Frommer and Berkelhammer Partner Up for Success

On the surface, Cary Frommer and Barry Berkelhammer seem unlikely business partners.

She is a short, reserved, white-haired grandmother from South Carolina. He is a tall, stout horseman who operates Abracadabra Farm in Ocala, Fla.

But over the course of more than a dozen years, the two have built a pinhooking business that today is at the height of the marketplace, with two seven-figure transactions in each of the last two years.

After Frommer sold two Uncle Mo   juveniles for $1.3 million and $1 million in 2016, the pair came right back this year at the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream sale March 2, topping the sale with an Uncle Mo filly for $1.5 million and a More Than Ready   colt at $1.1 million. Both of the Fasig-Tipton 2-year-olds were also partially owned by David Robbins, one of Berkelhammer's clients, and both were purchased by Lawrrence Best's OXO Equine.

Sitting at a patio table outside Barn 10 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s complex in Ocala, Fla., where she was preparing to offer another group at the March 14-15 OBS sale, the affable but driven Frommer explained that her recent success has exceeded all expectations.

"I have absolutely surpassed every goal I set out to achieve," Frommer, 60, said while waiting for the last horses in her consignment to complete their under tack show workouts. "It is unimaginable to me."

A self-described Army brat whose father's military service resulted in a nomadic childhood, Frommer's first experience with horses was through the show ring. But that was short-lived and she ended up as a racetracker, honing her horsemanship skills.

"I couldn't make a living at it so I just started galloping horses, which paid real money," Frommer said of her vocation that involved traveling to racing circuits all over the country. "I worked for Hall of Fame trainers and I worked for trainers at Charles Town. I learned something from everybody I worked for. You can learn as much working at the cheaper tracks about keeping a horse sound as can from a Hall of Fame trainer."

After her son was born, Frommer and her ex-husband decided the nomadic racetrack lifestyle would have to go and they settled in his hometown of Aiken, South Carolina.

Once her son became old enough to attend school, Frommer made the move into buying and selling young horses, which would require only short absences from home of several weeks at a time.

"I am very goal-oriented and I couldn't train horses just to train horses," she recalls. "When the racing goal left because I couldn't go to the races, pinhooking became the new goal."

Frommer said part of her interest in pinhooking was driven by the poor condition of some 2-year-olds she and her husband were sent from other trainers. "I didn't think it had to be that way. I really strive not to squeeze the lemon dry at a sale. This is not supposed to be the best day of their lives. It is supposed to be a steppingstone on to bigger things."

The turning point for Frommer was meeting Berkelhammer some 13-14 years ago when the two found themselves stabled alongside each other at a sale at Calder Race Course. One of Frommer's horses had an accident on the track, and Berkelhammer offered to assist her by using his pony to take her horse to the track throughout the sale.

"I had seen him around but wasn't sure if I liked him. He was this big, loud guy," Frommer said with a chuckle, which she does a lot in a conversation. "But it was absolutely the nicest thing and I never forgot it. He is very good-hearted, which is something a lot of people don't know about Barry."

Frommer said that after her horses sold well at that auction and Berkelhammer's did not fare so well, he approached her about joining forces.

Frommer said she and Berkelhammer share the same philosophy in their purchases, seeking out yearlings that are correctly conformed, with a good brain. "That is very important to us."

While their acquisitions must have sire strength, they are forgiving on the pedigree as long as a mare that may not have any top runners is still young enough to have potential upside and has a strong female family.

Berkelhammer agreed he and Frommer are on the same page most of the time, but he has to rein in his partner when shopping yearling auctions.

"We just kind of complement each other," the horseman said. "I find Cary to be conservative by nature in her treatment of horses, which I respect. I find that when I have horses with her they are well-cared for and not put into an abusive program. That is how I do things…we have the same philosophy toward how to treat horses, stopping on them when they need to be stopped on.

"She likes to get to horse sales and start buying and I have to rein her in a little bit. She enjoys buying them, like a woman buying purses."

Berkelhammer said the pair's high-priced sales were unanticipated but that it was largely due to their awareness of the market swing toward quality.

"You could never anticipate being rewarded to the extent we have, but we did recognize that the market was becoming more selective and more polarized, and it appears the real the strength of the market appears to be what they perceive to be the best racing prospect, not just the price, but racing prospect. We tried to go out and buy horses those buyers want. As a result we have paid more to get those horses."

With a 1 1/2-year-old granddaughter ("She is the light of my life.") and her sale's success last year, Frommer said she considered taking a step back and perhaps not being as hands-on with her operation, which now numbers about 80 horses for herself and clients. But with two seven-figure sales already this year, that may have to wait awhile.