Moving on from Storm Cat

[Wandering Eyes]

Ric Waldman can’t escape it. He will be associated with Storm Cat for the rest of his life.

Of course, it’s no misfortune to be mentioned in the same sentence as a stallion who stood for a fee as high as $500,000, sired 180 stakes winners and progeny that earned more than $128 million and have also become leading sires and broodmares.

Storm Cat was pensioned in 2009, died in 2013 and Waldman has moved on. He’s got plenty to keep him busy with his Lexington, Ky.-based business, Ric Waldman Thoroughbred Consulting Inc., but it’s not the same. His life is no longer dominated by Storm Cat from an office at Overbrook Farm even though he’s still doing the same work he’s done for nearly 40 years, just not as much of it.

And he no longer has an occasional phone call with Queen Elizabeth.

“I have two relatively long-term clients, Marty Wygod and Samantha Siegel, and I’ve been with them each of them for close to 25 years,” said Waldman. “I still do the odd appraisal, but I haven’t been looking to grow my business to the extent that it was before, and I have turned down the odd request that has been made of me. I’d rather provide services for nothing, and do it on my terms, than charge for it.”

It was the ‘odd appraisal’ that originally connected Waldman to William T. Young, his racing and breeding interest Overbrook Farm, and then ultimately to Storm Cat.

Waldman was doing appraisals for First Security Bank in Lexington, Ky. “That was back in the early to mid-80s when they were freely loaning money on horses and all they cared about was having an appraisal on file,” explained Waldman. “Many of the loans were under water. They were allowing borrowers to provide their own appraisals; by an accepted appraiser but it was contracted by the borrower.

“I did a few of those things when the bank would ask me to perform an appraisal but often I was asked to confirm that some of their loans were under water. One of the significant shareholders at the bank was on the loan committee and he kept hearing my name pop up … he suggested to W.T. Young that he should hire me to confirm what his horses were worth. He (Young) had been spending all this money on horses, but he didn’t really know what they were worth.”

Thus, began a beautiful relationship. Waldman, however, didn’t only work for Overbrook. Simultaneously, he represented Windfields Farm and worked with high-caliber stallions The Minstrel and Deputy Minister. He even had other clients.

“My approach initially was to take as much business as I could get,” said Waldman. “I was trying to grow and I would find a way to get it done.”

The business grew quite a bit but then Waldman had to deal with a huge change when Overbook and Windfields ceased operations.

“My two large clients got out of the business (Overbrook and Windfields) and the families didn’t have a need for my services any longer,” he said. “I continued with the client-based service I built up and I’ve been content with it being smaller.”

It’s smaller but his main clients, Wygod and his wife Pam, and Samantha Siegel keep him involved with high-profile racing and breeding.

“I don’t manage any stallions for them but I give them advice on matings,” he said. “I assist Samantha in her buying, decisions on managing their horses. If it’s where to place a horse to run in a big race or whatever. It could be various needs, anything managing their own horses.

“In the case of Marty (I advise him) with his stallions or other stallions. I make other suggestions in terms of management of what he’s doing with his horses. He loves to bounce things off of me. .. we each can play the role of devil’s advocate with the other.

“The bottom line with both Samantha and Marty is I wouldn’t still be doing the work for them if I didn’t enjoy working with them so much. I’m at a point where it really has to be enjoyable.

“I’ve worked for some pretty powerful people over the years, but I can honestly say I enjoyed my dealings with every one of them and they’ve all been different types.”

Of course, one of the most powerful people he dealt with was Queen Elizabeth who was involved with Overbook Farm in a foal-sharing agreement involving Storm Cat.

That connected Waldman to royalty.

“Her racing manager said to me, ‘you know, Her Majesty would like to hear from you every now and again just to find out how things are going with her mare.’ ” he said. “I was really reluctant to call and he asked me again when I saw him at a horse sale. I said I would, just tell me how to do it. “I called and someone answered, saying ‘Buckingham Palace.’ I said, ‘It’s Ric Waldman from the United States calling Her Majesty,’ and she’s says, ‘Hold the line’ … connects me through and it happened to be the Queen who answered the phone. I was taken aback by that. We had great chat and I’ve got great memories.

“She really likes horses; she liked Storm Cat. She carries the conversation naturally and it’s very easy for her to carry the conversation when talking about horses.”

Although Waldman has moved on to other business, he’s always reminded of his connection to Storm Cat even in his own home where he has a tabletop bronze of him in his living room.

“Mr. Young was kind enough that when he had a life-size bronze made of Storm Cat, he gave a few of us tabletop replicas,” said Waldman.

“Storm Cat raised my visibility. If he hadn’t been such a significant sire, not just a successful sire but a significant sire, people might either think of me in other thoroughbred functions I have or I may have been the answer to a trivia question.”

Joe Sullivan is the former sports editor of the Boston Globe.

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