A chat with Anthony Macdonald as The Stable enters its ninth year

The Stable.ca enters it’s ninth year in operation in harness racing and it has grown from nothing to one of the biggest stables in North America. Harnesslink’s Garnet Barnsdale recently caught up with creator and proprietor Anthony Macdonald for a chat about all things The Stable.

GB: You are now into your ninth year with The Stable. Can you talk a little bit about how it started vs. how it’s going?

AM: Well, it started small and it’s massive now. It’s a giant undertaking and I’m in the middle of trying to coax one of my partners into helping with the business side of it. It’s gotten really big, and I have a horseman’s background, not an accounting background. We do have an accountant and a bookkeeper, but I’ll be a little more excited when we get things put in place properly. The biggest thing for us is our workers: our caretakers, blacksmiths, vets, just trying to keep up or stay ahead while things are slower or to not be too excited when things are moving well. I’m always focussed on the horses with an eye on the books. There needs to be somebody that has both eyes on the wheel at all times and as I said, I’ll be a lot happier when I get a little help in that regard.

GB: How many current clients do you have? Horses?

AM: Clients – Somewhere between 900 and 1,000. We always kind of float in that range. I don’t have the exact number at this second, but I’d guess between 930 and 940. Horses – 154, of those 55 are two-year-olds

GB: You now are into buying more high-end yearlings and it seems as though you either have all the money up front from your clients and/or sell the remaining shares out very quickly regardless of sale cost. How did you get to that point from where you started in 2015 where a big purchase for The Stable then might have been a $40,000 yearling?

AM: I think we have worked hard, and our clients have been loyal, and we’ve had a little bit of luck. People want to see what I want to see which is how we can do with a big stable. It’s not easy; it’s stressful and it is very taxing, but I can tell you it felt like it was worth it when I was standing in the winner’s circle in Lexington last year. I think many of our clients feel the same way. We’re getting better horses and I know people might say: you’ve never won the Breeders Crown or the North America Cup or the Little Brown Jug. Well…A: lots of people haven’t and B: I would say that winning one or some of those is an inevitability if we continue on our path of what we are doing. Is there a Hambletonian or winning one of those big races in our future? I hope so, as long as our clients continue to get involved for the right reasons which is having fun and racing horses, then, that’s good.

GB: I don’t think anyone can argue that you have built a very successful operation, now operating in multiple jurisdictions in North America. What makes it tick and how do you keep building on what you have done as you move forward?

AM: Our clients make it tick. As I said, it hasn’t been easy. It can be a struggle at times, but the good people that make up The Stable is what makes it tick. I’ve always said this: our model is not perfect. A lot of people say its great. It’s not perfect though. But if other people in the business would take just a speck of what we have done and focus on clients the same way that we have, I think there could be a lot of people out there with some really strong stables. That’s my hope moving forward. You know, Anthony Macdonald can’t be The Stable. It has to be fractional ownership and what it means to our industry. That’s what I want to see. See it live on its own two feet and stand on its own merits without people thinking that I am The Stable or that I am the only reason that The Stable is around. I work hard at it, but I think a lot of other people could too and that fractional ownership in general is the way of the future for our industry.

GB: One of the strengths of your operation seems to be your use of multi-media, first and foremost your weekly and daily videos to clients, and your availability to them. With that comes the regular feedback that they send you. In some cases, when things don’t go the way clients might have hoped for on the track you get direct venting. How do you deal with that, and do you get tired of it sometime, because they aren’t always right, but…one of the rules of business is that the customer is in fact always right.

AM: I have thick skin and it’s very rare that I will strenuously butt heads with a client. Everyone can have their own opinion. I can only tell you why I did something or I believe someone did something. I guess at the end of the day, we all do the best that we can. You can argue balls and strikes with the umpire, but, if you’re out, you’re out. When it comes down to it, I can tell you why someone did or didn’t move the horse but if they raced poorly, that’s on us. So, relying on good quality drivers and trainers to do a good job is obviously very helpful. Truthfully, I caught some flack early on when I listed James on a lot of horses. Now that’s come full circle, obviously. Ya know, you can’t always do what’s right, but we are always trying to do the best that we can.

GB: How does getting a racehorse like Tactical Mounds winning races on the big stage (i.e. the help your business?

AM: Oh, obviously it helps when you have horses winning in good company, right? That again is part and parcel to good trainers and good drivers being associated with us and we are lucky to have Megan (Scran) and Scotty (Zeron), my brothers and everyone that wants to play a role in our success. I want to believe that a lot of the people help me because they realize that this is a good model for our industry.

GB: Why do you say that you think this year’s crop of 2YO is your strongest Ohio contingent so far?

AM: Well, it’s never good to judge horses year over year, but, if I am going to do that and compare what we have in early February in previous years to what we have there today, we have a very strong group of Ohio breds for sure. We have a very strong group of babies in general, but where we are stabled there in Ohio, we have a very strong group of horses there, too.

GB: Did you know that last year you recorded the highest win percentage (28 per cent) of any driver at Northfield Park?

AM: I did not know that! That’s shocking to me (he chuckles). The difference between Ronnie (Wrenn Jr.) and Aaron (Merriman) and me is they drive every race. I get to drive a lot of horses that we try our hardest to put on the track as 8 to 5 or 9 to 5 shots. That win rate, it sounds awesome, but I don’t have to drive all the horses that they do. I do what I can, and it’s worked really well so far, and I hope it continues to in the future. There is certainly a long way to go.

GB: Does the travel ever wear on you? You must put a lot of miles in every year. How do you recharge? Do you now have homes in both Ontario and Ohio?

AM: We bought a house here in Ohio and we still have our home in Ontario. Listen, Ontario is my home for 20 years. I’m not going anywhere. I just believe that at this moment, I needed more right here and that will be driven on what my family wants to do also. The kids are settling in here nicely here as is my wife (Amy). Do we stay the course that way? I don’t know; I hope so. This is the decision that my wife and I came to. What would we like to do right now, and how are we going to achieve it? When it came to the horses in Ohio I thought it was going to be that we should be over here. But I left it up to my wife – and as many people know, the wife is the rock in the family, and mine certainly is for sure – and I assure you that none of it would be possible without her. I can guarantee you that.

GB: You are first and foremost a family man and your children obviously have exposure to the horses and your operation. Have any of them shown an interest in working in the industry? Do any jog the horses?

AM: No, but Ava (12 years old) has once in a while asked and I will probably allow her to jog and Ollie (10 years old) too. (The third child Adeline is five). You know I’ve always said that it’s sad that we don’t bring children up in this industry and I’m as guilty as the guy before me of not doing that and that bothers me a little. I’m a little torn. Listen; I’d love for my daughter to be a vet or a doctor or an astronaut the same as anybody else, but this is a good industry. It’s difficult, but the one thing that most of us have learned in life is that there are lots of things that are difficult.

GB: What would be the pinnacle for you now as the proprietor of The Stable now that you have a Gold Cup N Saucer win as a feather in your cap?

AM: I wanna win every race I’m in. I want The Stable to succeed. I want the people that are in it to have fun, and I want to do it a little less stressful that it is right now. I’m sure that will come in time.

12. Here is your chance to be a salesman. You still have some remaining shares left in some of your two-year-olds. Which ones should people grab shares up in?

AM: It’s a hard question to answer this time of year. I tell you or anybody else the same thing. Go on our website, thestable.ca and watch the videos. We’ve got some really nice horses in there and we have lots of shares of really nice horses left. I think there is something for everybody, depending on what they are looking for.

GB: What’s next for The Stable?

AM: We’re just going to continue on, as I said before, just trying to do the best we can. At this time of year, I think a lot of the big barns are trying to just put your best foot forward, stay on the right side of the water and come out the other side. We are far from well off, that’s for sure.

by Garnet Barnsdale, for Harnesslink