Zaro Singing a New Song Thanks to Blindwillie McTell

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.–The owner's lounge at Aqueduct was practically shaking on a chilly Sunday in December as Jerry Zaro rooted for his homebred Blindwillie McTell (Posse) with everything he had. “C'mon, Willie,” he yelled repeatedly, practically driving the gelding across the finish line himself to a maiden win in the NYSS The Great White Way S. He was overcome with emotion, his eyes glassy, as he hugged his trainer Linda Rice and his wife Lucy. That turned to jubilance in the winner's circle as he greeted his colt, patting his neck with enthusiastic praise as he told the bay how much he loved him.
But, as all of us in racing know, the sport is full of the highest highs and the lowest lows and Zaro has experienced both. It took one of those lows, a career-ending injury to Zaro's mare Bold Child (Flatter), to give him the high he experienced that December day thanks to her son Blindwillie McTell, who has added two more stakes wins to his resume since. The attorney hopes to experience another high Friday when Blindwillie McTell runs in Saratoga's Albany S. as part of New York-Bred Showcase Day, which offers six stakes worth $1.5 million in purses.
Zaro first got into racing through friends in 2000 and it was love at first sight. A few years later, a Flatter filly named Bold Child would take his passion and participation in the game to a new level.
“I was fascinated by the game, smitten from the very first minute,” Zaro said. “I tried to learn as fast as I could. It is a process. I am still learning daily. I knew absolutely nothing at that time. One of the nice people in racing, Tim Hills, a trainer at Monmouth Park, who had a box next to mine, called me one day and said he had a terrific filly at Timonium in Maryland and asked if I wanted to participate and I said yes. That was Bold Child. She was immediately a star on the racetrack. She broke her maiden in her first start and then we put her in the Sorority S. and she finished second.”
Bold Child was given a breather after that race in September 2007 and returned to the races at Monmouth Park in May of 2008, which would end up being her final start.
“In her comeback race [eight months later], she was injured by another horse,” Zaro said, his tone somber as he explained the incident. “The front hoof of that horse cut her rear suspensory. She was a big closer and around the far turn, where she usually made her move, she just hung. Jockey Stewart Elliott jumped off just past the wire and I knew something was wrong. I ran back to the barn area and the first thing I heard the vet say was, 'She will never run again.' It was heartbreaking for Tim, for me. I decided I wanted to spend whatever it was to keep her alive. We did and I turned her into a broodmare.”
Though Zaro lived and primarily raced in New Jersey at the time, he took Bold Child to New York to partake in the state's lucrative breeding program. He even used New York stallions to make his homebreds eligible for the NYSS races.
“I'll tell you, it's fantastic,” Zaro said of the New York-bred incentives. “I was originally in Monmouth County, right by Monmouth Park. I saw the purses there and then the purses in New York. When Willie won his races, all these checks started to come in and I said, 'By God, this is amazing.' Not only do you get a 30% check as the breeder, but if you are also the owner you get a 20% check, so you get a 50% bonus if, like I am, you own and breed. It's a great program. I also think the New York circuit is the premiere circuit in the country and we have to do all we can to protect it and enhance it.”
Bold Child proved to be pretty talented in the breeding department as well, producing five winners from five foals to race.
“As each foal dropped, they were better and better,” Zaro said. “I combined my two loves, racing and Bob Dylan. I named every single one of my horses after a Bob Dylan character, lyric or song title. They all won, at least one race.”
Bold Child's fourth foal Duquesne Whistle (Posse) had everyone who worked with him along the way singing his praises and he proved them right when he made it to the racetrack. Zaro had big dreams for his colt, but two summers ago, right here at Saratoga, a sudden illness took all of those dreams away.
“We finally got something really good when I moved to Linda [Rice], a horse named Duquesne Whistle,” said Zaro. “I had been following Linda. I was fascinated by the idea that way before women were getting the much more equal status they deserved, Linda was winning a training title at Saratoga.”
The New Jersey resident continued, “He was an absolutely magnificent specimen and he was doing great. He broke his maiden and won his a-other-than. We had him at Saratoga [in 2017] and in 36 hours he went from being a perfect specimen to being dead. It was devastating to me and I gave Bold Child away as a nurse mare. I said, 'I can't bear this.' It was crushing.”
About a year and half later, Duquesne Whistle's full-brother Blindwillie McTell came along and revived his owner's dreams and passion for the game in a big way.
“Everybody who had worked with him had said, 'He will be useful, but he is no Duquesne Whistle,'” said Zaro. “We ran him [on debut] on a horribly rainy day [in November at Aqueduct] and he finished second to Le General and, for a time, Le General was getting all of the New York headlines because he was just amazing.”
He continued, “Linda said, 'You know, that was a hell of a run.' Next thing you know, Linda says she is entering him in a $150,000 New York Stallion Series stake, the Great White Way. I said, 'Linda, he didn't even break maiden yet and you're putting him in a stakes race?' I had never run in a stakes race [with a homebred]. She said, 'Yes, I think he can be competitive here.'”
Rice was right. Blindwillie McTell splashed clear in the stretch to take The Great White Way S. by 2 1/2 lengths (video).
“The track was soup and he just crushed the field,” Zaro said. “It was my first stakes victory and it was just the most thrilling thing.”
Lost in the thrill of the win, it was a remark from Rice that reminded Zaro he had given away the golden goose that provided him with this great moment. He only had two more of Bold Child's progeny left in the now-2-year-old Blackjack Davey (Posse) and the yearling colt Thunderbird Cafe (Freud).
“In the winner's circle, Linda said, 'Now we really have to think about who we are going to breed the mare back to,'” Zaro said. “I just turned white. I called the people I had given Bold Child to and they couldn't have been nicer. They said, 'Sure, we get it.' They gave her back and she is now in foal to Laoban.”
He added, “We have a yearling on the ground by Freud because they moved Posse out of the country. If Blackjack Davey, who is a full-brother to Blindwillie McTell runs well, we will go to a Kentucky stallion next year. Everybody who has worked with Blackjack Davey has said he may even be better than Willie.”
Blindwillie McTell captured the NY-bred Rego Park S. in his next start at Aqueduct Jan. 13 and was second in the NYSS Times Square S. in Ozone Park Apr. 20. The gelding returned to winning ways in a salty renewal of the Empire-bred Mike Lee S. going seven panels at Belmont May 27 (video) and was most recently fourth when stretched to 1 1/16 miles in the New York Derby at Finger Lakes July 24. The biggest question facing the bay colt Friday is distance as he navigates nine furlongs for the first time.
“In January, Linda put him in the Rego Park S.,” Zaro said. “He won that race and in his next start, he finished second. He avenged that loss by winning the Mike Lee S. at seven furlongs and beat the only two horses that had ever beaten him. Then we brought him up to Finger Lakes and he finished not a bad fourth. We have no conditions left, so we have nowhere to go, but the Albany. We have to try this mile and an eighth and try to give him the best chance.”
Win, lose or draw Friday, Zaro will surely be rooting on his beloved “Willie” with everything he's got and will be waiting for him after with a big pat and smile.