Phone not ringing for broker Mike Tanev

The phone has yet to ring for Mike Tanev.

And that is actually a good thing for Mike.

Just a few years ago, Mike Tanev, a resident of Toronto, Canada, became a self-proclaimed harness racing horse agent/broker, buying racehorses from Australia and New Zealand, importing them to Canada with hopes of selling them to owners in North America.

Mike took out ads on the leading harness industry websites, including Harnesslink. He has developed a simple, easy to navigate website, miketanev.com, which explains Mike’s reasoning behind the racehorses he buys, the homework he does, and how every single racehorse he has for sale has been doing at the track.

Still, the phone has yet to ring with perspective owners seeking one of his racehorses.

Then again, the horses Mike has purchased, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, then shipping them from Australia to Canada, setting them up with trainers in North America to race while he tries and sells them, keep on WINNING!

It has been a known fact that in horses racing, a broker or horse agent has people willing to sell their horses. The broker also has people looking to buy horses and a hopeful deal is made.

Plain out buying racehorses, shipping them from down under to North America at a cost of $35,000 New Zealand, $32,000 Canada or $26,000 US for a one-way trip, is a losing proposition. Even Mike Tanev agrees with that statement.

But that is not the case for Mike Tanev. You see, all these horses, numbering between 18 and 20, are almost all winning races while Tanev is trying to sell them.

It’s at the point where in one week Tanev had winners in four countries, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Mike Tanev is the sole owner of MT Stables Ontario Inc, the largest single owner of southern hemisphere standardbred racehorses in North America. He also operates CBK Consulting, a used vehicle car broker. He lives in Toronto with his partner Gloria, her daughter, and her granddaughter.

Personally, he is the father of 3 boys, two of whom are professional hockey players Christopher (Calgary Flames), Brandon (Seattle Kraken), and Kyle who has just began his career as a special constable with the Toronto Transit Commission.

Tanev has been in the used car business for 34 years and being in the car business opened up his eyes to the possibilities of starting a new venture.

As he had been going to the races since 1978, experiencing the thrill of watching and gambling on horses gave him the idea to buy some horses to race himself. This curiosity led Mike to question why southern hemisphere horses were so successful in North America and he took it upon himself to find out why by jumping right in the deep end.

And all of the horses he had purchased are winning races.

“I do everything myself,” Tanev explained. “I learned three years ago from the top broker down under named John Curtin when I bought a horse named Bushmaster, how much brokers made on horse deals. John explained a lot to me about shipping horses to North America, top trainers to deal with and more.

“I took all that knowledge and went out on my own.” Tanev said. “I do all the research, I watch hundreds of race replays, countless hours of races from down under, looking for that one special horse.

“I now have hundreds of phone numbers of trainers in Australia and New Zealand,” Tanev added. “And now they are calling me with tips on horses I may be interested in. I know my name is more popular down under in the horse business then it is right in my home country of Canada.”

Tanev does not buy expensive horses that can hopefully win big races. His price range is around $35,000 to $50,000 and then the shipping cost. In some cases, while Tanev is waiting for the next plane load to leave for North America, he keeps his new purchases in training and guess what, they win.

All of these horses can be viewed on Tanev’s website and some of the top performers include:

• Undrthsouthrnrun N (Somebeachsomewhere) came to the USA last year and after two seasons in Canada and the USA, has 8 wins, 14 seconds and 9 third place finishes, good for $170,000 earned and has a record of 1:47.4 this year.
• Pat McGarry A (Million Dollar Cam) was purchased in July 2021 and shipped to Canada and now races in the USA. He has won 14 times for Tanev with earnings of more than $125,000 and a record of 1:49.4.
• Never Mind N (Muscle Mass) was one of the first horses that Tanev bought and sent to Canada. He now has won 14 times, earnings of $125,000 and a record of 1:53.4.
• Speedy Dominic A (American Ideal) been in USA just over one year with six wins, earnings of $114,000 and a record of 1:49.2.
• Aardie’s Express (Always B Miki) who is still racing in New Zealand while awaiting a flight to Canada and recently won the NZ Metro Pace for Tanev.
• Aardiebythehill (Muscle Hill) is also racing currently in New Zealand awaiting a plane to Canada and in the meantime for Tanev, the trotter won his division of the NZ Metro Trot.

These are just a few of the 18 horses that Tanev has for sale from down under.

“Being a car broker for so many years,” Tanev said. “I don’t need anyone to help me negotiate a deal. I know what the score is. Not every horse turns out to be a good. But since I have started the business, I would say my percentage of buying good horses is at around 80%. I do all the work myself, even booking the plane flights. I don’t rely on anyone else and I really enjoy it.

“I opened the website so owners could see the horses that I have for sale and how they have done so far,” Tanev added. “I my range of pricing, which is more than competitive in the market. I know, I see how much other people are paying for horses from brokers and it’s crazy that my phone is not ringing.

“I will keep racing them until they are sold,” Tanev said. “Once they are not earning money, then they get sold. I have not and will not lose money on this venture. I know all too well what can happen from selling cars all my life.

“It is very exciting,” Tanev admits. “When you have so many horses racing on both sides of the world and they continuously do well and win, what’s not to love?”

And as long as the horses are doing well, Mike Tanev has gotten over the fact that his phone has not been ringing.

by Steve Wolf, for Harnesslink