Steve Heimbecker has loved horses since hanging around the barn with his dad as a youngster. He also loves to win races with horses, and although he’s made a very significant investment in yearlings the past few years, it seems like he’s taking it up a notch.
At the recently concluded Lexington Selected Yearling Sale, Heimbecker bought 19 colts outright, to the tune of $2.3 million, and bought in as a partner on a handful of others as well. He’s given them to a stable of different trainers that he believes in, and he’s excited about his prospects to say the least. By Dan Fisher.
“I’ll be honest, I might have gone a little deeper down there [in Lexington] than I had originally planned, but I want a world champion, I want to win the big races, and the people that I’m competing with to do that have really nice horses, so if you want to win the big races you need nice horses, and you need to spend a bit of money to get them.” ~Steve Heimbecker.
When Steve Heimbecker was a little kid he remembers kicking around the barns on the weekends with his dad. He remembers feeding horses carrots, and he remembers how good it felt just being around those horses. Now at age 47, and a successful businessman with a wonderful family, he realizes it’s a feeling that’s never left him.
“I really just love the horses, they’re incredible animals,” shares Heimbecker emphatically. “I really find them to be therapeutic. I don’t know if I was around them in a previous life, I don’t even know if I believe in that stuff anyway, but I do know that I love being in the barn and I just love being around them. My grandfather was involved with some Thoroughbreds… I never knew him, he passed away before I was born, but I still have a little pair of binoculars that he used to take to the track. My dad used to always take me to the barns on the week-ends… he had some trotters with one of the Walker brothers and a few other local trainers. I just remember petting the horses and them tugging at my pockets, looking for carrots and stuff… it got into my blood back then and I guess it never left.
“There were a number of years when I wasn’t really involved, when my kids were younger and stuff, but I always kept an eye on the game. Now that the kids are a bit older and are getting lives of their own, it’s given me a bit more time to get involved again. My wife Joanna could care less about them [the horses] and I’m totally fine with that… it’s my thing. My son Callum is 16, and my daughters Carys and Rori are 13 and 10. Rori, the 10-year-old, is the horse nut, she loves them. She actually reads pedigrees with me and studies the videos and photos of the yearlings. She loves helping me research the babies,” Heimbecker beams.
“When I first got back into owning, the first one I got in on was Courtly Choice. I only knew Blake [MacIntosh] a bit from being around the track but I saw Courtly qualify and I loved him, so I called Blake and asked if I could buy in. We came up with a deal and he obviously won some big races for us. I wasn’t there for most of the big wins though… I’d just get so nervous when he raced. I got superstitious about it too. I thought that if I went he’d get beat. For the Jug I actually had the car packed and had left the house to go, but I turned around and went home in fear of jinxing him. He won and it eventually became the joke with Blake that I wasn’t allowed to go anymore (laughing). The horse definitely gave us some great thrills though.
“Now though, since the COVID lockdown when we weren’t even allowed to go, I go all of the time and just enjoy them. I love going to the track to see them race… I just love winning races.”
If winning races is something the man from Waterloo, Ontario loves to do, he’s definitely been taking an honest shot at doing just that for the past few years, and last month in Kentucky, at the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale, he may have even upped the ante.
“I’ve spent a lot of money on yearlings the past few years,” Heimbecker admits, “but I wanted to do it a bit differently this time around. A lot of the ones that I’ve been involved with, I got in after-the-fact. People would say, ‘We got this one for $150,000 and he’s a nice colt’ so I’d take a piece. But I wanted to get in on the ground floor a bit more this time around. I wanted to be involved in searching the pedigrees, watching the videos, and walking the sale grounds to look at them all. So that’s what I did. It might be a little more expensive this way but we were able to get some real kick-ass pedigrees and I’m excited about them.
“We bought all colts in Lexington, and that was done by design. I want a world champion. I want to win races like the North America Cup and the Mohawk Million, so I went to Lexington to buy the horses that might be able to do that for me… and we’re not done yet. I’m buying some more online in the London Sale this week, and we’re definitely going to Harrisburg. I bought two Bettors Delights in Lexing-ton but I think we’ll buy some more Ontario-sired yearlings in Harrisburg, and probably some fillies too,” he shared.
If you look up the ‘Top Buyers’ list on the Lexington Selected website you’ll find that Steve Heimbecker was indeed the number one spending individual owner at the recently concluded sale. Nancy Takter and Tony Alagna may have spent a little bit more, as agents, spend-ing $2.9 million and $2.7 million respectively, but right behind them was Steve Heimbecker of Waterloo, Ontario, who bought 19 colts on the first two nights of the sale, for a total of $2,342,000.
When you see someone leave a sale with 19 new purchases, at an average of $123,000+ per yearling, one might assume that the buyer had succeeded in buying every colt that they came for. “I didn’t get every single one that I wanted though,” Heimbecker admits. “There was the most beautiful Muscle Hill colt that I have ever seen… a full brother to When Dovescry. Nancy [Takter] got him for $475,000. I was the un-derbidder at $450,000. I was offered a 20% partnership in him, by the group that bought him, before he sold, but I told Nancy that I wanted to own 100% of him so that I’d be bidding against her.
“I did bow out on a few others during the bidding as well. You set a limit as to what you think they’re worth and you try to stick to it, but I’ll admit this now and you can put it in print,” the affable Heimbecker laughs and raises his voice. “I think I’m a horrible bidder! I got in-volved in one group down there with my good friend John Fielding and Nancy Takter. During one back-and-forth with them after they didn’t get a few of the colts they wanted for the group, I made a comment and John laughed and put his arm around me. He said ‘Stevie, you have a lot to learn my friend, but I’m going to help you,’” Heimbecker laughs. “But that’s ok. I might think I’m a poor bidder now, but I’m learning, and in a few years time I might just be one of the sharpest bidders in the business.
“In the end I actually bought more than 19 in Lexington,” Steve shares. “I bought in on three or four more with that group of Nancy’s and I got a piece of one with John Bax as well. I did piece off and bring in partners on three or four of the 19 that I bought, and I had previously bought a couple in the Ohio sale too. As of now there are 29 of them [yearlings] in total. I own 22 of them outright and have partners on the other seven. I’m happy with them all. This time around I did it my way… I’m happy with the horses I’ve bought and with the trainers that I’ve given them to, so if it doesn’t work out I have no one to blame but myself. No excuses.”
Speaking of trainers, just who is the person, or in this case people, that will be charged with getting Heimbecker’s yearling class of 2021 to the promised land?
“I have some good relationships with a few trainers that haven’t necessarily been in the limelight a whole lot. I’m not saying that just an-yone can train a horse either - that’s not at all what I’m saying. But what I am saying is that there are a lot of good trainers out there that have been under-estimated or under-utilized, and given the opportunity I believe that they can do just as well as many of the trainers that have been winning a lot of the big races… so I’m giving them the opportunity.
“This isn’t a handout by any means, this is a results-driven business. I’m not just spending an endless amount of money on this. I enjoy the horses for sure but it’s still a business to me and that’s how I’m treating it.
“There’s a saying that I like to use that goes, ‘It’s not what you have it’s what you give.’ I believe that I’ve aligned myself with some good people that are hard workers and have a lot to give, and I’m looking forward to seeing what they can each do with the opportunity I’m trying to give them.
“Aaron Byron is one of my trainers. He has 16 or 17 for me and between the ones coming back and the new ones he has a ton of good ped-igrees over there. Aaron is a really good person and he’s actually a good friend of mine, so it makes it a lot of fun, going to his barn and stuff… we have lots of laughs. He’s a lifetime horseman and his dad is a very knowledgeable horseman too. I know that his dad comes by the barn once in a while and gives his opinion, and I think that’s a great resource for him. Aaron is a family man - he has three young girls under the age of four. He’s a good guy and I really hope he can make the most of this opportunity. I’m cheering for him in a big way.
“Amanda Fine is another one of my trainers that I believe has a bright future. She was in Lexington with me and might just be the only person that I’ll be buying for in Harrisburg. She has to be one of the hardest working individuals I’ve ever met. I actually met her when I was out at Classy Lane one morning watching one go that I have with Dave Menary. It was so cold that morning, it was absolutely freezing. I walked out by the track and there’s this woman out there completely bundled up, but standing out there in that weather watching her horses go. She had a big hood pulled up and I could only see her eyes. I said ‘Hi there Eskimo’ and we started to chat. I don’t think she had any idea who I was, and that was great. I don’t need notoriety, I just want to win races. I remember reading an article on her [in TROT] and any time I was around I saw how hard she worked... last fall I just decided to give her a few horses. She’s done well in her career so far with what she’s been given to work with so now I’m giving her more. I like having women trainers, I just feel that in many cases they’re more connect-ed to the animals. And I have a 10-year-old daughter at home that is horse-crazy, so I’m definitely not going to only employ trainers that are men. I always tell Amanda that she’s going to be famous one day and win a lot of awards, and when that day comes she’d better not forget my name,” Steve says with a laugh.
“I still have horses with Dave Menary. I met him years ago, we used to have a few beers together. Dave doesn’t do that anymore and I’m glad he’s sober. He talks about his sobriety and is proud of it so I don’t mind talking about it here. I’m proud of him too. If he was still drinking he wouldn’t be training horses for me, but he’s not. He’s another good family man so you might start to see a pattern here. Dave’s a smart guy and a good horseman… he’s coming off of a suspension and he’s hungry. I have a lot of faith in Dave.
“Julie Miller and her family have horses for me in the States. Last year we partnered with them on our spot in the Mohawk Million with Venerate, and he won. After that Julie looked at yearlings for me in the U.S. because I couldn’t go down as easily with the pandemic. To say thank you to them I claimed a few horses for Edwin Quevedo down there and use Julie and Andy’s son Tyler to drive them all. Edwin does a good job and Tyler is a good young driver… now I’m sending Julie some yearlings. They’ve got a really nice Walner colt [Wallandar] that I paid $250,000 for from Allerage Farms. That’s Jeff Gural’s farm and he actually bought back in on him. I’ve never met Jeff but look forward to this new partnership with him and the Miller family.
“I still have a few horses up here with Gregg McNair too. Gregg doesn’t say much but he’s a great trainer that has done so well for so long. Gregg is a family man too and when you get Gregg you get Dougie. In my opinion Doug McNair is one of the two or three guys up here that can drive with any of the big Grand Circuit drivers. So any time you have Doug driving one of yours it’s a good thing.
“I mentioned that I got in on one with John Bax this year too. John is another guy that does it with his family and I appreciate that. I must be a bit of a golden boy when it comes to the Mohawk Million because this year I gave my slot to John to use for Duly Resolved. He didn’t pay me for it or anything, we just did a deal based on a percentage of the purse and the horse finished second… he almost won. We both came out of that deal well so it just seemed right that I support him a bit and get in on a horse with them,” Heimbecker states.
When making such a large financial investment in Standardbred racing and many of the people in it, Steve must be very confident in the direction that the industry is headed. A financial expert who specializes mostly in mortgages and loans, Heimbecker isn’t shy to share his thoughts on the sport, the positives and the negatives as he sees them, and some of the things that he’d like to see happen.
“I do think that overall, our sport is in a pretty good place right now. You look at how things are going in places like Indiana and Ohio and Kentucky… things are starting to look up in New Jersey again too.
“Ontario has a great program - one of the very best if not the best - I’ve been saying that for years. One thing that worries me though isn’t about the opportunities here for two and three-year-olds, it’s the shortage of classes for the older horses and how we’re losing so many horses to the U.S after their OSS careers are over. There’s such a horse shortage certain times of the year because people just take the money and sell their older horses to the States. Maybe we need to resurrect the claiming game here in a bigger way to give people reason to keep their horses racing here and be able to make money? Maybe that would give people more opportunities to make a profit here with older horses - either through the purse money or by collecting through their claiming tag?
“Some people believe that there’s not as many claimers today because losing a horse that goes on can make the former trainer look bad. I’m the first one that wants a level playing field for everyone involved, but sometimes some people just work harder and do better at certain things than others… that’s part of life. At times there seems to be too much jealousy in our sport, but in the end I do believe that to an extent, the claiming game needs to prosper for the industry to be strong.
“Maybe there should be more incentives to race aged Ontario-sired horses here… a bonus if you win an overnight race with an Ontario-sired horse that’s four or older? Maybe something like that would give people a reason not to send their horses south.
“I’m not saying that I have all the answers but I do have ideas, and I know others have ideas. I believe that the key is dialogue. I’d love to sit down with Jim Lawson or with someone from Ontario Racing, just to exchange thoughts and ideas… I think that it could only be a good thing. We have a great game and I want to keep it great.
“For example, they had some OSS races at Mohawk this year with two trailers… 12-horse fields. I know that the wagering side of the game is very important, and I know that big fields help, but you have to take care of your owners too. The purse may have been $150,000 or something, but if you want people to keep investing in the program, two smaller fields going for $100,000 each would be the prudent thing to do in my opinion. Having two trailers, especially with two-year-olds, seems crazy to me.
“There are just a lot of things that I believe could be made better if we had more of a dialogue in the industry. Like I said, the set-up here in Ontario is fantastic… I just don’t want to see them get complacent.
“As far as dialogue is concerned, I also believe we need to have more of that with our customers and potential customers than we cur-rently do. A mentor of mine from my days at Scotiabank used to say, ‘If you ask people for help, who is going to say no?’ The answer is ‘No-body.’ So instead of sitting around talking amongst ourselves, the people in charge each need to get out there and ask 100 people what we can do better. And we need to ask all age demographics. A 20-year-old might ask for nightly rides in the starting gate; a 30-year-old might suggest more female servers in the bar; a 40-year-old might want a better rewards program on HPI. Personally, I LOVE when they play country mu-sic over the sound system in between races.
“In the end though, if we don’t continually have a dialogue with both our customers and our stakeholders, again, we run the risk of be-coming complacent. I’d really hate to see that happen,” Heimbecker states.
“In my main business we continually dive in and have dialogue with our customers… we talk to all of the different demographics, and it works. We do constant surveys and engage in data-mining. In this day-and-age if someone likes Starbucks it’s not really hard to find that out… the information is all out there if you look for it.
Speaking of Steve Heimbecker’s main business, it’s also something that has had to change a little with the times - something he’s very proud of.
“After many years putting up good numbers at the bank I decided that I wanted to sell more flavours of ice cream… that meant joining the brokerage world. We mainly did bank mortgages and then private mortgages for many years, and I worked really hard to have the suc-cess I’ve had. More and more I realized though, that in school no one really gets an education in finances. They teach you math and science and geography, but not how to run your own personal finances. We refurbished our business model a bit if you will, to become more like credit coaches. It sounds crazy but most people actually need help with something as simple as setting up a budget. I’ve really enjoyed work-ing directly with the people in doing things like this… helping people create better lives for themselves and their families - not just under-writing in the background. I’m a handshake/hug and kiss kind of guy and my business has morphed into a real feelgood kind of thing that brings me a lot of pleasure,” smiles Heimbecker.
Helping people while also helping himself - trying to create a win-win proposition for all involved. The way he runs his primary busi-ness these days seems to be something that Steve Heimbecker is also trying to duplicate in the Standardbred game, by investing his time and money into the people he’s chosen to do so with.
“I’ve had lots of people call me or come up to me and say things like, ‘Why is so-and-so training horses for you? I’ll train horses for you.’ Things like that. But I don’t give horses to just anyone - there has to be a relationship or a connection of some kind to get it started. The people that are training my horses are good, hard-working people that are all training my horses for a reason. Nothing against anyone here, but if I wanted other people training them, I’d ask other people to train them.
“Let me ask you something. If someone has a 20-horse stable and is home eating lunch and watching Netflix at noon everyday, and an-other person has a 10-horse stable and works until 3pm everyday, who do you think is most often going to win the race that night?”
And in case you didn’t get the drift - Steve Heimbecker loves winning races.
