Passion Play by Lenny Shulman “Bloodhorse Magazine” 12 January 2019

Hank Nothhaft builds a top breeding program from scratch

BY LENNY SHULMAN
PHOTOS COURTESY OF HANK NOTHHAFT

Nothhaft traded venture technology companies for a career in horses
Nothhaft-bred Finest City, winner of the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint

ELEVEN YEARS AGO VENTURE· TECHNOLOGY COMPANY CEO
Hank Nothhaft looked at himself in the mirror and realized that, after three decades, he was los­ing his passion for his work. He needed a new challenge, one that satisfied his all-encompassing, adrenaline-driven, compulsive lifestyle.

               Hello Thoroughbred breeding and racing.

A decade of immersion into every­ thing horses has yielded significant results for the 74-year-old Nothhaft, a native of Pennsylvania who has traveled the world in both his military and civilian lives. Under HnR Nothhaft Horse Racing (the “R” coming courtesy of wife Randie) Nothhaft has bred Breeders’ Cup Champion Finest City, multiple graded stakes winner Daddy ls a Legend , and multiple stakes-winning homebred Grand Prix. He has also campaigned multiple graded stakes winner Living The Life and multiple grade 2-placed stakes winner Kindle, and has specialized in purchasing modestly­ priced stock that has gone on to perform on the racetrack and in the breeding shed.

There were no horses or racing in Nothhaft’s youth in Sharon, Pa ., between Erie and Youngstown, although today that area is littered with race tracks that didn’t exist decades ago. Nothhaft graduated from the United States Naval Academy and served in Vietnam , achieving his MBA in information systems technology after he exited the military. He assumed ownership of a series of tech companies, which

Nothhaft with Finest City at the 2012 Keeneland November Sale

took him from Washington D.C., to Dallas, and eventually to Silicon Valley in Northern California. There, the racing bug  bit him on friends-and-family outings to Bay Meadows.”   We loved that place, and I developed a positive view of horse racing,” noted Nothhaft. “I was going back and forth to England quite a bit , and read all the Dick Francis novels on those trips, and began going to race tracks like Lingfield, near London, and really enjoyed it. ”

Those good feelings persuaded Nothhaft to take up the challenge of trying to survive in the horse industry, initially as an owner .

“I analyzed a bunch of different industries, and I ended up with Thorough-hred racing,” he said. ” I do look back and chuckle at my naivete in thinking I could do what has subsequently occurred.  I love the competition and the immediate feedback you get on your decisions .

“What I find appealing is you can immerse yourself in the data side of it. I always had a dashboard on any company I was running and loved to throw myself into the statistics and analyze the company in as many ways as possible. So when l started looking at pedigrees and bloodlines, I thought,  ‘Wow, that amount of data is perfect for an insatiable appetite like mine.’ ”

Nothhaft did his homework. He attended seminars put on by the Thoroughbred Owners of California, watched BloodHorse videos on conformation, read books, and then went out and raced some cheap claimers in Northern California, seeking to have fun, enjoy the competition, and hopefully break even. ‘The plan didn’t work well, and Nothhaft used the economic meltdown of 2009 to liquidate his stock, learn from his early mistakes, and start over again.

With the benefit of advice from Gary Mandella and Mary Knight, he began buying better Cal-breds. Chalking it up to “dumb luck,” he bought Randie’s Legend at auction for $ 43,000 in 2008 .

She would go on to produce Daddy ls a Legend. But Nothhaft turned the corner when he decided that Pennsylvania offered more opportunity than did the situation in California. He enlisted Carl McEntee to help buy bloodstock and the operation clicked. Nothhaft grabbed Kindle for  $50,000, Be Envied for $37,000, Living The Life for less than $50,000, and Halljoy, who would become group stakes -placed. for $150,000 . All became valued members of his broodmare band, with Be Envied producing Finest City and Grand Prix.

“Hank came to realize that buying more-commercial broodmares was the most productive place to be, and safest to work within,” McEntee noted. “We’ve had good success and have made smart decisions on our breeding selections, which we both spend a lot of time on. ‘There’s luck involved, because this is the ‘Thoroughbred industry, and there are no certainties. But the harder you work, the luckier you seem to get.”

‘Today, Nothhaft’s 10 broodmares produce Pennsylvania-breds after being bred to Kentucky stallions, and he him­self is on the board of the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association.

“One of the side benefits of getting into horses is that I’ve reconnected with my home state,”  he said. “I’ve traveled the world, lived for three decades in California (today he lives in Austin, Texas) , and came back to my roots; in Pennsylvania.  I’ve won the Presque Isle Downs Masters Stakes (G2) twice. Where other guys have Kentucky Derby fever, I want to get a PABRED to win the Masters,” which has never happened . It takes all kinds of people, right?”

Most of the mares Nothhaft owns today either raced for him or were bred by him, the notable exception being Sulis, whom he bought specifically to breed to Silver Train, a stallion Nothhaft bought and stood in Pennsylvania, hut who died after just two years. Having paid $105,000 for Sulis, a daughter of Maria ‘s Mon, Nothhaft proceeded to sell weanlings  out of her for $250,000, $130,000, and $ 220,000 within four years.

Nothhaft with his grandchildren at Golden Gate Fields
Nothhaft with Living the Life UK All Weather Champion and 2 times winner Masters Stakes Gr2

As legendary Kentucky horseman Robert Courtney used to say, that’s how you make money in this business.

Because the Pennsylvania incentive program is going well, Nothhaft said he might increase his mare population to 15, but generally he is concentrating on improving the quality of the band rather than increasing its number.

“Carl and I made a decision not to take the risk of raising them to be yearlings .” Nothhaft said of his early preference for selling weanlings . “At least until now. The yearling market is crazy right now so I’m not unhappy to hold onto them another year because the financial advantage is shifting that way. That hasn’t always been true.” That updated strategy comes in part from the American Pharoah-Kindle weanling colt Nothhaft sold for S400,000 who was pin hooked by Peter O’Callaghan and sold for s2.2 million at last September’s Keeneland yearling auction.

Kindle and Kindle 17 who became the most expensive American Pharoah sold so far at $2.2M

Nothhaft supported McEntee during the latter’s time at Darby Dan Farm and has helped bankroll McEntee’s move to open Ballysax Bloodstock, which now consigns the Nothhaft-breds.

“Carl is all energy and is a hard worker,” said Nothhaft. “In his first year in 2018 he’s had good-quality consignments and gotten good results.
“Hank is an incredibly passionate man who has to have something to d rive him and I’m the same way,” noted McEntee.”He’ll call me at 4 or 5 a.m. his time to talk. He knows only one speed, and that’s 100 mph .”

Nothhaft’s single most notable day in the business came on Nov. 5, 2016. when the Breeders Cup Filly & M are Sprint (G 1) was run at Santa Anita Park. The Nothhaft-owned Living The Life, who had won the Presque lsle Downs Masters in 2014 and 2015 and the All American Stakes (G3) in 2016. was slated to compete against the Nothhaft-hred Finest City, whom the breeder had sold as a weanling in 2012 for $50,000.  ‘·My wife and l and other family members were planning to go from our home in Saratoga. Calif. Nothhaft stated. “Then a week before the race,  Living the Life came up lame and had to be retired. I was so bummed out I had a knee-jerk reaction to give my tickets away. So we watched from home. I bet heavy on Finest City  and when she won. there was an eruption . My phone started going crazy, so there was a lot of recognition of our connection to the horse. But l felt silly watching Gary Mandella accept our trophy.”

In the past, Nothhaft annually compiled what he now calls a “fantasy list ” of stallions for his mares, where he and McEntee would generate a roster of studs that fit his mares although they knew they wouldn’t he able to get to those stallions. Today, it is a different story.

“Now that I have better mares. we know we’re able to get to all the stallions on our list this year.” said Nothhaft. “So we’re not playing fantasy football anymore.” Nothhaft bought back a Pioneer of the Nile-Kindle weanling colt in November 2018 on a final bid of $375,000. He .also kept an American Pharoah-Halljoy year­ling filly who RNA’d for $335.000. Those babies are indicative of the quality of stallions to whom he now sends his mares.

“This is a very faddish industry in my opinion,” he stated. “So going to American Pharoah in his first year-if you pick the right first-year stallion it can be a bonanza when you’re selling the progeny. Certainly American Pharoah was a good pick. So we do use some select first-year or young stallions, we call ‘Living the Dream stallions.’ They don’t have anything running yet, or at least won t before (the progeny) sell.

“As far as more proven stallions, we’re not generally going to the heavy hitters such as Tapit, Candy Ride, Into Mischief, and so on. When I was starting out, I bred to Tizbud. a full brother to Tiznow.  Now, I love Tiznow, who is one of the less expensive studs I go to today, so that highlights where I started and where I’m at. But I’m also smart enough to know the minute you think you’ve got it all figured out, you’re actually really stupid because the gods are about to come down and chop your knees off. So I keep my feet on the ground.”

Said McEntee, “Hank is unlike most business people who come into the horse industry, where they tend to lose all of their previous business acumen. Hank has maintained the smart decision-making that got him to where he is.”

Nothhaft has worked diligently to try and help ensure that the Pennsylvania incentive program remains on sound footing, although that has proven to be a tricky enterprise in the past. ”Pennsylvania has had a great program for years,” said Nothhaft, “except that the state (government) kept coming up short on funds and taking money away from the breeding program for the general fund. As a breeder, you never knew what was going to be there going forward. What we’ve done is put  the program in a trust; while that can still be broken, there is a significant penalty for the state if it decides to take funds away, so we feel more comfortable going forward.

“The number of foals is increasing in the state. There are new sires and brood­ mares showing up, and the quality of the talent you need is increasing. We know New York-bred and Cal-bred races are tough, but Pennsylvania isn’t a lay-up, either. But it does run between 400 and
500 races a year for state-breds, and if you have a decent horse, you can find a level at which to race and have a good chance of earning some money which is attractive.” ‘ The man on the street- which I con­sider myself- who doesn’t have 200 horses can realistically breed Pennsylvania-breds and sell or race them with the anticipation of a reasonable financial outcome. That’s the world I thought I was getting into way back at the start.”

A dose of naivete represent standard equipment for those seeking entrance to the Thoroughbred industry as a business proposition . And the addition of successful business people such as Hank Nothhaft to its ranks swells the legitimacy as well as the feasibility of this world of horses. He has embraced a challenge far too puzzling for most; entered on the ground floor and built a sturdy operation upward despite knowing nothing about its workings when he started. That horses can rekindle this sort of passion in a person of substance such as Nothhaft is a huge positive.

“l have been retired from the tech world for three or four years now, and I thank God every morning that l got involved in the horse business because it so satisfying,” he said. “It is extremely difficult, so when things do go right, the satisfaction and the adrenaline and the good feeling you get is so significant that it’s worth all the effort. “For a small guy like me, you have to work really hard to have something good going on, and when it does, it keeps you in a good mood for a while and you re­ally have to inhale the happy fumes and the success . You have to ride over what I call th e Valley of Despair to keep your self going and motivated if you’re passionate about it.”■

Female sprint champ Finest City to sell at Fasig-Tipton

 

Finest City will represent her namesake city-San Diego-in the 2017 Breeders’ Championships at Del Mar on November 4th and then be presented for sale at the Fasig-Tipton NIght of the Stars Auction on November 6th.  Given her breeding and on track accomplishments, Finest City will command strong interest and most certainly will be a 7 figure sale.  Below is a link and copy of a Daily Racing Form Article summarizing this latest adventure.

Finest City half sisters Grand Prix and Move, also PA_Breds continue to compliment Finest City and vise versa.  Grand Prix, already a stakes winner, and Move will be entered at PARX on Pennsylvania Day at the Races Sept 2nd..  Demonstrating the versatility of broodmare Be Envied, Grand Prix will be sprinting 6 furlongs on dirt, while Move will be going 1 1/16 mile on the turf.  Grand Prix is by Tale of the Cat while Move is by Silver Train.

Bloodhorse Finest City Fasig-Tipton Article
Link Finest City Daily Racing Form Article by Joe Nevills

 

“By Joe Nevills

Finest City, the champion female sprinter of 2016, will be offered at this year’s Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall selected mixed sale, two days after a planned start in Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 4.

The 5-year-old City Zip mare won last year’s edition of the Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita en route to her Eclipse Award honors.

Finest City has won 5 of 19 starts for earnings of $1,256,394. In addition to her Breeders’ Cup score, she has won the Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes and Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes, and her seven graded placings include four in Grade 1 company.

Ian Kruljac trains Finest City for owner Seltzer Thoroughbreds. Kruljac will consign the mare as agent for the owner at the Fasig-Tipton sale, which will take place Nov. 6 in Lexington, Ky.

“Finest City has been a dream to care for,” Kruljac said. “Her brilliance, durability, versatility, and personality have given us a lifetime of memories. She has battled the best mares of her generation on any surface and at any distance.”

Grand Prix jogs to the Winner’s Circle Javiar Castellano up

Bred in Pennsylvania by HnR Nothhaft Horseracing, Finest City is out of the stakes-placed Lemon Drop Kid mare Be Envied, whose three foals to race are all winners, including stakes winner Grand Prix.

Move by Silver Train as a 3 yo at Tampa Bay Downs

Her extended family includes Grade 1 winner Burning Roma and Grade 3 winner Vivano.

Be Envied Broodmare of Finest City, Grand Prix and Move

“We are blessed to have one more chapter to write in this year’s Breeders Cup Filly and Mare Sprint before she goes to auction and begins a well-deserved career as a broodmare, and passes on her brilliance for years to come,” Kruljac said.”

 

Finest City Honored as PA BRED Horse of the Year 2016

The Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association (PHBA) hosted Its’ 38th Annual Iroquois Awards Banquet on June 9 at The Hershey Hotel. PHBA members, the board of directors, and top Pennsylvania breeders and owners were present for a great night of dinner, cocktails, and conversation.

Brian Sanfratello, Executive Director of the PHBA, served as Master of Ceremonies for the gala evening. Roger Legg PHBA President offered his greetings and welcome to the assembled group, while the Honorable Russell Redding, Secretary of Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture provided insightful comments on the current status and support by PA for the thoroughbred industry.

 

Russell Redding PA Secretary of Agriculture PHBA Awards 2017
Russell Redding PA Secretary of Agriculture PHBA Awards 2017

Henry “Hank” Nothhaft provided the Keynote address describing his journey to breeding Finest City, one of four, and the first PABRED Breeders’ Cup Champion in 24 years, and Eclipse Award Winner as Best Female Sprinter.

Click on the link below for the full script of Hank Nothhaft Keynote.

Hank Nothhaft Keynote Script

PHBA Keynote Audience
PHBA Keynote Audience


Impressive Crystal Trophies were awarded for a number of categories.

Click on the link below to view photos PHBA Crystal Awards.

Photos PHBA Crystal Category & Iroquois Awards 2017

See the full list of Category Winners listed Below.

 

Iroqouis Champions 2017

Full Gallery of Photos of the PHBA Awards, Click Link Below:

PHBA IROQUOIS AWARDS PHOTO GALLERY 2017 

Hank Nothhaft owner of HnR Nothhaft Horseracing accepts Horse of the Year Award for HnR PABRED Finest City.

 

Hank Nothhaft Accepts Finest City HOY Award form Betsy Barr PHBA Director
Hank Nothhaft Accepts Finest City HOY Award form Betsy Barr PHBA Director

Grand Prix (PA) captures 1st Stakes Title New Start Stakes

After an impressive outing at Santa Anita on May 11, 2017 in an open Allowance Race on the downhill turf course,  HnR decided to ship her to Pennsylvania to take advantage of the lucrative PABRED Stakes program.  Grand Prix, trained by Gary Mandella, arrived in good order in PA via Tex Sutton Horse Transport.

Grand Prix jogs to the Winner's Circle
Grand Prix jogs to the Winner’s Circle

Based on her race fitness and positive conditioning at Delaware Park in Keith Nation’s Barn, we decided to run her the New Start Stakes, a 6 furlong sprint on the dirt for 3 year old PABRED fillies on June 3rd at Penn National in Grantville, Pa.  The New Start Stakes was part of a 7 stakes program including the prestigious Pennsylvania Mile and the Governor’s Cup.  Javier Castellano, 4 time Eclipse Award Winning jockey was booked to ride Grand Prix.

HAPPY HOMECOMING FOR NOTHHAFT AS GRAND PRIX TAKES NEW START

Click the above link for Racing Biz Article by Frank Vespe

Grand Prix broke sharply, maintained a position of stalking the leaders about a length off the lead before asserting herself at the 1/4 pole, maintaining her lead to the end of the race, besting undefeated, stakes winner and PA 2 yo filly of the year Rose Tree.  We were not only gratified that she won impressively, but her splits and final times of 1:09.61 were certainly on the high end of our range of expectations.  Grand Prix came out of the race 100% and will stay on the east coast.   We are currently planning at least 3 more races before assessing our next move with her.  Photos by B n D Photography.

 

Trophy Presentation by Brian Sanfratello PHBA Executive Director to Javier Castellano and Hank Nothhaft
Trophy Presentation by Brian Sanfratello PHBA Executive Director to Javier Castellano and Hank Nothhaft Observed by Northview Stallions Paul O’Laughlin

Finest City is Newest PA-Bred Breeders’ Cup Winner

City Envy (AKA Finest City) and Hank Nothhaft Keeneland November 2012

By Nikki Sherman

Originally published in PHBA February, 2017 Newsletter published in Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Magazine

Photos HnR Nothhaft Media Library

 

Other than the Kentucky Derby, winning a Breeders’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championship race is the dream of every breeder in the United States. It often takes decades-if it happens at all-to reach that pinnacle, but for Henry “Hank” Nothhaft, it took just a few years.

“I have not been involved in horse racing very long, “ Nothhaft admits. “I became directly involved in a very limited way around 2008, with the idea to create a business I could run and enjoy while I was moving into retirement from my business career in the technology world.”

Nothhaft, who breeds and races under the name HnR Nothhaft Horseracing LLC, wanted to go through a hands-on learning experience in the Thoroughbred industry and was able to purchase the promising young stallion, Silver Train, in 2011. That November, he and agent Carl McEntee attended the Keeneland November mixed sale to look for mares that would cross well with the son of Old Trieste. There, they found a Lemon Drop Kid mare named Be Envied, who was in foal to the popular sprint stallion City Zip. Nothhaft purchased Be Envied for $37,000 and shipped her to Northview PA in Peach Bottom to foal. That foal was a lovely chestnut filly he decided to name City Envy.

The filly was entered in the 2012 Keeneland November sale as a weanling after colleagues convinced him that she should easily bring $150,000. However, early interest in City Envy, who Nothhaft had named before his decision to sell came about, fizzled out when on-site veterinary inspections discovered an existing OCD on X-rays. She just barely met her reserve of $50,000, selling for that price to Cobra Farm, who in turn pinhooked her at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale in 2013. Seltzer Thoroughbreds purchased the filly for $85,000 and the father-son team of Wayne and Tyler Seltzer decided to rename her Finest City after their hometown of San Diego.

“She was a knockout from day one” remembers Nothhaft. “Unfortunately, that’s one of the reasons I decided to sell her, as I thought we were going to be able get six figures for her and I was focused on building a broodmare band for Silver Train to race in Pennsylvania. She was one of the first two or three PA-BRED horses I bred and was the first horse I bred who sold commercially at auction.”

The Seltzers’ trainer Ian Kruljac clearly had great hopes for their new filly from the beginning, as Finest City made her career debut at the prestigious Del Mar summer meet in July of 2015. The filly finished a solid second behind eventual graded stakes winner Gloryzapper. Her next start would be a different story-Finest City ran off to an impressive 8 ½ length score in a $70,000 maiden special weight at Del Mar. After an unsuccessful stakes debut over Santa Anita’s downhill turf course in her next start, Finest City returned to the winner’s circle with an easy 3 ¼ length score in a $53,000 allowance at Del Mar.

Finest City competed against some of the top female sprinters on the West Coast throughout the winter of 2015-16, and by April she finally broke through becoming a stakes winner when she captured the $200,000 Great Lady M Stakes-G2 at Los Alamitos. That race earned Finest City a chance to compete in the Breeders’ Cup, where she nearly faced off against Nothhaft’s own multiple graded stakes winner, millionaire Living the Life (IRE).

Living the Life with Flavien Prat up

Living the Life (IRE) Flavian Prat up

“We originally had fairly elaborate plans to attend the Breeders’ Cup, but when Living the Life came up lame before the race, I canceled our reservations. I came to regret this decision,” Nothhaft admits. “So, my wife and I were glued to our TV watching the race. I must be honest, I thought Finest City could win, but was really more confident in a top-three finish. When she did win, we were cheering and literally jumping for joy. Within seconds, my cell phone exploded with texts and calls beyond anything we had ever experienced.”

On the first Saturday of November 2016, Finest City joined an elite group of just three other PA-Breds who have captured a Breeders’ Cup Race when she crossed the wire first in the $1,000,000 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint G1, holding off defending champion Wavell Avenue by three-quarters of a length under heavy urging from Hall of Fame Jockey Mike Smith.

Those other Breeders’ Cup-winning PA-Breds are some of the most talented athletes to grace the Breeders’ Cup. Alphabet Soup won the 1996 Classic in a thrilling stretch battle with Louis Quatorze and Cigar. Go For Wand captured the 1989 Juvenile Fillies as part of a campaign that culminated in her being crowned that year’s Eclipse Award champion 2 year-old filly, and Tikkanen, wh set a couse record at Churchill Downs in the 1994 Breeders’ Cup turf.

Finest City enjoyed a short break following the biggest race of her life, but has since returned to Kruljac’s Santa Anita Barn. She is steadily working towards a 2017 campaign that would ideally give her the opportunity to defend her Breeders’ Cup title, this time in her owners’ hometown of San Diego at her favorite track, Del Mar.

Finest City 6

Finest City making her winning Breeders’ Cup move with Mike Smith up

She was also named a finalist for the 2016 Champion Female Sprinter, along with Haveyougoneaway and Paulasilverlining-both whom finished behind Finest City in the Breeders’ Cup.

Win or lose, nothing will compare to the thrill of winning a Breeders’ Cup race. Tyler Seltzer said it best when the NBC Sports camera crew caught up with him immediately following the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. The excitement was overwhelming, and all he could think to say was an emphatic, “She’s pretty great.”

High Mark “HnR’s Breeders’ Cup Win”

Nothhaft ranks Finest City score in Breeders’ Cup among top achievements  

Article Written by Tom Law

Published in Mid Atlantic Thoroughbred Magazine Dec, 2016  

Breeders’ Cup Photos courtesy Racing Heart Photography

Photos from HnR Nothhaft Horseracing Library who holds rights to utilize on HnRRacing.com

Henry R “Hank” Nothhaft got involved with racing toward the tail end of a career in the high-technology industry knowing he’d need a challenge and something to feel passionate about as retirement loomed.

“I’d gotten into the horse racing business because I knew that being in high tech, that I’d retire, the inevitable cycle of life,” Nothhaft said.  “I’m still very interested in it, but I don’t have the overwhelming passion that I had when I first got in it, so I was looking for something else to do.  So approximately 10 years ago I got involved. ”

“I didn’t know anything to tell you the truth.  I didn’t know how little I really knew.  I thought I knew about it, but after a while I realized how naive I really was.” Nothhaft, a first generation American who grew up in Western Pennsylvania and runs his operation HnR Nothhaft Horseracing, admits he’s still got plenty to learn, but he also knows now what it feels like to breed a winner at the Breeders’ Cup World Championships.  Nothhaft found that out Nov. 5 as Pennsylvania-bred Finest City upset the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint G1 at Santa Anita Park.

Ironically Nothhaft’s first Breeders’ Cup victory came in a race he was expected to be represented as an owner, with Living the Life (IRE), who missed the race due to injury.  Nothhaft watched the Breeders’ Cup from his home in Saratoga CA, with his family, and Finest City’s three-quarter-length win over 2015 Filly and Mare Sprint winner Wavell Avenue factored heavily in a huge weekend for her breeder.

The day after Finest City’s victory, Nothhaft was on hand at Golden Gate Fields to see her 2 year old half-sister, the Pennsylvania-bred Tale of the Cat filly Grand Prix, break her maiden in her fourth start.  Nothhaft relished those victories, along with several other on Breeders’ Cup weekend that bolstered his breeding program.  “Given my horses and who I’m planning on breeding to, it couldn’t have been any better,” he said.  “I have a Gio Ponti and a Gio Ponti won (the Sprint) with Drefong.  I haves a Pioneer of the Nile and I’m considering him as the breeding choice for Living the Life and Kindle, another mare I own.  He won (the Juvenile) with Classic Empire.  I have a Tiznow colt on the ground and Tourist won (the Mile).  I’m a City Zip maniac and Finest City won.

“So how could you have a better day than that, short of Living the Life not having won the race?  And not to mention Navy beat Notre Dame for the 13th time in 90 years Saturday.  How could you haves a better day than that?”

smallNV.Hank_.Nothhaft.23

Henry R. “Hank” Nothhaft @Northview PA

The seedlings of Nothhaft’s memorable weekend were planted back in 2011, when he and bloodstock agent Carl McEntee worked the Keeneland November breeding stock sales in search of broodmare prospects.  Nothhaft met McEntee, formerly of Ghost Ridge Farm and Northview PA in Pennsylvania and now with Darby Dan Farm in Kentucky, during the re-syndication of champion Smarty Jones.  The two also worked on the purchase of Pennsylvania stallion Silver Train and were shopping for mares to breed to the son of Old Trieste when Be Envied went through the ring at Keeneland.  “My goal was to support Silver Train,”

Nothhaft said.  “I had a really strong belief in the Pennsylvania incentives, both the breeding and owners’ awards.  I had a little bit of an emotional attachment to the State considering I was born there.”  “I started to develop a broodmare band to support the sire.  We set a budget, had criteria we were looking for and we were buying in foal mares at auctions.  Considering a guy like me getting involved at such a late stage you’ve got to buy mares in foal if you’re going to accelerate your entry into the industry, unless you’re just writing blank checks and giving all your profits to somebody else.  Having been a a high-tech entrepreneur I was thinking about building a business from scratch, putting capital in, doing a lot of boot-strapping of the business.  That was my mentality.”

Nothhaft bought Be Envied for $37,000.  She was sold in foal to City Zip and the resulting foal born at Northview PA in Peach Bottom in 2012 was Finest City.  Understanding the realities of running  his breeding program like any other business and looking to generate cash flow, Nothhaft entered the weanling City Zip filly, then named City Envy in the 2012 Keeneland November sale.  “I’d named the horse so I wasn’t planning on selling, but after looking at the foals on one of my trips to Pennsylvania and some casual conversations, we said, “Let’s seriously consider selling this foal if we can get enoughmoney for it,” Nothhaft said.  “Enough money would be over $100,000 for a weanling out of a mare we paid $37,000 for.  She was vetted, she was beautiful, we moved her to Northview Maryland to do sales prep and everything was rolling.  We hired Hunter Valley Farm, which is a high-end and reputable consignor.  They’re great for a guy like me.  We got her down to Kentucky, prep her and we’re all very optimistic.  At the sale she’s getting a lot of looks and scopes.  She was on fire.”

Be Envied 12 Finest City Hunter Valley Keeneland

City Envy (now) Finest City and Hank Nothhaft Keeneland November Sale

Nothhaft, McEntee and Hunter Valley’s Fergus Galvin hoped the filly would bring as much as $150,000 after all the presale action, but were conservative in putting her reserve at $50,000.  “When she sold I went in the room–this was the first horse I ever bred that I sold–and there was some bidding initially but it started slow; ran up in small increments,” Nothhaft said.  “The last bid was $50,000 and she sold.  I couldn’t understand it, Fergus couldn’t understand it, Carl couldn’t understand it.  Well, we go back and it comes to our attention that we thought the X-rays were clean, but it turns out the last set taken weren’t completely clean.  She had a small OCD issue, and selling as a weanling basically to pinhookers, that’s tough.  The people that were looking at her were flunking her and moving on to somebody else, but we didn’t know it at the time.” Cobra Farm bought the filly, and resold her for $85,000 at the 2013 Keeneland September yearling sale to Seltzer Thoroughbreds, which celebrated her victory in the Filly and Mare Sprint with trainer Ian Kruljac.

Finest City 6

Finest City with Mike Smith up makes winning Breeders’ Cup Move

Nothhaft bred Be Envied to Silver Train and she produced a filly, subsequently named Move in 2013.  Nothhaft sent Be Envied to Tale of the Cat in 2013, the resulting foal being the winner Grand Prix, and Silver Train died after standing in the Southern Hemisphere in December 2013.  Be Envied was bred to Tale of Ekati and later in the year was entered in the Keeneland November sale.  She failed to meet her reserve on a final bid of $24,000, but was sold privately after going through the ring to representatives of breeders in India.

GRAND PRIX ACT 2

Grand Prix Wins Maiden with ease

Nothhaft said he doesn’t regret selling Finest City or Be Envied.  “I race, maybe if I was only a breeder I would have second thoughts, but I know the racing risk, and how these animals are,” he said.  “I’m so happy for these people and the success they had.  They did all the right moves.  During all of this I’ve been nothing but elated for the horse, the connections and everybody involved.  They bought an animal that had some known issues at that time, but were willing to take the risk.  On top of that you still had all the racing luck issues you deal with anyway.  Plus I own the two half sisters so I’m ecstatic.”

Though he was the only winner, Nothhaft wasn’t the only Mid-Atlantic breeder at the Breeder’s Cup.  Six horses bred in the region competed in the 13 races-four in Pennsylvania, one in Maryland and one in Virginia.

City Envy Mar 30 2012

 Finest City day old foal @Northview Stallion Station PA

Grand Prix Yearling

Grand Prix Yearling

Be Envied 2014 Sep 10 2014

 

Grand Prix Weanling

Move TBD Jan 20 2016

 Move by Silver Train out of Be Envied

Be Envied

 Be Envied by Lemon Drop Kid

Planning for Success-Businessman Nothhaft Breeds a winner with Pennsylvania Breeding Program

Henry R “Hank” Nothhaft Photo Anne Litz Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred

This Article Originally appeared in the June 2014 Issue of Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred
It appears here in its’ entirety with Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred’s permission.

This article authored by Cindy Deubler

Click on Photos for larger image and captions. Supplemental videos added to this article.

Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred

Henry R “Hank” Nothhaft knows business. Studying spreadsheets, business plans and bottom lines is second nature to the Pennsylvania native who resides in California and made a career of taking hightech start-up companies in California’s Silicon Valley and nurturing them into multi-million-dollar businesses. Nothhaft applies his business acumen to Thoroughbred racing and breeding and has his plans in place. Locking onto the Pennsylvania breeding program, the affable and energetic CEO has leaped in with both feet, building a broodmare band he boards at Northview PA in Peach Bottom, investing in stallions, and creating a racing stable on both coasts. And he’s enjoying every minute of it.

“As a lifelong entrepreneur I knew I’d be bored out of my mind when I retired, so I thought ‘I’m going to have to start a business to run before retirement occurs,’ ” said Nothhaft, 70, during one of his trips to Pennsylvania over the winter to visit his growing broodmare band. “So I did an analytical approach. . . the competition, the data-driven aspects, the massive amounts of bloodlines. It had always appealed to me – it’s very competitive, instant feedback, outsourcing model, no employees, and so on. I put together a bunch of factors and I chose horse racing and breeding.”

Nothhaft (pronounced note-off) was born and raised in western Pennsylvania, near the Ohio border, and had no previous background with horses. His earliest introduction to live racing came at the Standardbred tracks near Columbus, Ohio,as a teenager. It was a fun diversion. Nothhaft went the military route early in his career – he graduated from the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and was a Marine captain who served in Vietnam – and followed that with graduate school, which led to his introduction to the technology world, which led to sales for high-tech companies in the 1970s. “That’s very close to being an entrepreneur,” said Nothhaft, who is quick to admit that he always wants to succeed in anything he tries to do. “Next thing you know, I wanted to be more than the guy selling the stuff, I wanted to be more involved in the company and running it.”

Nothhaft’s passion for the American dream is boundless. The loss of business in recent decades in the Silicon Valley prompted him to write the highly acclaimed book Great Again, which came out in 2011 and explores solutions to return the United States to prominence as an innovation leader in the world. More than ready to speak out about the political climate in Pennsylvania and its adverse effect on the breeding industry when discussions come up about taking away incentives.

Hank with Randie’s Legend in foal to Stormy Atlantic

Photo Anne Litz Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred

“People who are serious about making significant investments in any industry, including Thoroughbreds, like to have a long-term horizon. And some predictability,” said Nothhaft. “So if the landscape is negative, you can take that into effect and decide whether you want to be in that business. If you have a positive environment and positive incentives, which Pennsylvania certainly has, but you think they are fleeting and may be taken away at any time, it’s very hard to make multimillion-dollar long-term investments in the industry.”

Nothhaft slips easily into using corporate-world terms when describing his Thoroughbred operation. “The goal is to breed to race and sell and get quality to the point where it becomes self-sustaining or grows from the reinvestment of the profit.” He owns approximately a dozen broodmares, has a stable in California with trainer Gary Mandella and another string at Parx Racing with trainer Keith Nations, who had been based in California. “My commitment to Pennsylvania racing is bolstered by Nations’ move to Parx as my exclusive [East Coast] trainer,” he said. As with any business plan, adjustments are often necessary. Nothhaft initially started purchasing horses in California in 2006, but when the financial market experienced its setback in 2008, he sold off all his California assets (although he still has one broodmare in production in the state) and decided to relocate to Pennsylvania because of the strength of the state-bred program. Nothhaft had already done a lot of homework. “In 2006 I started scratching the surface of studying pedigrees,” he recalled. “I wrote a business plan. This was part of that analysis I did. I went to a couple of seminars that the Thoroughbred Owners of California ran, learning the ins and outs of horse racing, what all the rules were, tax implications and record keeping, breeding. Then I plugged into The Blood-Horse [magazine]. I bought all the books in their library, from breeding theories totaking care of mares. Even though I don’t run a farm, I read all those books and watched all their videos on how to evaluate horse flesh.

“I spent a lot of time self-educating, and then I started meeting people in the business through these seminars and asking a lot of questions. I’ll be quite honest – some of the people I got involved with initially, I made poor choices. They weren’t terrible people, they just weren’t effective and not the right people for me. It’s good I got started to breed to race in California and we had the massive setback. It hit me in the face.”

Hank and Gary Mandella Santa Anita Paddock Area

Photo Hank Nothhaft Jr.

One solid connection Nothhaft made in California was Mandella, his trainer since 2010. Purchasing yearlings for Nothhaft under the HnR Nothhaft Horse Racing banner, Mandella and bloodstock agent Mary Knight selected the Indian Charlie filly Kindle at the Keeneland September Yearling sale in 2009 for the novice owner,
spending $50,000.

Kindle Battles Mizdirectin in Grade II Monrovia Stakes

Benoit Photo

Kindle has overcome numerous setbacksto win or place in nine of 11 starts, take two stakes and hit the board in four graded races. She even pushed two-time Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint-G1 champion Mizdirection in last year’s Grade 2 Monrovia Stakes at Santa Anita, losing by a half-length. Destined for Nothhaft’s broodmare band, the 6-year-old once again went to the sidelines in January following a solid second in the 2014 Monrovia, her first start in nearly a year. Back in training, she is being prepared for the Royal Northern Stakes at Woodbine in late July. Should all go well, a trip to Parx for the Grade 3 Turf Monster in September is on the agenda before returning to California.

Video

Kindle Duels Mizdirection in 2013 Monrovia Stakes

Another significant accomplishment for Nothhaft came through his association with bloodstock advisor Carl McEntee, formerly with Ghost Ridge Farm and Northview PA before leaving for Darby Dan in Kentucky. The two met in the fall of 2010, and McEntee has advised Nothhaft on purchases of broodmares and European-based fillies at the track. Among the broodmares was Sulis, a young winning daughter of Maria’s Mon who cost Nothhaft $105,000 at the 2012 Keeneland November sale while carrying her first foal. Three months later, Sulis delivered a filly by Harlan’s Holiday at Northview PA. In November, the filly was in the sales ring at Keeneland, selling for $250,000, the top price for a Pennsylvania bred weanling last year.

Sulis 2013 by Harlan’s Holiday

Photo Henry R “Hank” Nothhaft

Video

Sulis 13 Harlan’s Holiday Keeneland Sale

“Carl has an uncanny eye and a willingness to have a discipline in bidding for horses when buying mares, yearlings or whatever,” said Nothhaft. “We set very specific goals and budgets. . . I go to all the auctions now that I’m retired – even beforeI was retired I went to most of them. Carl and I will sit there and agree on a price before we walk into the room. We haven’t chased the horses – we’ve passed on hundreds But because of our good planning and discipline, we ended up buying a horse like Sulis. A fantastic buy.
“Our goal has always been to buy the mare in foal, and have the first foal cover the purchase. And so far, other than a couple I kept myself that we could have sold for that, we’ve accomplished that.” Another rising star found by McEntee is the 4-year-old filly Living The Life (Ire), a daughter of Two Thousand Guineas-G1 winner Footstepsinthesand out of a Machiavellian mare. Purchased in February in England for $60,000 and transferred to the Newmarket training yard of McEntee’s brother Phil, Living The Life has since
won twice in four starts over the all-weather track at Lingfield.

Carl McEntee Hank Nothhaft Phil McEntee Stakes Winner Living the Life Lingfield

Photo Becky McEntee

Her final start before shipping to California came in the $252,000 All-Weather Championship Fillies and Mares Condition Stakes April18, which she won easily. She will be pointed to the Del Mar meet this summer. “Part of my plan is to buy pedigreed fillies in the U.K. for value prices equal to their U.S. residual value and then try to step them up by succeeding on the track in the U.S.,” said Nothhaft. Two other fillies following that path are Macaabra (Ire), a 4-year-old daughter of the hot international sire Exceed And Excel out of a Sadler’s Wells mare, and the Irish-bred Halljoy (by Halling), Group 3 placed in England last year at 2. Macaabra joined the Mandella barn in 2013, and won an allowance race at Santa Anita this year. Halljoy shipped to the U.S. with Living The Life and is awaiting her first start in the HnR Nothhaft Horse Racing colors.

Living the LIfe Jockey Adam Kirbey led by Phil McEntee Trainer Hank Nothhaft Owner to Winners Circle AW Championship

Photo Ian Headington

Videos

Living the Life Wins All Weather Championship 2014

All Weather Championship Post Race Interview

Those silks have special meaning to Nothhaft – they are Navy blue and gold. “I have the same relationship with the Naval Academy as I have with horses, I love it,” he said. And while Nothhaft’s wife Randie and sons Hank and Ryan and their families enjoy the horses and going to the track onthe West Coast, he said it “has turned into more of a business for them because it’s isolated from them.” But Nothhaft can’t help naming horses for family members. One of his most prized broodmares, somewhat to his wife’s chagrin, is Randie’s Legend. Nothhaft laughed when he said, “My wife said I could continue in horse racing as long as I
didn’t name another horse after her.”Another was named First Blue Angel (in honor of his father-in-law Capt. Roy Marlin “Butch” Voris, who founded the Navy’s Blue Angels flight demonstration squadron). And when he had two grandsons born a month apart this past year, Nothhaft named a California-bred yearling using their first names, Sawyer and Jett. “When Sawyer’s Jett goes to the track, we’re all going to go. I had named her something else, but when we had the two babies, I wanted to name a horse after them that they could see.” Nothhaft supports numerous stallions, but connected immediately with two. Smarty Jones was among the first horses he invested in when launching his Pennsylvania operation. Nothhaft not only owns shares of the Pennsylvania-bred star, but revealed “I have a poster of a movie they’ve done on Smarty Jones. I have a Moneigh by Smarty Jones. I’m a true fan of Smarty Jones.”

Smarty Jones Enjoying the Sun Northview Mar 2014

Photo Henry R “Hank” Nothhaft

He also had a special connection to Breeders’ Cup Sprint-G1 winner Silver Train. Standing a stallion in the region was an integral part of Nothhaft’s initial business plan and his analysis led him to look for a horse who could stand at a fee to suit the region, throw winners at distances up to a mile, and produce durable runners. Silver Train checked every box he moved to Pennsylvania for the 2012 season. The millionaire and A.P. Indy grandson was well received during his two years in the state and provided Nothhaft an opportunity to experiment. Soon after his arrival, Silver Train had a website and Facebook page.“I feel horse racing is an under-covered sport,” said Nothhaft. “So we had our own website, and we could put up any information on Silver Train that we wanted instantly. I had a blog, I wrote a lot of the articles that were there. We had a very active Facebook page. We had really core, true followers who were following the horse. I did a lot of that activity personally. So I learned that social media can be a powerful force.”

The use of social media remains important to Nothhaft, whose mare Kindle has a Facebook page (HnR’s Kindle) and a section on the Silver Train website.

Silver Train Breeders Cup Sprint Champion

Photo Henry R “Hank” Nothhaft

“It’s amazing when we put a note on there, the interest levels we’ve got on her,” Nothhaft said. “We’re trying to create value, and Kindle is a brand. She’s got a following. People want to know when she’s racing. I’m going to try to have some of my horses as the HnR brand. Hopefully that [Harlan’s Holiday] foal we sold will go to Saratoga. I hope they get a million dollars and I won’t have any regrets. I own Sulis,
and I sold the horse for good money, and it would help our brand. That’s how you have to look at it.”

The loss of Silver Train, who colicked while in quarantine in Brazil after standing in the Southern Hemisphere last fall, was an emotional blow to Nothhaft. And it was a blow from a business point of view. “I do insure myself, so it wasn’t a nearterm loss of capital, it was the business momentum,” said Nothhaft, who owned 87.5 percent of Silver Train. “It takes years to get this pipeline going and we had two years worth of getting him going and we were ready to press on the accelerator. It was a setback.”Nothhaft has moved away from stallion ownership.

Will El Padrino become the next great Pulpit Sire

Photo Anne Litz Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred

“As far as being an entrepreneur you have to assimilate that, reassess your plan, look at your strengths and weaknesses, see where you are and go forth,” he said. “I’ve definitely shifted the emphasis very heavily to high-quality mares, with some ownership of seasons as it makes sense. I found I really don’t need to own the stallion and it gives me more flexibility.” In addition to his interest in Smarty Jones, Nothhaft has shares in Northview PA stallions Jump Start and El Padrino. Nothhaft also uses stallions in Kentucky, this year sending mares to, among others, Scat Daddy, Gio Ponti, Tale of Ekati and Dunkirk. Nothhaft plans to keep his Silver Train offspring to race. He has five yearlings by the stallion, including a colt named Thepennsylvaniakid. The final Silver Train foal bred in his name, a filly out of the Unbridled’s Song mare Aloft born April 19, will be named Silber Zug, which is German for Silver Train. “I’m German by heritage. . . I generally don’t name horses that I might sell – so that one’s a keeper.” This year’s Pennsylvania foal crop for the breeder numbers nine, including a Scat Daddy filly out of Sulis, a Stormy Atlantic colt out of Randie’s Legend and a Ghostzapper colt out of Canary Diamond, one of Nothhaft’s more recent purchases, out of the Adena Springs consignment at Keeneland last November.

The Pennsylvania KId (s)
The Pennsylvania Kid (s)

Photo Anne Litz Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred

“The thing I do like about horse racing, it’s a constant, instant feedback on your decisions and how you are doing,” said Nothhaft. “Between the racing stock, the ones in the pipeline, the broodmares, the foals and everything we’ve got going, there is constant feedback on your decisions and how well you are doing and how well you are managing your business.

“It’s just exciting, I just have a passion for it. Everything I have ever been involved with I’ve had a passion for it. I don’t have many regrets, if any, but one is I wish I would have gone into this business 20 or 30 years ago, because it’s a long lead-time business. To do it yourself, and bootstrap it, and create the success yourself takes time.”


Photo Anne Litz Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred

Nothhaft appears to have found the formula of mixing business with pleasure. “Having a long-term plan, and setting achievable stretch goals, and managing that plan – that could work in any business. So you get into the horse-racing arena – I’m sure this is true of startups in technology too – some companies have very concise goals, very well thought out plans, they execute, they review their results, they adjust accordingly and so on. Those outfits sometimes can succeed without having the best technology. That certainly applies to the horse industry. “[The racing industry] has a variety – big companies to the individual participant. But at any level, the person who has the appropriate plan will be the most successful. I really believe this.”