{"id":1170,"date":"2015-07-06T14:10:04","date_gmt":"2015-07-06T14:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.linda-rice.com\/?p=1170"},"modified":"2015-07-07T14:15:37","modified_gmt":"2015-07-07T14:15:37","slug":"novice-no-longer-rosenblum-finding-her-stride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lindarice.com\/index.php\/novice-no-longer-rosenblum-finding-her-stride\/","title":{"rendered":"Novice no longer, Rosenblum finding her stride"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sheila Rosenblum (red dress), son Erik (left), and daughter Kara with La Verdad after the 2014 Critical Eye Stakes at Belmont Park. Photo: NYRA\/Susie Raisher<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

By: Teresa Genaro – July 6, 2015<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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On the Thursday after the Belmont Stakes, Belmont Park was nearly deserted. A sparse weekday crowd dotted the apron; upscale specialty cocktails were nowhere to be found; attire tended to denim rather than linen, and the hats adorning people\u2019s heads bore not flowers and ribbons, but the insignias of sports teams.<\/p>\n

None of that mattered to Sheila Rosenblum. She\u2019d been present when American Pharoah made history, becoming the 12th winner of the Triple Crown, but she was no less excited on this day, when her 5-year-old gelding Erik the Red was making his 13th start. The fourth betting choice in a field of six in for a $50,000 tag, Erik the Red clawed his way to a head victory\u2014his third\u2014and Rosenblum \u00a0strode out onto Belmont\u2019s sandy track, her designer stilettos be damned, to grab a shank and triumphantly lead him into the winner\u2019s circle, a route that\u2019s become as familiar as the one she takes to her children\u2019s schools.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where she was the next day, picking up her son Erik\u2019s report card (yes, the horse is his namesake, and the human was reportedly very relieved that the horse didn\u2019t get claimed) before heading out to her weekend home on Long Island.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would take surgery to keep me from going,\u201d when one of her horses is racing, she said, and it seems literal, not hyperbole. She added, \u201cOr if there\u2019s a conflict due to my children or my family, that kind of thing. I don\u2019t miss a race if I don\u2019t have to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her intensity suggests that she\u2019s making up for lost time. A relative newcomer to Thoroughbred racing\u2014she raced her first horse five years ago, and her first win came with Erik the Red\u2014Rosenblum has thrown herself into the sport. After a series of initial bad experiences\u2014a horse breaking down fatally, a purchase that went on to be contested in court, a bunch of yearlings that turned out to be not very good\u2014she found her footing when she teamed up with trainer Linda Rice.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s my third trainer,\u201d said Rosenblum, who races in the name of Lady Sheila Stable. \u201cAnd when I started with her, the rest is history.\u201d<\/p>\n

That history starts with 5-year-old La Verdad, the mare Rice purchased privately in late 2013 and who has notched 10 wins in 15 starts for Rosenblum, including three graded stakes. A former dancer, Rosenblum is eying, for the second year in a row, the G1 Ballerina at Saratoga, in which the daughter of Yes It\u2019s True finished fifth last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying our darndest to see if she has it in her to win it,\u201d Rosenblum said.<\/p>\n

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Sheila Rosenblum (left) and Linda Rice in the winner’s circle at Aqueduct with La Verdad and jockey Jose Ortiz after the 2015 G2 Distaff. Photo: NYRA\/Susie Raisher<\/p><\/div>\n

Win or lose, Rosenblum then faces a tough decision: sell the mare, whose earnings recently surpassed $1 million, or keep her to breed, extending the Lady Sheila enterprise?<\/p>\n

She recently turned down what she called \u201ca major offer\u201d for La Verdad, and she\u2019s already bred two fillies that had raced under the Lady Sheila banner: Kara\u2019s Match Point (named for her daughter) and Ballerina Belle, both of which will be offered in Keeneland\u2019s November Breeding Stock Sale. With one win each to their credit, they don\u2019t exactly measure up to their star stablemate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI either make a decision to let La Verdad go and have her bred by one of the big guys,\u201d Rosenblum said. \u201cOr I keep her. Either way, I want to make sure 100 percent she has a spectacular life and that I can visit her regularly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosenblum\u2019s primary residence is in Manhattan, and she frequently makes the short trip out to Rice\u2019s Belmont Park barn. Rain or shine, she attends morning training, not so much to assess her horses\u2014she leaves that to Rice\u2014as to soak in the atmosphere, to visit what she calls \u201cher other brood of children.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPretty soon I\u2019m going to start training them,\u201d she dead-panned, noting that she is often the only woman there, other than Rice\u2019s assistant trainers.<\/p>\n

No stranger to the spotlight, Rosenblum finds herself a sought-after media presence, yet despite careers in ballet and modeling, she\u2019s taken a while to hit her stride on camera talking about her horses.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a whirlwind,\u201d she admitted. \u201cIt\u2019s different from ballet and modeling, being live discussing the world of horses. I\u2019ve always got butterflies in my stomach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those butterflies don\u2019t seem to be much in evidence at the 2-year-old sales, where Rosenblum and Rice have been active buyers, recently purchasing a colt by Pioneerof the Nile, sire of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, for $850,000. In addition to her own stable, Rosenblum has started two all-female partnerships, Lady Sheila Stable Two and Triumphant Trio, whose participants include other New York City bold-face names and whose buy-in starts at $100,000 for the former and $500,000 for the latter.<\/p>\n

\u201cBetween the two partnerships, we\u2019ve got millions and millions invested,\u201d Rosenblum said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got about 17 horses.\u201d<\/p>\n

In some cases, Rosenblum will cover the training costs for two years; she takes no commission and doesn\u2019t inflate the sales prices for the partnerships. After a bad experience buying yearlings when she first got into racing, she insists now on purchasing 2-year-olds.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou pay a lot less for yearlings,\u201d she said, \u201cbut you carry the costs for two years before they get to the races.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosenblum speaks confidently about her business plan and about the expansion of her stable, and she\u2019s got plenty of capital behind her. Still, she acknowledges a little anxiety about being overextended.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course I\u2019m petrified,\u201d she said. \u201cAnyone involved in racing knows that it\u2019s risky; there\u2019s no guarantee on your money and you can\u2019t be spending the mortgage payment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut,\u201d she went on, \u201cI have a plan that I know I can actually execute, and my accountant promises me that I\u2019m OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the day of the Belmont, Rosenblum met Penny Chenery, who is as close to racing royalty as it gets in the United States. A trailblazer herself, Chenery spoke with Rosenblum and a few of her partners.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere is this classic legend,\u201d said Rosenblum, awe in her voice, \u201cwho besides being incredibly important in the horse world, and female, is so gracious.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also credits Vivien Malloy, an officer for the New York Thoroughbred Breeders\u2019 board of directors and a two-time New York Breeder of the year, for her support.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s a gem, and a lifesaver,\u201d Rosenblum said. \u201cShe\u2019s been a great help to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Malloy and Rosenblum met at Belmont Park on Big Apple Showcase Day in May, and within days, Rosenblum and some of her partners visited Malloy\u2019s Edition Farm in Hyde Park, New York. A two-time New York Breeder of the Year, Malloy was happy to answer their questions and encourage their participation.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe wants to be an ambassador of the sport,\u201d said Malloy of Rosenblum, \u201cwhich is what I want to be all the time, too. We\u2019ve been pals ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two also share the experience of being one of the few women in a sport dominated by men.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so hard to be respected if you\u2019re a woman, especially by the old-time trainers,\u201d Malloy observed.<\/p>\n

And one of Rosenblum\u2019s strengths, said Malloy, was her choice of trainer.<\/p>\n

\u201cLinda is a great horseman,\u201d she said. \u201cShe picked the right person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recently separated from her husband and with two children nearing adulthood, Rosenblum nonetheless has plenty to keep her busy: she\u2019s active on the New York City philanthropic scene, and she has a busy social life. But the racetrack has captured her heart and her imagination, and it is there that her prodigious energies are mostly directed these days.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are tons of obstacles,\u201d she reflected, \u201cbut there\u2019s elegance and beauty and intrigue, and something just made me become obsessed. The beauty of it far surpasses the negative.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd,\u201d she said, \u201cI\u2019m not exactly a novice anymore. Slowly, I\u2019m paying my dues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Original Article –\u00a0https:\/\/www.thoroughbredracing.com\/articles\/novice-no-longer-rosenblum-finding-her-stride<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Teresa Genaro – July 6, 2015 On the Thursday after the Belmont Stakes, Belmont Park was nearly deserted. A sparse weekday crowd dotted the apron; upscale specialty cocktails were nowhere to be found; attire tended to denim rather than… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recent-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/lindarice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/lindarice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/lindarice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lindarice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lindarice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1170"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/lindarice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1171,"href":"http:\/\/lindarice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1170\/revisions\/1171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/lindarice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lindarice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lindarice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}