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Inside the WINNER'S CIRCLE
with Jerry Crawford
A popular feature for The HIDDEN BROOK TIMES is a Q&A with some of our valued clients. Jerry Crawford has been with Hidden Brook since 2009. Proud of both his Irish heritage and his Iowa origins, Crawford is perhaps best known as the force behind Donegal Racing, a partnership stable which produced two Kentucky Derby (G1) third-place finishers of the past three years, Paddy O'Prado and Dullahan. Donegal also races Finnegans Wake, a current Graded stakes colt who was foaled and raised at Hidden Brook. Crawford took some time away from his schedule to pen some of his own responses and to speak with us by phone the week after the Derby.
Born: October 26, 1949. Grew up on a farm in Iowa.
Residence: Colorado and Iowa in the summer and Arizona in the winter. And Kentucky all the damned time!
Family: Linda, married 32 years. Katelyn (27), Erin Kathleen (25) and Conor (22) who was just admitted to the Darley Flying Start program!
Education: BA Macalester College, J.D. University of Iowa College of Law
Primary business: Attorney. Owner of NBA D League team. Managing Owner of Donegal Racing.
Jerry, it's less than a week since Dullahan's Derby. Have you come back to earth yet? I am reminded by what NBA Hall of Famer Pat Riley said: there are two things in life, winning and misery. I am convinced we had the best horse in the race, but in a 20-horse field, things happen. He was carried wide but still came flying at the end. Now, I need to manage him to be Champion 3-year-old and Horse of the Year. To that end, we will bypass the Preakness and head next to the Belmont. We don't want him to have 3 races in
5 weeks.
Donegal has reached incredible peaks in a short time. I have to believe that if you compare dollars spent on horses to Graded Stakes won we are at the top of the list.
Your stable name and horse names seem to have an Irish theme. No accident, I'm sure. You're right. The Crawfords are from Donegal County, Ireland, and one of my good partners, the Kirke family, are also from Donegal County. Every race day we fly the Donegal County flag, the green and yellow blocks, as our racing silks. As to the names, we love to get names suggested to us. While we don't require they be Irish in nature, they get extra points if they are!
What got you started in the Thoroughbred industry? I grew up on a farm adjacent to my maternal grandparents. My Grandfather loved horses; not racehorses, but horses period. I think that's an Irish gene - some might say defect - but I grew up loving horses in every realm. Rodeo, everything. At 21, I made my first trip to Ak-Sar-Ben, and I fell in love. Morning gallops, the racing, the majesty. I got hooked and have stayed hooked.
How many horses do you have? We have four 3-year-olds, seven 2-year-olds in training, seven broodmares, and a small sack full of weanlings and yearlings. We just expanded our broodmare band from 3 to 7. We found 4 mares that were perfectly situated genetically for Paddy O'Prado. He covered them all, and all 4 are in foal.
It looks like the winner's circle overflows when a Donegal horse wins a race. Right... at the Derby there were over 500. 280-some in premium seats, caravans of people who made their way down and kind of made their own arrangements. Two years ago, when Paddy went to Arlington Park, Dick Duchossois said to our group of 200, 'Jerry, can you come back and bring your friends every day?' We travel very, very well. Part of it is, this is a partnership whose origin is people who were good friends anyway; this is an excuse to share experiences with our best friends and families. We have been like pied pipers. It's so fun.
What drew you to Hidden Brook? Our trainer Dale Romans said, 'that is absolutely where you should have your mares.' Let me just say one thing about Hidden Brook: When Linda and I sold our home in Des Moines that we raised our family in, we wanted a true lock and leave. When I take mares to Hidden Brook, I feel like I have a true lock and leave. I just never worry; I just know how good they are.
I understand you got a Graded stakes horse from the first crop you ever sent to Hidden Brook. Yes, Finnegans Wake, who ran fourth in the $200,000 American Turf S. (G3) on Oaks Day. He had the same challenge as Dullahan on Derby Day - traffic trouble. I think when they go a mile and a quarter, they will find him too much to handle. Here's an example of how tough this business is. I love Sergio like a brother, but when Finnegan was a foal, he told me, 'he doesn't look like much.' He was late developing, but when he came to hand, boy!
How has the Hidden Brook experience been different for you than any other experience. Absolute trust and no worries.
Tell us about your most exciting personal moment in racing. I think my answer will surprise people. #1 is, when I sent Native Boat, the great-granddam of Finnegans Wake, to Kentucky to race in a $10,000 claimer at Churchill Downs. I flew down with two friends, who are now incidentally partners in Donegal. She won that race, and I'll never forget that feeling. It was unbelievable. I said to my friends, 'Could it ever get any better than this?' and the answer is, it sure did! #2 is last fall, when Dullahan won the Dixiana Breeders' Futurity (G1) at Keeneland. That victory made him eligible for the Derby, and that meant we had two in three years. If you have one, you're lucky. When it's two...you know something.
What advice would you have for others who want to get in the game? People need to do one of two things: either join a partnership where they're convinced of the integrity of the principals, or they need to do their homework. Find a partnership where you trust the management, then jump in the water and enjoy it!
What publications do you read? Politics has long been part of my life - I have been part of six presidential campaigns in Iowa. So in order, I read: Des Moines Register, Washington Post, New York Times, TDN, Paulick Report, all of the online magazines (BH, TTimes, etc.)
First thing you read in the morning? Des Moines Register.
Favorite sports team? Notre Dame football. In basketball, any team Steve Nash plays for.
Favorite places to eat? Cafe Diva in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, where we live part-time, and Pat's Irish Steak House in Louisville, both because of the name and because it's become a good luck tradition for us.
Special credo you live by? Work hard, play hard.
Thank you Jerry Crawford, for giving us a few minutes of your time Inside the Winner's Circle.
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