Ownership Group Has An 'Abbondanza' of Racing Luck

Bing Bush & Midnight Crossing | Benoit

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The word “abbondanza” means “abundance” in Italian and proved to be the perfect name for a California-based ownership group that has turned into a force to be reckoned with on the West Coast in the past two years.

Abbondanza Racing founder and manager Bing Bush grew up on a small farm in Lexington, Kentucky, and spent his youth breaking yearlings and galloping racehorses. After graduating law school, he set up shop in Del Mar, California, and began setting up a few racing partnerships for clients. In 2012, Bush decided it was time to set up a partnership of his own and Abbondanza Racing was born.

“It started with four guys throwing in a bit of money to buy a filly called Changethechannel (English Channel),” Bush said. “She was an unraced 3-year-old at the time trained by Sean McCarthy. She turned out to be pretty good. We got a few others and ultimately ended up in Richie Baltas' barn with a mare called Melanistic (Ministers Wild Cat).”

Abbondanza started to make more of a name for itself in 2016 when Nathan McCauley joined the team and the group bought into his homebred Free Rose (Munnings). In his second start for the new partnership, the dark bay won the 2016 GIII La Jolla H. at odds of 28-1 and was let go at 11-1 when he followed suit with a victory in the GII Del Mar Derby a month later.

“We sold half of Changethechannel to Nathan McCauley back in 2015,” Bush recalled. “That is how I met with Nathan. We partnered on a claiming filly and did pretty well. Then he had a horse he bred called Free Rose and we partnered on him. He had incredible success when we brought him out to California.”

He continued, “We ended up putting together a business model that is different than what Abbondanza had done in the past. We decided we wanted to get some well-bred fillies and mares, race them and try to improve their pedigree.”

After the success the partnership had with Free Rose, the Abbondanza group began to grow quickly.

“After that, Abbondanza doubled in size,” Bush said. “We had a great venture last year and it has even grown again. Everybody in Abbondanza though are all just friends. They are all friends of mine, or Nathan's or a friend of a friend. It is not really a public offering. It is just a group of guys that are fortunate to hang around together and have some racing luck. There are 27 partners currently.”

The new business model created by Bush and McCauley is focused on buying fillies and mares already in training or of racing age, predominantly at the November sales. The goal is to improve their race records, and therefore their value, and sending them back through the ring the following November.

“It is a fairly conservative business model,” Bush said. “We have been really fortunate with [bloodstock agent] David Meah. He is just absolute magic. And Richie Baltas, I just can't say enough good about him. They are both great horsemen and really bring incredible talent. We have been fortunate to actually be able to improve upon some horses that have been in some really good hands and to turn a little profit for our partners.”

In addition to the November purchases, Abbondanza also has what they call “flash offerings” of horses they become interested in throughout the year, such as Kathy's Song (Candy Ride {Arg}), a $190,000 Fasig-Tipton July buy who won the Miss America S. and finished third in the GI American Oaks since her purchase.

“Everybody has the same percentage in the horses that we have,” said Bush, who added that the group currently has 10 horses in their stable. “Through the course of the year, however, we do have what we call flash offerings. David or Nathan may come up with a filly they like and for the existing partners, we will say, 'Do you guys want to get together and buy this filly?' We will usually buy four or five at the fall sales in November and then through the course of the year we will have these additional flash offerings.”

One of Abbondanza's biggest success stories is a mare named Goodyearforroses (Ire) (Azamour {Ire}). She won her first start for Bush's group in the 2016 Robert Frankel S., which was downgraded from a Grade III to a listed stakes when it was rained off the turf. That proved to be the start of a hot streak for the bay, who went on to win her next two starts in the 2017 Astra S. and GII Santa Ana S. Goodyearforroses gave the group another thrill when finishing a very close second to recently retired turf superstar Lady Eli (Divine Park) in last term's GI Gamely S.

“We bought Goodyearforroses back in November 2016 and another gentleman actually bought her at the sale, but decided he didn't want her,” Bush explained. “David was really high on her from the get go, so we bought her for $200,000. I will never forget, she got back to California and the exercise rider texted me and said, 'OMG, OMG she doesn't even touch the ground.' I galloped horses, so I knew what that meant and I was really excited about it.”

He continued, “She won the Bobby Frankel in her first race and came back and won two more stakes. Then the Medallion [Racing] folks contacted us and they were interested in buying a leg of her, so we sold them 25%. We really felt like we were on an upward trajectory with her.”

In keeping with their business model, Goodyearforroses was offered at Keeneland November, where she RNA'd for $375,000, but sold privately after the sale. However, Abbondanza has been quick out of the gate with their new group of purchases from the 2017 November sales, winning their second consecutive Frankel S., this time kept at its Grade III status, with Midnight Crossing (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}), a $240,000 KEENOV purchase, who blew up the tote with that win at 22-1.

“We've reloaded now with some new stock that are very promising,” Bush said. “We bought Midnight Crossing and she came out and won the Bobby Frankel. Now we have a few more bullets in the gun with Queen Blossom (Ire) (Jeremy), who unfortunately had a wide trip and didn't have much racing luck recently [when fifth in the Astra Jan. 14].”

The Abbondanza crew does not let their race results affect their attitude. No matter where their horse finishes in a race, they leave the track with the same enthusiasm they arrived with and celebrate a day spent at the races with friends.

“I just call it Abbondanza style,” Bush said. “If we are in a stakes race, we are going to go Abbondanza style. We dress up and it starts its own kind of environment. We can spot each other in the crowd and we love to sit together and go to the paddock together. It is not just about the race. We make a whole day of it. We like to all be together, having a good time and being good sports, win, lose or draw. But, my God, if we win, look out! No matter what the results, we go to the table after, have a toast and a little recap.”

Meah expressed similar sentiments about the group, saying, “They are the most enthusiastic group of owners I have ever had the luck to work around. Everything they do, whether it is going to the sales or a race, whether it is a Group 1 or a claiming race, they do it in style and have fun. They just love the sport and have a good time. Win, lose or draw, everyone leaves the racetrack with a smile and is optimistic we will move forward. They are just a really fun group to be around. Bing is the most enthusiastic person I have ever met in my life. Just spending time with him makes you feel great about life.”

In addition to their stellar sportsmanship, Abbondanza also donates 1% of all of their earnings to the Thoroughbred Charities of America.

“Nathan is the Vice President of Thoroughbred Charities of America and I am on the board now too,” Bush said. “It is one of the only charities that gives back not just to the horses, but to the people who work with them as well. We knew we wanted to donate to a charity and that is how we chose TCA.”

Bush's wife Jewels inspired him to expand Abbondanza by creating an all-female ownership group called Abbondanza Femme.

“I mentioned it to my wife Jewels and she got really excited about it,” Bush recalled. “She woke up at 2:00 a.m. and started thinking of all of her friends who wanted to be part of it. So, I got up and said, 'Let's get this down.' Then we were up until 4:30 a.m. making a list of everybody we wanted to ask about it. That is how we ended up launching this thing really. Jewels really was a driving force behind this.”

Abbondanza Femme already has 50 partners and Bush hopes to double that number. Like Abbondanza, all the current members are friends of Bush or his wife or a friend of a friend. The Femme group will operate under the same business model of buying fillies already in training with the goal of reselling the following year, but has a lower buy-in rate than its counterpart.

“It is a much lower entry point, but people can buy more than one share,” Bush said. “We are looking for a filly, so we always have residual value. Right now we have about 50 partners and I'd like to have 100. We have a lot of friends and we know they have friends. We will start small and if we can have a little measure of success then maybe some folks sitting on the sidelines will jump in. That is what happened last time and I won't be surprised to see it happen again.”

All-female ownership groups have been on the rise in recent years with syndicates like Lady Sheila Stable, It's All About the Girls and Starlight Ladies making names for themselves on the racetrack as they grow in both size and success.

“I think those [groups] are definitely inspirations for us,” Bush said. “I think racing needs [all-female groups]. I really believe in empowering that aspect of our community. It brings life to racing to bring more women into the sport. We can benefit from that.”

With Bush and his team at the helm, Abbondanza Femme could be the next big thing on the all-female ownership scene as the name Abbondanza has proven to be both fitting and lucky.

“Abbondanza means abundance in Italian,” Bush said. “My wife was the inspiration for that. She is half Italian. I really loved the name and what it stands for, which is not an abundance of money or anything like that, but an abundance of good experience, joy and the things we want in life.”

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