Senior Investment First Classic Starter for Fireman

Dana O'Neil for America's Best Racing.

Paul Fireman is not a gambler.

He is, however, a risk taker.

Nearly 40 years ago Fireman spied a pair of sneakers at a trade show and on a hunch that the fitness craze was about to take off, bought the U.S. distribution rights from the England-based manufacturer for $65,000.

The shoes, named after a small antelope in Africa, were called Reebok. Eventually Fireman became the company's CEO.

So while Fireman's latest venture—Palm Beach-based Fern Circle Stables—may seem something of a lark, anyone who is counting the Massachusetts-based businessman out isn't paying attention.

Fern Circle just started racing horses a year ago, finishing 2016 with five wins from 16 starts.

On May 20 Fireman will attend his first Triple Crown race, pulling into Pimlico Race Course as the owner of Senior Investment, a longshot entry in the 142nd Preakness Stakes (G1).

"I'd call it a hobby, a very expensive hobby," said Fireman, now the quasi-retired chairman of Fireman Capital Partners, a private equity firm. "But it's a lot of fun, a high-risk gamble I call it. We look for that diamond in the rough."

Senior Investment, named cheekily by the senior (he's 73) investor, fits the bill. The chestnut colt earned Fern Circle its first graded victory in the Stonestreet Lexington Stakes (G3) at Keeneland in April. A late runner, he likes to give his owner a good case of nerves when he races, winning that graded race only after trailing all but one horse for six furlongs.

"He causes a few heart attacks," Fireman said. "He comes on late like a wild animal."

But Fireman isn't coming to the Preakness with delusions of grandeur. Not that he'd turn away a win, but he's excited to simply experience the spectacle of the race for the first time. He grew up going to the track with his father and uncle in the early 1960s, intrigued by the nuances of the sport. He was fascinated by bloodlines, curious to see what turned some horses into winners and others into duds, and was content just watching the majesty of the races rather than betting them.

Adulthood and the responsibilities that come along with it took him away from the track. Fireman worked for his family's sporting goods company and even tried his hand at his own venture - a camping novelty called Great Balls of Fire. They were fire starters shaped like golf balls.

But it was that fateful trip to a Chicago trade fair that changed everything. J.W. Foster & Sons displayed their hand-sewn running shoes there and Fireman was convinced they were the wave of the future. With a combination of daring, pluck and street sense, Fireman grew the largely unknown Reebok into the then-second largest manufacturer of athletic footwear in the U.S., trailing only Adidas at the time.

Fireman quite literally grew the company out of the back of his car, going from race to race with a trunkful of sneakers, trying to convince runners that his shoes were the right choice despite what was then an extravagant $60 sticker price.

Timing, of course, is everything. Fireman's instincts were right - the country was on the cusp of a fitness craze. He hit up athletes and trainers, using their input to design the company's shoes, and became the first manufacturer to specifically target women. In 2006, he sold the company to Adidas for $3.8 billion.

Fireman is bringing that same combination of trusting his own gut while relying on the opinions of others to horse racing. He did his homework before choosing Ken McPeek as his trainer,and though he's interested in and fully aware of what's happening with his horses, trusts McPeek to make the big decisions.

"I don't pick horses," Fireman said. "I encourage my trainer to do what he thinks is best."

This has been a tougher year for Fern Circle than the first. Fireman said a host of his horses are injured, or just coming back from injury, and he's learning the hard way that horse racing is a little less predictable than the shoe market. He holds out hope that some will prove winners when healthy but in the meantime, said he's content to just be in the game.

"I don't know if I'd say I'd caught the bug, but I'm enjoying it up until now," Fireman said. "We'll see what happens. So far it's a one-way street financially. We have to see where the tide turns."

If anyone thinks the tide won't turn, clearly they don't know how Paul Fireman works.

He may not be a gambler.

But he's a very savvy risk taker.