by Rich Fisher, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Rich Fisher

Trenton, NJ — If Murphy’s Law means whatever can go wrong will go wrong, 2012 was the year of Gutnick’s Law — whatever can go right will go right.

Richard Gutnick looks back on last year and still thinks he is dreaming. His trainer, Linda Toscano, was Trainer of the Year. His driver, Tim Tetrick, was Driver of the Year. His horse, Chapter Seven, was Horse of the Year and another horse, Market Share, was the 3-year-old colt Trotter of the Year and oh by the way, won the Hambletonian.

Finally, Gutnick himself was named Owner of the Year.

USTA photo

Richard Gutnick

It was truly a spectacular 12 months for the lifelong Philadelphia native, who was born and raised in Cheltenham and has lived in Blue Bell for the last 22 years. Gutnick, who recently turned 65, got involved in owning horses in 1983 but his first venture didn’t fare too well. He decided to learn more about the business by getting a trainer’s license.

A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Finance, Gutnick had a long and successful career as a businessman before retiring to focus on his love of trotters. During his tremendous season, he became an ambassador of the sport, providing ample time for interviews that were enlightening and informative.

Thus, we decided to check in with Gutnick to reflect on last year and see how things are going this year. Chapter Seven has been retired, but Market Share won his first two races.

USTA: Let’s look back on last year for a minute. You won the Hambletonian, you had the Horse of the Year, the 3-year-old colt Trotter of the Year, the Trainer of the Year, the Driver of the Year and you were the Owner of the Year. In looking back on that now, does it feel like it’s actually happened or is it still like a dream?
RG: I’d say it’s more living a dream. I laughed at it all year long last year because to me it was so surreal. You figure this doesn’t happen to an owner who has only eight or nine horses, it happens to one who has 100 horses. To have two horses as good as them, it’s a privilege and an honor to have them. I deeply appreciate that privilege. I got lucky.

USTA: You paid $42,000 for Chapter Seven, but how did you get Market Share for so cheap ($16,000)?
RG: Market Share came from the Lexington Sale, I wasn’t even there for that. Pat Waldo had given me a call and mentioned there were a couple different horses and he mentioned Market Share. I said what do I want a Revenue S for? And he said ‘Well he can flat out fly.’ I said ‘Well then buy it.’ And that’s how that one happened.

There were several that we picked out. I looked at the videos and I waited on him. I thought he was going to go at a lower price. And he did. And it was fortunate I hadn’t bought another one earlier because I had a budget and I would have busted my budget somewhat.

USTA: You are involved with one of the best trainers and best drivers around. How did you manage to get Tim and Linda on your side?
RG: Linda, I went over to see her. I had Knoxtrot Hall at the time. I needed to make a change in trainers. Somebody said ‘Well what about Linda Toscano?’ I went over to meet her to see how comfortable I felt. In the meantime she was on the track and I watched her with her assistant trainers and she was yelling out directions to them and they were going a training trip. I said ‘She’s hands on; this is my type of trainer.’

I’ve gotten to know her very well since then and one thing I love about her is she is a control freak and she is a worrier. I’m a worrier in many ways with horses. With her I didn’t have to worry about the horses. I knew that she was doing everything humanly possible to make sure they were developed well.

USTA: How did you get involved with Tim?
RG: Simply because Linda had a relationship with Timmy. He doesn’t drive all my horses, but that’s by his choice (laughing). He will pick the best one. He almost didn’t take Market Share. It turned out he had told Linda, if Possess The Will were to get to the Hambletonian final, he felt that he would have to take that one because it was the 2-year-old of the year the previous year and he thought it had more potential toward the end of the year than Market Share. (Laughing) Needless to say he was happy. Market Share just kept developing beyond any of our expectations.

USTA: Since you’ve started working with them, has your knowledge and understanding of Standardbreds increased? Do you get into interesting conversations with them or do you just let them be to do their jobs?
RG: My philosophy has always been, given the fact I had a trainer’s license 23, 24 years ago and I drove in four qualifying races at Brandywine, I always tell trainers I know enough to be dangerous. What I do is I’ll give them my input. They can say ‘Hey Richard you’re crazy and this is the reason why.’ So I learn from getting the reason why. On occasions I’ve also been right. So I do give them my input. Everybody can always keep learning.

USTA: I would imagine Linda is a wealth of knowledge for you to learn from?
RG: Yes she is. And when she says ‘I wouldn’t do it for this reason,’ I say ‘fine.’ I’ve always told every trainer I’ve been associated with, I’ll give my input but you’re working day in and day out with the horse, therefore you’ve got the final call.

It’s funny, I have one horse, a 2-year-old, and Linda told one of her assistant trainers, Simon, that with any other owner this horse probably would have been ruined. But the fact is I was very much for turning him out — his rear end was four inches higher than his withers. I was ready to turn him out two weeks before she was. But we gave him four weeks off, he’s coming back. He should be ready to qualify probably by the end of this month. He has a world of talent.

USTA: His name?
RG: His name is Speak The Truth. I did not name this one. It came with that name and I loved it.

USTA: What led to the decision to retire Chapter Seven?
RG: I had several reasons. We were invited after the Breeders Crown to go to the Elitlopp (in May in Sweden), and that was a consideration. But with all of Chapter Seven’s (health) issues, I felt that long trip would do him more harm. He was a decent traveler but that was a long trip.

I felt keeping him, at that point sitting him, would have been ridiculous. Additionally, I did not want to race Chapter Seven against Market Share. I didn’t feel it would be fair to either horse. It would be counter-productive.

USTA: You still have Market Share. What are your hopes for him this year? What do you have him staked in?
RG: Well, here we go. . .I’m extremely disappointed with the program for 4-year-olds. This year they had the Maturity race so early (on May 4) that if you were a top horse from last year coming back, you didn’t have the opportunity to really enter. For instance, Market Share had 20 starts last year, that’s a lot. You’ve got to give the horse time off and I was not going to rush him back for money. It’s another thing that would have been totally counter-productive.

Therefore, it was not thought out, that race was entirely way too early. So we decided to skip that and the Cutler and give him the time that he needed so he could come back bigger, stronger than ever, which he has.

Additionally, my problem this year is getting him races. There was a TVG (Free For All Championship) series just this past weekend and it was supposed to go for $50,000. It was a paid-in event. Paid-in events should be run, in my opinion, at any costs. They had five horses entered and one was an entry, Wishing Stone and Market Share. Tom Pontone owns 12 and a half percent of Market Share. So, they decided not to use the race.

We set up our schedule based upon these races. There weren’t a whole lot of races out there. Now all of a sudden we have to go into the Maple Leaf Trot without the race we thought would be our springboard. We potentially had eliminations coming with the Maple Leaf Trot, where you have to get the horse raced, but having too much time off is a negative. They don’t have enough races out there for 4-year-olds.

Market Share is as sound as he could be. Solid as can be. My plan was to race him next year. Linda would love to be in the Prix D’Amerique and I would love to be in the Elitlopp. We think he would have won the Elitlopp this year if he had been in it. But at the same point and time, right now my plan is to finish the racing this year and I don’t know . . . if this program is the same way next year for all the horses as it is this year, most likely I’ll send him over to Europe. They talk the game but aren’t walking the walk in getting the races for 4-year-old horses and older horses.

USTA: Have you talked to people to give them your input on this?
RG: I have on occasion, but I will not mention the people.

USTA: So you don’t have him in much this year?
RG: I staked him in everything that was out there. After the Maple Leaf Trot, we’ve got the John Cashman, Jr. (Memorial) race at the Meadowlands, where there’s an elimination and a final. Then there’s the Credit Winner in September. So after August 3 we don’t really have a race until September. Then the Allerage Farm Trot in Kentucky, the Breeders Crown, the American-National and then the TVG (series final) at the Meadowlands.

I love the idea of the American-National. I sent Chapter Seven and Market Share there last year. We were treated fantastically. They were so appreciative of getting two top horses there. To me, it was nice to have another part of the country get to see a couple of top horses. I thought it would be very good for the sport. That’s one of the key reasons I sent them. Even though I wasn’t there for the following week when Market Share broke the track record for trotters, I heard that he got a standing ovation. That just gives you a very good feeling. I’ve got a couple horses ready to go out there for the American-National if everything goes according to plan. Of course you never know when you have plans (laughing).

USTA: So do you have some hot prospects we should be looking at this year?
RG: Well I do have Modest Prince. I said before the season began that he’s under the radar, he’s not rated in the top 100. He’s my Hambletonian hopeful. He’s a long shot to be in the Hambo. He has been timed in (1):53 but he’s got to finish a mile more strongly. I also have Southwind Cocoa; she’ll be in the Hambletonian Oaks. Do I expect to beat Bee A Magician? Absolutely not. I’m just hoping to get a nice chunk. She’ll throw in her :27 second last quarter and you go from there.

Speak The Truth has the potential to be a top 2-year-old. I have a 2-year-old trotting colt, Midas Touch. I’ve been told that he’s a natural. His only problem is he has bad feet. He’s had a couple of quarter cracks already, so that’s going to be the only thing I can see holding him back. He will start racing next Monday in the (Ontario Sires Stakes) Grassroots at Mohawk. So I do have the prospects. You just have to hope for the best. The only time you really know what’s going to happen is when those horses go head to head with another horse down the stretch. That’s when you see what they’re made of, do they have the heart to make it happen.

USTA: How many horses do you have now?
RG: I currently have eight racehorses, Chapter Seven is part of the syndication. I also bought a broodmare to breed to Chapter Seven, because I wanted to own one of his first drops. He’s doing very well in the breeding. And he looks like you can put him right back on the racetrack and he’d be ready to win.

USTA: So take me back to the start. How did you first develop an interest in harness racing and when did you think you wanted to be an owner?
RG: From the time I first saw a harness race, which was actually at Monticello when I was 19. I really wanted to get involved. After I turned 40, quite some time ago, I actually decided to get a trainer’s license and drive in qualifying races. I drove in four qualifying races in Brandywine. But I had a vicious circle. If I wanted to own horses I couldn’t afford to work with them. If I worked with them I couldn’t afford to own them. So I decided to put the college degree to use and that would be a way to make money so I could support my habit.

I had a friend and he and I had talked about the horses for a number of years. When his family sold their nursing home, we went in partners and I took 10 percent of a horse called Pennant Fever in 1983. We spent $105,000 and as I watched my 10 percent go down the tubes I decided I needed to know a lot more about it. That’s when I started jogging horses and getting a little bit more involved. I wanted to know as much as the trainers. That’s part of the reason I got the trainer’s license. (Laughing) The fact is I still don’t know as much as the trainers. Someone like Linda has forgotten more than I know. At the same point I handle things from a different perspective than many other owners.

USTA: So what do you do when you’re not winning all the awards? What do you do for a living?
RG: I retired a little bit over a year ago. I’ve had a variety of experience. For most of the time I did management consulting, I was a problem solver for businesses, everything from mom-and-pop to Fortune 500 companies. I became more of a turnaround consultant. From 1987 to 1990, I had a partner and we were bankruptcy trustees for the state of Delaware. My partner was more the trustee and I was the turn-around person to go into it and see if it can be turned around and if so, give it a best effort.

After I got back from China in the year 2000 I did a consulting job for Coca Cola and a Chinese partner, which was warehousing and logistic analysis. I got back and told a friend of mine, put me to work, pay me whatever you want to pay me, I don’t want to travel anymore. Even though I loved China. I thought it was phenomenal.

He put me to work for less than what people made out of college. It wasn’t much longer that I was basically co-running the company. I retired from that a year ago in March. I wanted to focus on my horses. I never expected to have the type of year that I had. I did expect Chapter Seven. I always thought he was the best horse out there. Market Share has just been a continual surprise to everybody being involved that he just keeps getting better and better.

USTA: As a Wharton grad you obviously know about business. Do you consider owning horses strictly a business for you, or is it a combination of business, a hobby, a passion?
RG: It started off and it still is my passion. I used to say if I broke even in a year I was ecstatic. I just wanted to be around the animals. You could truly relax. I love going in the barn and even just spending an hour in the barn. It’s truly relaxing being around the animals. The business part was trying to break even.

Then, I guess everything started going for me in Quebec, where I won the Coupe (de L’Avenir) two years in a row with Casual Behavior as a 2-year-old and 3-year-old filly pacer. And that money I used to buy Knoxtrot Hall and he went ahead and was a very nice horse for me and when I sold him I bought Chapter Seven. At that time he had a different name — Windsongs Proxy.

USTA: Why did you want to change it?
RG: The first indication I had from Linda. . .she only calls me when something not good was happening. She definitely communicated that. She said he jumped over a fence and needed seven stitches in his ankle, but at least we know he’s an athlete. Then she called a couple days later and said he needs a throat operation. Then I had a couple people interested in going in with me on the horse but I wouldn’t sell to them until I knew it was OK.

And after the initial throat operation the vet called me back and told me he wasn’t happy with the way it turned out and wanted to go back in on Monday at no additional charge. He did that and during that weekend, I mentioned the name Chapter Seven to my wife and she cracked up hysterically and said ‘That’s a terrible name. You can’t name him that.’ I said ‘You’re right, I can’t, but you just did because all you did was laugh.’ Then I told Linda what his new name was going to be and she cracked up. She said ‘That’s a great name.’ Then the operation turned out to be successful.

USTA: Did you name Market Share too?
RG: No, it came with that name and I liked the name so I kept it.

USTA: Well Richard I could talk to you all day but we’ve got to stop somewhere. Is there anything else you’d like to say or add we didn’t talk about?
RG: Nope, that’s really it.

USTA: Good luck the rest of the way my friend.
RG: OK, thank you Rich.