You'd expect the champagne to flow after winning one of the game's most prestigious races. But a children's song? In the director's room at Hollywood Park?
You bet. Clap your hands.
Happyanunoit, a high-flying mare from New Zealand, inspired an impromptu singalong after giving the stable of John and Jerry Amerman the first major score of their Thoroughbred racing romance in the 1999 running of the Matriarch Stakes (G1T) on a cool November evening in Los Angeles, three days after Thanksgiving.
It was the perfect dream-come-true horse for the man who had been chairman and CEO of Mattel, the company that gave the world the Barbie doll (and Ken), as well as Hot Wheels, Chatty Cathy, and Creepy Crawlers.
A quarter of a century and a host of top horses later, the Amermans find themselves at Churchill Downs this week with their first runner in America's most famous horse race. Endlessly, a homebred son of Oscar Performance , has coaxed them away from their Peacefield Farm in Southern California for the 150th Kentucky Derby on May 4, accompanied by trainer Michael McCarthy and jockey Umberto Rispoli.
"He's a beautiful horse," said John Amerman shortly before heading to Kentucky. "He can lope along, and then he has a tremendous kick. He doesn't get too upset about things, either. So we'll find out if all those traits make a difference on Saturday."
Endlessly ran four times on turf as a 2-year-old and twice this year on Tapeta synthetic surfaces, which are stereotyped as "turf-like" when it comes to predicting dirt form. He has lost only once—in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T) last fall at Santa Anita Park—and his trainer still does not understand why that happened.
That loss is ancient history now. It's the dirt deal that looms large over Endlessly. The last time anyone checked, the Derby is contested on that reddish Kentucky loam, and the last hardcore grass horse to hit the board in the Derby was Bold Arrangement, who came from England to finish second in 1986, although both Barbaro and Big Brown had winning turf races before their Derby coronation.
McCarthy hemmed and hawed over running in the Derby until his colt turned in a smart exercise at Churchill on the eve of entries, ending any debate in the family and tossing the issue to horseplayers, who must translate all-weather form to the most difficult dirt challenge a young Thoroughbred could face.
John Amerman is 91, which is not the reason he is running a 30-1 morning line shot in the Derby. He thinks Endlessly deserves a chance, and why not? His four-length victory in the Jeff Ruby Steaks Stakes (G3) at Turfway Park was overpowering. "Circled field, ran away" was the comment of the Equibase chart caller, summoning the image of a kid happily fleeing school on the first day of summer.
And while the Kentucky Derby has not been kind to most winners of the Jeff Ruby Steaks (formerly the Jim Beam, formerly the Spiral), especially since Turfway went to a synthetic surface in 2005, when Jeff Ruby runners fire in the Derby, they tend to light the sky. Animal Kingdom (2011) and Rich Strike (2022) came out of the race to win the roses, while Hard Spun (2007) and Two Phil's (2023) were impressive seconds.
Oscar Performance, trained by Brian Lynch, gave the Amermans their second Breeders' Cup victory in the 2016 Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita. At 3 he won the Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes (G1T) and the Secretariat Stakes (G1T), then bagged the Poker Stakes (G3T) and the Woodbine Mile (G1T) at 4. His Achilles' heel was soft ground, which he encountered in the American Turf Stakes (G2T) at Churchill Downs on the 2017 Derby Day undercard, finishing last of 10 as the favorite.
"True, he did not like it soft, but he was a hell of a horse on firm ground," Amerman said. "We're very proud that he equaled the world record of 1:31.23 for the mile in the Poker."
The Amermans' long friendship with Alice Chandler helped send Oscar Performance to Mill Ridge Farm for a stallion career that has begun with two crops of offspring overacting in stakes competition far and wide. The Amermans have two other sons of Oscar Performance running in the Derby's supporting stakes.
"We've always deeply believed he would be a good stallion, and you can see that in how we have a lot of Oscar Performances running for ourselves," Amerman said. "He doesn't have as many mares as some other stallions—I think about 60 this year—but that's been by design, rather than breeding him to 200 or 250 a season. We think that's best for him, and so far he's held up his end of the bargain."
Amerman was just beginning his run as CEO of the Mattel toy empire when he and Jerry answered a flyer to join in a partnership with Clover Racing, which later became Barry Irwin's Team Valor. In 1993, they found themselves standing with their partners in the winner's circle after the Arlington Million (G1T) celebrating the victory of Star of Cozzene.
"One of the other owners that day asked me, 'Is this better than a big acquisition with Mattel?' I said, 'It's very different, but they're all great.'
“Racing is complicated, and after 10 years, we learned an awful lot from being in syndicates,” Amerman added. “I recommend that way to go for anyone starting out in the business.”
Amerman was credited for leading a dramatic turnaround in the Mattel company fortunes, which included a reinvigoration of the Barbie line and a partnership with Disney that cross-pollinated animation with physical toys. Asked what he thought of the movie "Barbie," the billion-dollar mega-hit of 2023, Amerman confessed he has yet to see the film.
"God bless them for putting out a great movie with all that box office," he said. "I did have people ask me why I didn't do it while I was at Mattel. We did a lot of things with Barbie, though, like using famous fashion designers such as Oscar de la Renta."
Amerman retired from his CEO role in 1997, and by then Amerman Racing was a going concern, with Bobby Frankel at the wheel. Together they won major events coast to coast with horses like Lido Palace, Spoken Fur, and Blue Steller, as well as Happyanunoit.
Dave Hofmans has trained for the Amermans since the late 1990s, beginning in spectacular fashion with Siphonic, winner of the 2001 Hollywood Futurity (G1) and Breeders' Futurity (G2), and more recently with Award Winner, who took the 2021 Charles Whittingham Stakes (G1T). In between, Hofmans was responsible for their first Breeders' Cup winner when Adoration took the 2003 Distaff (G1) wire-to-wire at Santa Anita. He also trained Balance, who would have been known primarily as Zenyatta's half sister if she hadn't been a multiple grade 1 winner for the Amermans in her own right.
Their imprint on the game has gone far beyond the winner's circle, including a commitment to retired racehorses that dates to the 1990s with their support, along with founder Gary Biszantz, of Tranquility Farm, while their Peacefield Farm has served as a rehabilitation and retirement facility for horses coming off the track.
John Amerman has served as a Jockey Club steward, as well as a CHRB commissioner and as a member of the board of the Thoroughbred Owners of California, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. Jerry Amerman focused her attention on the University of Kentucky Gluck Equine Research Foundation and the Center for Equine Health at the University of California, Davis.
Now the Kentucky Derby is in their sights, an experience certain to distill the best memories of their four decades in the game.
"Bobby Frankel taught me a lot," Amerman said. "He had great wisdom and great results. He told me, 'John, never talk about a horse before a race, because nothing you could say will make any difference.' So let's hope we've got something to talk about after the Derby."
