The Monticello-Goshen Chapter USHWA will honour Tom Grossman, the squire of Blue Chip Farms in Wallkill, New York, with the chapter’s Excelsior Award at the organization's 51st annual Awards Banquet, which will be held at Kutshers Country Club in Monticello on Sunday, October 25.

Grossman received his BS in finance from Lehigh University. After several years with Goldman Sash & Co, he was hired in 1994 to set up the new international trading focus at Kingdon Capital Management, a successful domestic investment fund.

Grossman coordinated the efforts of this four-member team as assets under management grew to over $700 million. In 1997, he launched S.A.C. International Equities as a fully autonomous subsidiary of S.A.C. Capital Advisors, LLC, a multi-billion-dollar hedge fund. At S.A.C. International Equities, he built a nine-member team and managed a portfolio with over $400 million of international exposure.

Grossman is currently the manager partner of Union Avenue Advisors, an international equity investment fund.

He has been familiar with the ins and outs of the standardbred horse world since a teenager, having been friends with Kimelman family, who in 1969 founded Blue Chip Farms in Wallkill.

Blue Chip is a 700-acre commercial breeding farm that has been home to some of the finest standardbred stallions in the world.

In 1989, Grossman became actively involved in harness racing after purchasing his first racehorse. His enthusiasm and commitment to the sport increased as the years passed, and in 2001 he purchased Blue Chip Farms from the Kimelman family.

Grossman’s primary goal was to reformulate Blue Chip’s operation into a viable business endeavor, and by doing so push New York’s breeding program into national prominence. To that end he attracted three major syndicated stallions to stand at the farm by purchasing significant portions of Credit Winner, Art Major and Bettors Delight.

To support those stallions, he invested in over $6 million worth of broodmares. This went hand in hand with a major capitol improvement outlay to renovate the 20 plus stall barns and sheds that make up the facility.

His plans are starting to reap rewards. Currently the farm stands six commercial stallions. In addition to Credit Winner, Crazed and Equinox Bi have joined the Blue Chip trotting ranks. American Ideal, the fastest three-year-old of all-time at retirement, joined the Blue Chip’s other major pacing stallions, Art Major and Bettors Delight in 2007. Combined, these outstanding horses make Blue Chip stallion roster the most balanced and accomplished in the industry.

Over the years, Grossman has been affiliated with no fewer than 12 stables, partners or syndicates as a owner or part-owner of stakes horses. More recently he has been a major part of the multiple stakes winners Shadow Play, Art Major and the good two-year-old trotter Il Villaggio with whom his 2010 Hambletonian hopes ride on after the son of Yankee Glide won six of seven races thus far this year and over $464,000 while taking a record of 1:55:4.

(USHWA)