Promising Juvenile Honors Owner's Beloved Uncle

In whichever Breeders' Cup juvenile race recent Futurity Stakes winner Uncle Benny runs, owner Ara Aprahamian is excited to have his first starter in the World Championships.

The 50-year-old Bardonia, N.Y., semi-retired, former pharmaceutical sales executive is a new owner in the sport but has the superstitious nature and family following of longtime owners.

Uncle Benny, named for Aprahamian's uncle who was like a second father to him, is Aprahamian's first stakes winner outside of a partnership. Aprahamian thought the uncle, whose real name was Garo Spenjian, resembled the British TV comedian Benny Hill, so he gave him the name "Uncle Benny," and "it stuck."

Although he's been told owners are sentimental at their own peril, "this horse has a special place in my heart above and beyond being part of my stable," Aprahamian said.

"The family has really gravitated to follow the horse," Aprahamian said—but not in person. He's superstitious, and since they weren't there for Uncle Benny's two wins in his first two starts, he said the family will be watching the Breeders' Cup on TV instead of at Churchill Downs.

"We're all living vicariously through the spirit or the remembrance of Uncle Benny," he said.

After being a member of an ownership group for several years, Aprahamian left the sport for a couple of years and then got in on his own, building up to about eight horses now. He's also started a syndicate called Beach Haven Thoroughbreds, which he said has two horses.

"I'm hoping to make a career of this," Aprahamian said. "I've been very fortunate to be surrounded by people who've done me right and that I trust," citing his trainers Jason Servis, who conditions Uncle Benny, and Linda Rice.

Aprahamian likes to know about his horses but doesn't check in with trainers more than every few weeks, in part because of his own professional experience in sales. "I know what I liked," he said. 

"He's great to train for," Servis said. "He tells me, 'Treat them like you owned 'em' … which makes it great." 

Servis, as an agent for Aprahamian, purchased Uncle Benny for $185,000 at Fasig-Tipton's The Saratoga Sale in 2017.

Aprahamian said he had visited the grounds—at Servis' urging—beforehand while attending a bachelor party. A friend he was with, after looking at Hip 153, said, "That's the horse, Ara," which Aprahamian said he discounted.

Servis—without any input from Aprahamian—also liked Hip 153, which ended up being Uncle Benny.

"Maybe it was meant to be," Aprahamian said.

Servis later called while Aprahamian was on a business trip to say the trainer had bid to his budgeted limit on the horse, but that he really liked the horse and could get it if they went a little further.

"I said, 'Go for it,'" Aprahamian said. "It was money well spent."

Uncle Benny won his August debut at Monmouth Park going five furlongs on the dirt. Then he went from last to first in the Oct. 7 Futurity at six furlongs on the Belmont Park turf. The Futurity is a Breeders' Cup Challenge "Win and You're In" race to the inaugural edition of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.

"It's been a wonderful experience," Aprahamian said, comparing the 2-year-old's success to the excitement of having a live lottery ticket. With the Futurity win, "now I've got another 30 days of the lottery ticket still being live." 

As to which Breeders' Cup race Uncle Benny will run in, Aprahamian said, "I have my thoughts," but ultimately "the bottom line is wherever Jason says I go, I go."

With the Futurity win, Uncle Benny is guaranteed a spot in the Juvenile Turf Sprint, to be run at 5 1/2 furlongs on the grass. Both Servis and Aprahamian say they think the horse would like the mile distance of the Juvenile Turf (G1T). Both even mentioned possibly trying the Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1). He's won on both surfaces, and though Uncle Benny's pedigree as a son of Declaration of War  out of the Storm Cat mare Celebrity Cat might indicate turf, it also has dirt success.

The Challenge race win awards free entry into the Juvenile Turf Sprint or pays up to equal that amount in another Breeders' Cup race, although a starting spot wouldn't be guaranteed for those other races.

Aprahamian has another reason to think about the 1 1/16-mile Juvenile—the road to next year's Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (G1). 

"I still want to give that first week of May a shot," he said, acknowledging that a lot would have to go right along the way and it's "one race at a time."