Sy Cohen Did What He Loved

Dan Liebman

By

I met Sy Cohen at a Keeneland sale nearly 40 years ago. A student at the University of Kentucky, I considered myself–though young–an astute handicapper.

Sy quickly let me know, in his typical blunt style, I didn't know crap about handicapping. He had started in the game handicapping for Miami newspapers and over the years he gave me many handicapping lessons.

An unforgettable character I had not seen in years, memories of Sy came flooding back when I saw he died in Miami July 12. Sy was 85.

Not all of the memories had to do with horses–though most did–as we often discussed college athletics, being that our schools were Southeastern Conference rivals.

Born in Detroit, Sy and his family moved to Florida when he was in high school. He graduated from the University of Florida and never left the Sunshine State.

As a handicapper, Sy would make his own trip notes and those observations gave him an edge over most other handicappers. As he began buying and selling horses, he became familiar with female families and used that knowledge to spot things such as live first-time turf runners.

As I became fascinated with bloodlines and became a writer of breeding topics, I, too, quickly saw how knowledge of sire lines and female families aided me in my handicapping.

Sy was a pinhooker before it was fashionable or popular; at a time before the word pinhook became part of our everyday lexicon for someone who purchases a horse to resell.

He never paid much for a horse, but routinely sold them for a profit, not seeking the home runs that make headlines but rather the singles and doubles that allowed him to make a comfortable living in a tough business.

As Sy told me on numerous occasions, he lived by a simple set of rules:

• Every horse is for sale.

• Every horse is for sale for the right price.

• Better to sell and regret than not sell and regret.

• While it is better to sell and regret than not sell and regret,

do not be afraid to buy a horse back and put it in training

yourself.

Just a few years after meeting Sy, he had tremendous success with two colts from the same crop (1979).

For $8,700 he bought Irish Martini (by Princely Pleasure–Karen's Martini, by Martini II) as a yearling at the OBS October sale and the following year the colt won the GI Belmont Futurity by a nose over Herschelwalker, with odds-on favorite Timley Writer another 2 1/2 lengths back in third.

Sy also co-owned Wolfie's Rascal (by London Company–Daisy Trimmer by Bold Discovery), who that same year ran third in the Remsen S.

Any lover of good deli food who visited Miami Beach in those days knew of The Rascal House and Wolfie's, both owned by Wolfie Cohen, a partner in the colt with Sy and Richard Kumble.

Wolfie's Rascal took them to the GI Kentucky Derby, where he finished 17th in the race won by Gato del Sol. But Wolfie's Rascal won his next three starts, two of those being the GI Arlington Classic and GI American Derby.

Sy was often seen at the sales with the late trainer Gordon Huntley, a member of the Canadian Hall of Fame, and one of his owners, the late Harry Addison, Sr. Sy offered advice to them on many purchases over the years.

He also bought horses for a long time for noted New York artist Frank Stella, the owner of Delehanty Stock Farm in that state.

Sy has his hands on some fillies that would become outstanding producers, including two named Broodmare of the Year.

He pinhooked Leslie's Lady (Tricky Creek) and she later became the dam of Beholder and Into Mischief. The mare was named Kentucky Broodmare of the Year just last year.

He claimed Smartaire (Quibu), who produced Smart Angle, Smarten and Quadratic. She was Kentucky Broodmare of the Year in 1979.

For many years, Sy sold horses through Al Polk's Oriskany Farm. He once purchased a three-horse package of horse owned by Polk in a deal brokered by Sy's close friend Rick Trontz, with whom he spoke on a daily basis for three decades.

One of the horses in that package was Tell a Secret (Speak John), who Sy was boarding at Margaux Farm when Trontz was a partner there. After a barren year, and because of her advancing age, Sy gave her to the Margaux partners, who bred her to farm stallion Devil His Due. She had that one last foal at age 23, a colt named Roses in May, who won the G1 Dubai World Cup and nearly $5.5 million.

There are so many interesting “characters” in the horse business. Sy Cohen was definitely one of them. He didn't make a lot of headlines; didn't sell million-dollar horses; didn't own a big farm.

What Sy did was know how to spot a nice horse, put his money where his mouth was–and he had a big mouth–and make a nice living in a business he loved.

Along the way he also imparted a few nuggets of wisdom to a young kid who only now, years later, is able to wistfully reflect on it.

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