JC / Railbird

Owners/Owning Archive

Material Information

On the IEAH web site, co-president Michael Iavarone is described as “a high-profile investment banker on Wall Street,” but Bloomberg turns up a different story, reporting that the man behind the $50 million Big Brown stud deal and a proposed $100 million racing hedge fund is a sanctioned penny stock broker and failed dotcom bubble day trader.

The NYT adds a few more details: “Iavarone told The New York Times that he had worked for Goldman Sachs, the world’s largest investment bank…. But he never worked for Goldman Sachs.”

Iavarone said he couldn’t reveal much about his background earlier, because it would have been “misunderstood.” No, I doubt that’s it … everything that’s come out is quite understandable, as is why he’d want to keep it quiet.

5/29 Addendum: Investors tell DRF they support IEAH. “We’re all entitled to screw up a little in our pasts, and you get to make up for those things,” said one. “They’ve been nothing but professionals.” The same investor did admit, though, that the information, new to him, about Iavarone’s experience, “disturbs me, maybe, a little bit.”

Posted in Owners/Owning, Triple Crown on May 28, 2008

New Owners Left Out?

Maybe: “Existing and potential owners are being victimized by two market heavyweights that arguably could be considered discouraging to the game’s growth. That’s of far greater importance to the state of horse racing than any personal axes we have to grind as horseplayers yearning to see our favorite stars race into their golden years” (ESPN).

Posted in Owners/Owning on June 27, 2007

Gill’s Last Year of Racing?

Owner Michael Gill says it could be his last year of racing. “I’ve talked to the wife [Sarah]. They’ve created a situation where I’m not supposed to succeed. She asked me the hard question: ‘Are you having fun?'” (Times-Picayune)

Posted in Owners/Owning on March 25, 2005