Harvey Clarke, Breeder of I'll Have Another, Dies at 77

Harvey Clarke, breeder of dual classic winner and champion I'll Have Another , died Jan. 11 following a long bout with lung cancer. He passed at his home in Franklin Lakes, N.J., surrounded by his family.

Clarke, the former president of the New York City-based A.J. Clarke Real Estate Corp. is survived by his wife, Donna, and children Scott, Alyssa, Nancy, and Jennifer.

According to bloodstock agent Steve Shahinian, who worked with Clarke for more than 30 years, Clarke's early ownership in the racing game began in 1979 at a modest level primarily in New York and New Jersey. He maintained a small string and had a few small stakes winners. He began increasing his family's involvement in racing in 2003, and in recent years Clarke owned, co-owned, bred, or co-bred I'll Have Another, Stopchargingmaria, Havana, Soldat , Cairo Prince , Eye of Taurus, May Night, Egg Head, Yankee Fourtune, and Exotic Bloom.

Clarke was also a longtime client of the Seitz family's Brookdale Farm. When Fred Seitz Sr. went out to train, his first stakes winner was with his and Clarke's May Night in the 2005 P.G. Johnson Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.

"We're all really sad here today; we've lost a really good friend," Freddy Seitz Jr. said. "The only positive thing is we've been so blessed to know a guy like Harvey. I wish I had a lot of friends like him, but they don't come along like him very often. And it's not just him, but his whole family."

"I met Harvey in 1976. I was in the show horse business, and he brought his kids to me for riding lessons," Shahinian said. "We've done business together and have been friends since then. We never had a cross word together. He was a perfect guy to deal with because he was generous. Dr. Mike Chovanes from Pennsylvania sent me a note this morning that said, 'Knowing Harvey Clarke made me a better person.' What a way to be known, huh? I think there are many people in this industry that feel the same way.

"He's the kind of guy who understood the game," Shahinian added. "He always let me do the kinds of things that were right for the horse and not right for his pocketbook."

Shahinian recalled a story involving Yankee Fourtune, a $37,000 yearling buy who was a two-time grade 3 winner in 2010. The gelding was claimed from Clarke for $50,000 in 2012. Clarke later tracked down the horse after it was retired in 2014 and got in touch with the owners, letting them know to call him if they ever needed anything. Clarke received a call a year and a half later about Yankee Fourtune needing emergency colic surgery. Clarke called Dr. Patty Hogan, who met the horse at the clinic for surgery. The cost ran over $8,000, and Clarke later wrote another check to Old Friends, the Thoroughbred retirement facility in Georgetown, Ky., where Yankee Fourtune is today.

"That is a summary of Harvey Clarke in the horse business," Shahinian said.

I'll Have Another, a 2009 son of Flower Alley—Arch's Gal Edith, by Arch, was bred by Clarke and sold by Brookdale for $11,000 at the 2010 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Resold for $35,000 to agent Dennis O'Neill at the 2011 Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, he won the 2012 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) and Preakness Stakes (G1) for Reddam Racing. He was also champion 3-year-old male of 2012.

"I was the main culprit," Shahinian said of the sale. "He was extraordinarily weak as a yearling; his walk behind was not strong. He was immature, and my concern was that he would never get the strength he would need to be a successful racehorse."

In 2012, Clarke told BloodHorse: "You have to try to make a few bucks in this business. Otherwise, you can't get by. We go through the few I breed and say, 'Let's sell this one and keep that one.' Sometimes it's just the luck of the draw. I'll Have Another was just a horse back then."

Clarke did make the Derby as a co-owner of Soldat in 2011.

Stopchargingmaria, a 2011 foal by Tale of the Cat—Exotic Bloom, by Montbrook, won the 2015 Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) for Town and Country Farms. Bred by Clarke and Brookdale, Stopchargingmaria sold for $47,000 at the 2012 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Clarke fared better selling the stakes-winning Exotic Bloom in 2013 for $500,000. Shahinian purchased Cairo Prince in 2012 and Clarke partnered on the horse who became a grade 2 winner and a successful sire at Airdrie Stud.

Havana, by Dunkirk out of Missy Turtle, by Kyle's Our Man, won the 2013 Foxwoods Champagne Stakes (G1) and ran second in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) behind New Year's Day.

Clarke maintains some horses at Brookdale.