Inside the Owner’s Box with Centofanti, McCauley and Sharp

Thoroughbred owners Raffaele Centofanti, Nathan McCauley and Kathryn Sharp take readers inside the owner’s box in 2016. Centofanti, McCauley and Sharp will give readers insight into race-day habits, their favorite racetracks and their biggest accomplishments, plus interesting tidbits like what kind of music, fashion and vacations they prefer.
Read on to learn about their movie tastes, what their non-racing hobbies are and what they can't live without.

How did you become a Thoroughbred owner?
CENTOFANTI: My father was interested in getting into the horse-racing business, so he would go to the sales and buy horses. When I accompanied him to the sales, I was intrigued and asked him to let me in the business with him and my mother.
McCAULEY: My dad and brothers and I would go to the Kentucky Derby and Keeneland [Race Course] together every year. For a long time, we said we should buy a racehorse. In the fall of 2007, we went to a Fasig-Tipton yearling sale and bought our first Thoroughbred as a family, a Century City colt named The Big Finisher. He was a great, big horse and pretty fast, too. A few years later, I claimed a mare named Birdie Birdie that would become the first Thoroughbred I owned on my own.
MCCAULEY WITH HIS FAMILY

SHARP: My now-husband, Justin, started managing his family’s racing stable when we were together in college and I sort of got hooked. I went from being a complete neophyte in the sport to following it closely. Before even becoming a fan of the racing, I was going to sales and participating in breeding discussions. I was fascinated by the breeding side, primarily, and it wasn’t until I attended the 2009 Preakness and watched Rachel Alexandra beat the boys that I truly became a fan of racing itself. Though I played a role in managing the stable for years, I officially bought into my first horse in 2013.
What’s the farthest you’ve ever traveled to attend a race?
CENTOFANTI: The farthest I’ve traveled to attend a race was to Kentucky, to Keeneland and Churchill Downs, for one of my horses, Rose to Gold.
McCAULEY: I’ve been to Del Mar a number of times to watch some of my family’s horses run – one of my favorite tracks in the country! My favorite trip out there was in 2008 when Bel Air Sizzle and Lethal Heat ran 2-3 in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks.
SHARP: In June 2015, I had the good fortune to attend Royal Ascot to watch our Galileo filly Brandybend run in the Ribblesdale. We’ve had horses run in Argentina and Dubai as well and certainly both spots are on my racing bucket list!
What are your three favorite racetracks?
CENTOFANTI: Keeneland [Race Course], Gulfstream [Park] and Calder [Race Course]
McCAULEY: Keeneland [Race Course] will always be my favorite. Del Mar is a close second. Gulfstream Park would probably be next – such a cool place with the restaurants and stuff all right there. Kentucky Downs is up there, too. Believe it or not, I’ve never been to Saratoga [Race Course], but I’m waiting to bring a horse there that really belongs.
SHARP: Saratoga [Race Course], Keeneland [Race Course], and I just love the atmosphere and people at both Maryland tracks — Laurel Park and Pimlico [Race Course].
SHARP AND HER FRIENDS AT KEENELAND

Which horse really solidified your love of racing?
CENTOFANTI: Rose to Gold is definitely the horse that solidified my love for racing because of the great memories we had. It was such a fun ride on her journey to being the horse she is today. Rose to Gold was more than just a racehorse and I cherish the great times we had with her.
McCAULEY: Without a doubt, Afleet Alex. I was a casual racing fan back then, but he was my favorite. I loved him even as a 2-year-old. When he won the Preakness after clipping heels with Scrappy T, horse racing was in my blood and I’ve never been able to shake it.
SHARP: No horse has been more influential in my love of the sport than Rachel Alexandra. She ignited my passion for the game when she won the 2009 Preakness, and she was the first horse I ever followed as a fan. As an owner, one of the first horses we owned when I entered the game was Bold Hawk, a hulking, awkward bay gelding that ran like a combination of a drunk college student and a steam engine. He never ran in a straight line but he could barrel through a crowd of horses. He was a graded stakes winner and multiple graded [stakes-] placed, and now he lives on a farm nearby and will probably be in our family for the rest of his life.
Would you rather win the Kentucky Derby or the Breeders’ Cup Classic and why?
CENTOFANTI: I would rather win the Kentucky Derby because it’s a more prestigious race.  Winning the Kentucky Derby is hard and many people in horse racing dream to win it. For me, it’s like winning the Super Bowl.
McCAULEY: To win any Breeders’ Cup race is a goal of mine. I dream about it. I haven’t dreamed of winning the Kentucky Derby in the same way, mostly because I don’t buy a lot of colts. But if it is one or the other, it would be the Derby. It’s way harder to win (only one shot) and everyone in the world has heard of the Kentucky Derby, while the Breeders’ Cup isn’t as known to people that don’t follow the sport.
SHARP: I love the Derby. So many stories, so much hope. To me, it’s the race for the underdog and it’s also the race I most love to bet. However, I have to say my dream is to have a Breeders’ Cup Classic contender, let alone a winner. It’s the end of the year and most contenders have had a pretty full campaign by that point. While the Derby is a lot about who’s peaking at the right time, the Classic really measures true talent as well as the horsemanship of the connections.
What keeps you awake at night?
CENTOFANTI: Losing a race when you know the horse is ready.
McCAULEY: My racehorses.
SHARP: IS JON SNOW ALIVE OOORRRRR #got

If you could pick walk-up music that would play whenever you entered the winner’s circle, what song would you pick?
CENTOFANTI: “Thunderstuck,” by AC/DC
McCAULEY: “I Got a Feeling,” by Black Eyed Peas
SHARP: Obviously, in my head I’m singing “All I do is win, win, win, no matter what.” And now, so are you.
Biggest gambling score at the racetrack ever:
CENTOFANTI: $2,000
McCAULEY: There have been lots of times I’ve won over $10,000, but nothing too crazy.
SHARP: Justin and I pooled together for four-horse exacta in the 2013 Kentucky Derby and between that and some Win-Place-Show bets on Golden Soul, we made over $10,000. The hit was large enough that they had two detectives escort us out to our car for security. If we had played a super with the four horses in our exacta, we would have hit it cold for about $30,000, and if we had played our top five horses which included Mylute on the bottom, we would have made a six-figure score. Still stings.
I’d like to go to dinner with the following three people outside of racing:
CENTOFANTI: Kevin Hart, Warren Buffet, Bono
McCAULEY: Alicia Vikander, Kiersey Clemons, Jennifer Lawrence
SHARP: Elon Musk, Neil deGrasse Tyson, J.K. Rowling
I’d like to go to dinner with the following three people in racing:
CENTOFANTI: Todd Pletcher, D. Wayne Lukas, John Velazquez
McCAULEY: Bob Baffert, Todd Pletcher, Chad Brown
SHARP: Tom Durkin, Barbara Banke, and I’d be happy to talk ponies over some oats with the Pharoah himself. :-)
What is your most valued racing memento?
CENTOFANTI: Rose to Gold’s trophies, halter and saddlecloth.
ROSE TO GOLD

McCAULEY: I’ve got some cool trophies, win photos, and gifts – but probably the best are the replays – specifically, a DVD of our family’s wins that my assistant made me, which I made for my parents this most recent Christmas.
SHARP: We’re starting to fill in our library with trophies and winner’s circle photos, and we’ve pretty much covered a full wall at this point. It’s a true testament to all our horses have accomplished in the past five years, so it’s hard to choose among them. One thing though that may not be worth much but sentimentally means a lot to me would be the saddlecloths from my favorite horse, Sheldon’s, 3-year-old season. He ran in two Grade 1s in 2014 and finished fifth in one (the Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes) and third in another (the Secretariat Stakes). I think I just felt like such a proud mom, I hung them up in the house as if they were our kid’s report card.
What’s the magic formula for success?
CENTOFANTI: Perseverance is key.
McCAULEY: Have vision, think big, pay attention and work hard.
SHARP: Hard work, determination and rethinking your definition of success.