Kleinhans took gamble

Peter Kleinhans took a big gamble in buying Wearable Art last year, but the risk could produce the biggest reward of his career in the $225,000 Berry’s Creek on Saturday night at the Meadowlands.

After a career best 1:50.3 victory in his elimination race, Wearable Art is rated as the 3-1 second choice on the morning line behind the other elim winner, The Quiet Mon, in the Berry’s Creek.  Wearable Art will start from post two with Ron Pierce in the sulky in the evening’s seventh race.

“The sky’s the limit for him, so we’re really excited,” Kleinhans said.  “Right now, I feel I’ve already gotten my money back in adrenaline.  It’s a special feeling to have a horse like this and it always seems an impossible thing.  The reality is, if it’s the right horse, it makes you look good and you can compete with the top trainers.”

Wearable Art was a private purchase arranged between horse agent [and Meadowlands handicapping tournament regular] Anthony Altomonte and trainer Andy Stafford last July.  Although he does not disclose the purchase price, Kleinhans says it is the most money he has ever paid for a horse.

“My friend, Anthony Altomonte, basically found the horse,” Kleinhans said.  “He thought he was great and told me to take a look at him.  He had seen him close in :26.3 to win his first baby race.  He just loved the way he looked and, physically, was a special horse.

“I loved the replays of his early races,” he added.  “When he finished third in the Goshen Cup [June 29, 2006 at the Meadowlands] behind Whats Up Now and Mattdultery, I thought it was a terrific effort.  He was first over for a long way and kept finishing with the top two who were more ready at that point.”

Altomonte arranged the purchase just prior to the $175,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes Final on July 13, 2006.  The colt closed in :26.2 to finish second in the race to Artzina, the eventual Two-Year-Old Pacing Colt of the Year.

“He was second to Artzina and I was very impressed,” Kleinhans said.  “He was backed up behind dead cover and he came flying off the turn three-wide.  He had no shot to win, but he was very good to be second.”

However, the trainer’s excitement over the new addition to his stable quickly changed into a sinking feeling.

“Unfortunately, the first couple of days I had him, he jogged really lame,” Kleinhans said.  “He was dead lame behind and I thought this might be a disastrous mistake.  I called Andy Stafford up and he told me to just throw the hobbles on him.  We had already vetted him out and everything was good.  I knew it couldn’t be anything broken.  Then I did a nuclear scan and that picked up he had a lot of heat and problems with his left hind ankle.  So, we just gave him the entire fall off.  We started back with him in November and he was totally sound when he came back.

“We had also done a new therapy which is basically injecting the joint with a serum based with the horse’s own blood,” he continued.  “It’s very good for young horses with problems.  He’s been perfect and hasn’t taken a lame step since.  I really don’t know if it was that or just the three months off, but we’re really happy with the way he’s come back.”

The colt’s four races last year and his progress in training during the fall encouraged Kleinhans to stake him to just about every major event for three-year-old pacers in 2007.  In addition to the $1 million Meadowlands Pace on July 14, he is also eligible to the Art Rooney, North America Cup, Monticello Gold Rush, The Messenger, Progress Pace, Matron and Breeders Crown.

“He wasn’t paid into anything being a cheap yearling [$11,500 at the New Jersey Classic Sale], so I had to supplement him to the tune of something like $70,000,” he said.  “That may seem crazy for a horse that hadn’t raced much, but I have so much confidence in him.  It may be ambitious, but I’ve never had a horse this good, and it could be a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

The son of Artiscape finished third in his three-year-old debut on April 12 and has steadily improved since.  Entering the Berry’s Creek Final, he has a slate of three wins, two seconds and two thirds in seven starts and $92,070 in earnings.

“The big change that I’ve seen, just physically, is that [at two] he was a big colt with a long stride and very sort of rangy looking,” he noted.  “During the time off, he’s just bulked up and now he looks like a big bull.  I think he’s a more impressive looking horse now.  He always had a beautiful stride and always just had that sense of no end to him.”

Wearable Art raced on the front end for the first time in his career in a three-year-old open on April 21.  He was caught in the final strides by Berry’s Creek favorite The Quiet Mon.

“We never tried that before, except in a qualifier where he just floated to the front,” Kleinhans said of going to the front in that race.  “It didn’t look like there was going to be much speed in the race and we thought maybe it was a good time to try his speed and he got right to the top before the turn.  It’s nice to know that he can do that.  I think he’s better from behind but it’s always a great thing to have that edge.”

In last week’s Berry’s Creek eliminations, Wearable Art brushed to the lead past the half and sailed to a length and three-quarter victory over Spin Rate in a career best 1:50.3.

“I wasn’t at all surprised [he won], given the trip he got,” Kleinhans said.  “I was a little concerned how the race was going to go starting from the rail position.  I thought he might end up first-over, although I think he’s the kind of horse who can handle a first-over trip.  When he left for the front without too much pressure, I basically thought he would hold on.  He’s a horse who never really gets tired.  He does have a bad habit of slightly pulling himself up at the wire or just after the wire, so you have to make sure he doesn’t fall asleep on you, but Ron Pierce seems to get along with him very well.”

Not surprisingly, Kleinhans considers The Quiet Mon the one to beat in the Berry’s Creek.

“We were second to him by a head two starts ago and I think he raced a better race that day, but I also think he might have been in a little more advanced form than we were at that point,” he said.  “The horse that really scared me after the way he’s been racing is Spin Rate.  He’s such a tough, gutsy horse, but he has the 10-hole.  I think that really hurts him a lot.  I can’t think of any horse it would affect more than him, so that makes me a little less worried about him.  Clearly, The Quiet Mon is the one to beat.”

If ever there was a renaissance man in harness racing, it is Kleinhans.  The 41-year-old, who splits his time between an apartment overlooking Central Park in New York City and a 230-acre farm in Flemington, New Jersey, has an M.A. in English Literature from New York University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School.  While racing horses off and on for more than 20 years, he has also worked as a track announcer and racing analyst at tracks such as The Meadows, Hoosier Park, The Red Mile and Tioga Downs, and as a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City.  In his spare time, he also developed a pilot for a television show on handicapping.

“I produced a World Handicapping Challenge pilot video based on the popular poker shows and that’s on the shelf right now,” he said.  “I’m having trouble marketing it.  When we made it [in 2006] a friend of mine supposedly had connections in the television business, yet that didn’t work out.  I think if horse racing were to gain popularity, it has to come from tournaments, not just regular be a chance for somebody to make a name for themselves the same way they do with poker on TV.  Everybody wants a little fame and to be on TV, plus it works with the internet where you can qualify to compete for a big prize.”

Kleinhans has also written over 150 pages of a book on handicapping, which he hopes will become the definitive book on the subject, the racing equivalent to Doyle Brunson’s Super System of poker, if you will.  

“I’m very proud of what I have so far,” he said.  “I want it to be the best book ever written on the subject, but it’s written in such detail to this point, and I don’t want to skimp on the rest of it.  Who knows how long that will take?”

Kleinhans is also part of the ownership of Tioga and Vernon Downs racetracks in New York State. 

“Jeff Gural, who is the [principal owner], is trying to get the law changed so that we can get 35 percent of the slot revenue instead of 30 percent,” he said.  “That would make it more profitable.  I’m just happy to be involved because Tioga, for instance, is one of the few places where there’s real excitement for the horses.” 

While Kleinhans considers the many professional avenues he could pursue, he is relishing the current journey with Wearable Art.  

“I don’t know if I’ll be training horses forever,” he said.  “One day you can feel on top of the world, and the next day I think I might get out of it totally and just announce races.   I could also easily practice law.  I live in New York City, so if they close the barn area, it’s too far for me to go anywhere else.  I’m not doing as much announcing this year at Tioga because I’m hoping to travel with Wearable Art on the stakes trail.  Plus, I look after my two-year-old boy, Quinn.  I feel like I have to give this dream with the horses one more good shot with Wearable Art.”

« Back