate. I like to put my money in and be able to enjoy the upside with my clients. That has become my philosophy. Of course, now we have a lot of outside clients who also do not partner on horses so we do both, but I'm not afraid to partner on a horse." Those partnerships, which encompass nearly 85% of horses under Hamm's care, set the trainer apart from his competition and continue to inspire a certain confidence in clients looking to extract the greatest possible return on investment. "When your trainer has a vested interest in the horses he trains, you know he will do right by you," said John Engelhardt, former executive director of Ohio Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders. "And you know if he feels strongly enough in his ability to break and train and campaign a horse that he is willing to partner, he is doing whatever he can to keep that horse safe and help it succeed. I've never seen anyone partner on horses with the number that he's done." Execution/Implementation In the late '90s Hamm established a branch of Blazing Meadows Farm in Ohio, hoping to parlay his on-track success to the breeding shed while taking advantage of the lucrative state program. Among his first broodmares was one of those fillies purchased in 1996, Rose Colored Lady, who produced four stakes winners from her first four foals for Hamm, including Too Much Bling (by Rubiano). Hamm would campaign Too Much Bling through his first two starts before selling the majority share to Stonerside Stable who placed him with trainer Bob Baffert. A grade 2 winner, Too Much Bling was named Ohio Horse of the Year in 2006. He remains among the leading sires in Texas. With his breeding program in full swing, Hamm was still running his construction business and training part time on the side. Conditioning horses to run primarily in Ohio and Pennsylvania, Hamm continued to rake in the wins. Still a frequent visitor to the sales, he continued to pinhook young horses. Among those to pass through Hamm's hands was Wait a While (by Maria's Mon), who was purchased for $50,000 at the 2004 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Offered the following year under the Blazing Meadows banner at the OBS Selected Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, she was purchased for $260,000 by Ocala Horses. Campaigned by Arindel and trained by Todd Pletcher, Wait a While earned Eclipse Award honors in 2006 as champion 3-year-old filly. While he sells the occasional horse through the ring at a 2-year-old sale, Hamm's main model, like he had done for Too Much Bling, became to campaign many of his talented runners through their first few starts on the track before selling them to new ownership. "We have a lot of young horses, but we typically keep a lot of the stakes horses in Ohio," Hamm said. "We sell a lot after their maiden win or a stakes win. It's just part of the business plan as well. A lot of people sell their horses as yearlings, but we prefer to take them to the races first. We want to be able to sell our young horses when they show promise." Despite the demands of balancing his entrepreneurial efforts in construction with his love of training, it wasn't until 2007 that Hamm decided it was time to hang up his hard hat for good. "We've always had a lot of good help, and I was always able to take my mornings and get to the track so I could hold it all together," Hamm said. "But at some point it becomes too much, so I decided it was time to go all-in on the horses." Performance/Monitoring Once able to devote all of his resources and attention to horse racing, Hamm doubled down on his efforts to expand his breeding and training business. His ability to identify or breed young stakes winners consistently in Ohio caught the attention of central Kentucky-based WinStar Farm. For years Hamm had been doing business with the commercial farms, sending his mares to their stallions during the breeding season before returning them to foal out in Ohio. They offered Hamm a chance to partner on a handful of mares, and later, expanded that partnership to include stallion National Flag (by Speights­town). The 6-year-old stood the past three seasons at Blazing Meadows Farm at Meander Creek in Ohio. The partnership branded their alliance WinBlaze. "I think this is now the fourth or fifth year running that we have had the 2-year-old champion in the state of Ohio," Hamm said. "We've had a lot of success doing that. "Ohio has two levels of Ohio-breds. You have the Ohio-foaled, which means that the stallion stands anywhere; or you have Ohio-accredited, where the stallion and the mare are both in the state. Because WinStar had access to National Flag, we felt that he would make a very good accredited stallion to stand in the state. That being said, we decided that if we were to stand him, we needed to purchase mares to support him so we purchased 15 mares for him specifically. "Twenty-five percent of the money in the Ohio program is restricted to accredited-breds. They're eligible for 100% of the money, and they can run in any open race they want. The stallion gets a 10% bonus too, so if any of the babies win, there are stallion awards as well as broodmare awards. So if a horse makes $20,000, the stallion gets $2,000 so that is added incentive to stand stallions in the state. It's just a really good program, and WinStar jumped in full go once they got to experience it a little bit and see the rewards." "That's a huge advantage to have those horses running in the Ohio program," said Engelhardt. "It reflects well on Ohio and speaks to Tim and WinStar's foresight that they are taking advantage of this. I think it's great that WinStar has put their faith in him. Tim has a lot of business acumen and that is important. There are really good trainers out there, but sometimes, all they know is the horse and not how the horse business works. Tim sees it from 'Go' to 'Woah.' " Closing In addition to WinStar, in recent years Hamm also has partnered with operations such as Three Chimneys Farm, where his brother, Tom, is director of stallion seasons; and Fred Hertrich III of Watercress Farm. In 2015 he entered into yet another concord with Anthony Manganaro, Ignacio Patino, and David Pope's Siena Farm, for whom he has trained a handful of yearlings each season and campaigned on a 50/50 partnership share. "It was actually through Taylor Made that we met," Pope said. "Taylor Made consigns our yearlings for us, and we happened to have a filly that wasn't a 'sales horse,' but we felt like she deserved a chance to see if she could be a real race horse. Taylor Made suggested to us that we talk to Tim about doing a deal, and the rest is history. "The dynamics of the yearling sales is that the market will be hot on some horses and not on others. But when you work with your yearlings, sometimes they show you something that makes you think they really deserve a chance. Realistically, we know that the vast majority of horses might not be that good, but you don't know until they get to a track." Siena and Hamm's most recent young runner has been among the most successful. Named Dayoutoftheoffice, the now 3-year-old daughter of Into Mischief gained acclaim at 2 when she won the Schuylerville (G3) and Frizette (G1) stakes. She finished 2020 with a close second in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) and will likely make her next start in a prep race for the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1). "She was part of a group of three we sent to Tim that year," Pope said. "When I was in Ocala, you could see that Tim was high on her. When you get horses like her, it makes sense to give them to a trainer like Tim. "The best part about being a partner with him has been being able to share in his success. With Dayoutoftheoffice being his first grade 1 winner, we know when he has that type of success that we get to stand there next to him. When you have that kind of opportunity like we have with him where you can structure a deal to be a win-win, you can't go wrong." Busier than ever, Hamm finds his free moments are rare and precious. With more than 98 juveniles at the training center—of which nearly 20 are homebreds—and a new racing year on the horizon, Hamm's program has been structured for future success. "The Ocala farm is 70 acres and 104 stalls. We do a lot out of it here," Hamm said. "We broke nearly 100 yearlings this winter, and it's all going well. We have about 60 older horses that are legging up and in different stages ready to go back to the tracks, so we have a lot going on. It's exciting times." The full version of this story first appeared in the Feb. 6 edition of BloodHorse Magazine. To purchase a copy, please visit BloodHorse.com/Tablet or Shop.BloodHorse.com.