Santé Cellars Racing Club: Pairing Health and Horses

Kate Horning (left) and Anna Seitz (middle), shown here with Dating Lady Luck, have founded a racing club focused on a healthy lifestyle and horse racing. (Photos courtesy of Santé Cellars Racing Club)
People who are interested in healthy living and racehorses will soon have a way to combine their two interests with the launch of Santé Cellars Racing Club.
The Racing Club was created by Kate Horning, Anna Seitz and Evan Ciannello, who wanted to combine Horning’s passion of promoting a healthy lifestyle with Seitz’s goal of growing horse racing.
“One of my best friends is a girl named Kate Horning and she’s a chef. She’s also a healthy life coach and she teaches people how to live just a really good lifestyle based on exercise and eating right and having good habits,” Seitz said. “We’re always trying to figure out a way that we can do more together because we love which each of us does … Then we decided everyone loves horses, people really want to eat right and healthy and Kentucky has so much to offer so we wanted to find a way to bring all three of these together and that’s how we came up with the idea of the Santé Cellars Racing Club.”
In addition to enjoying good food and wine, Racing Club members will also get the opportunity to experience the thrill of owning a horse without having to worry about paying training bills through the lease of Dating Lady Luck.
The 3-year-old filly trained by Al Stall and owned by Spendthrift Farm has been leased by the club and was selected especially by Spendthrift’s owner B. Wayne Hughes after Seitz told him about the idea behind Santé Cellars Racing Club.
“Mr. Hughes, who owns Spendthrift Farm and actually owns the filly, and I are really good friends and he always supports when I’m doing all of these little ideas,” said Seitz. “He knows that I’m trying to get new people in so he said ‘I want to give you a good horse that I think could be fun for your members’ so he actually selected her, which is very, very nice of him.”
DATING LADY LUCK

One way the syndicate is different from others is that it has three different levels people can choose from for their membership. The first level starts at an annual fee of $2,000 and gives those members a chance to attend select dinners and racing events. In addition, the first level members will receive updates on Dating Lady Luck and future Club horses while the top level of membership allows members to be an actual owner in a horse, giving them the chance to earn some of the prize money the horse may bring in.
While the syndicate hasn’t approached many prospective members yet, so far it has found that the first level seems to be more attractive to individuals while the second level has attracted more company support.
 “The second level is a little bit more expensive and what we’re finding is that that is attractive to companies that want to buy this and offer it to some of their big clients,” said Seitz. “It’s just kind of taking it to a higher level and more access to a VIP dinner on a really exclusive farm that really doesn’t ever do this kind of thing. [Second level members] can come into the paddock at the races because if we have 50 or 100 people at the lower level, we won’t be able to get 50 or 100 paddock passes but if you’re in at the second level then we’ll be able to do more with you.”
MIGUEL MENA MODELING THE SANTÉ CELLARS' RACING SILKS

Horning, who is a chef and will be handling most of the lifestyle portions of Santé Cellars Racing Club, has firsthand experience about how a syndicate can improve the racing experience. She had mostly gone to the races in the past just to socialize but Horning joined another one of Seitz’s syndicates and learned more about the sport, which led her to become more of a racing fan.
The educational factor is something the Racing Club is taking into consideration and Seitz hopes to help members learn more about the parts of the industry that interest them.
“Say a couple signs up and the husband is really into the betting but the wife really wants to follow the breeding, we don’t want it to feel like if you’re only into one or the other that it’s not for you. Between all of these different things, we think it will pretty much cover most personalities and people can get as much or as little of each thing as they want.” Seitz said.
If they really want to learn about how the sales work, then hopefully they would sign up before the [Fasig-Tipton] July Sale or before the October sale. If they want to learn about how betting works then we’d do a betting seminar while we’re handicapping the races, so they can sign up for the things that really interest them. We’re trying to offer different things and I think everybody likes good food so I think that’ll be a no-brainer.”
In addition to dinners cooked by Kate Horning, those who join at any membership level are sent 12 bottles a year of a wine created by Horning named Santé Cellars wine. The wine, and Horning’s vision behind it, plays a big part in making the Racing Club stick out from other racing syndicates while also reaching the goal Horning has of making wine popular in Kentucky.
“Our wine is actually made in Kentucky. We get grapes from all over the world but we have a wine maker that lives in Willisburg and he’s phenomenal, Horning said. “We noticed that once we started putting the wine out there that a lot of people questioned the fact that it’s made in Kentucky. Kentucky is known for its horse racing and its bourbon but not necessarily for its wine, so [growing the popularity of Kentucky-made wine is] kind of my goal.”
GROUP DINNERS PREPARED BY HORNING ARE PART OF THE MEMBERSHIP PACKAGE

Santé Cellars Racing Club is partnering with Whole Foods for some of the Racing Club meals and Horning is looking forward to tying in the healthy living with the horse racing for a unique experience.
“We partnered with Whole Foods to do some of these dinners so we’re tying in that element of healthy food made by local farmers to make these events just amazing,” said Horning. “We’re going to have brunches out at Keeneland, we’re going to have dinners at horse farms, we’re going to have going to races as a big group and really learning and enjoying the whole experience. So I think it’s going to be something really unique but hopefully a lot of fun and a good way to get into racing without having to buy a horse.”
Santé Cellars Racing Club offers many different gathering options for those interested in horse racing, including trips to the sales to learn more about the process of buying a horse. But in addition to teaching members all about horse racing, it is hoped that the Club will allow members more than just the benefits they pay for.
“We think there is going to be a lot of networking and we want people to do business with other members,” Seitz said of a long-term goal for the club. “There are just so many great businesses here in Lexington, we have people interested in Cincinnati that want to join up, you don’t have to live in Kentucky, you can live anywhere. That’s what I’ve found in my other syndicates. Once they start to get to know each other, they start to do business together and what better way to connect than through wine and horses and good food?”
Dating Lady Luck is close to making her first start for the Santé Cellars Racing Club and the future looks bright for both the filly and the syndicate. If you are interested in learning more about the Santé Cellars Racing Club, you can visit its website at www.santecellarsracingclub.com.