The horse tracker

When Lodi's Robert Harmon watches the Kentucky Derby today, he'll do so from a perspective few people share.

Harmon has owned some 150 mares in 30 years, buying at bargain prices, breeding the horses and turning them for profit. Those horses have spawned roughly 100 fillies and colts, a dozen of which have gone on to produce $1 million in earnings on the race track.

His latest connection is Kentucky Derby favorite Big Brown, a 3-1 bet in today's 134th annual race. Big Brown's grandmother, Miasma, was purchased by Harmon for $25,000 in 1997 at Fair Grounds Race Course in Louisiana and resold for $200,000 in Kentucky later that year.

"The value on mares is to buy older, established and somewhat overlooked mares and sell their offspring," said Harmon, who also has a Kentucky Derby tie to 1992 winner Lil E Tee. He owned one of the horse's nieces.

While the money is a nice supplement to Harmon's day job as a physical education teacher at Tokay High and softball coach at St. Mary's, he most values the athletes his horses have produced on the track.

"I am in awe of what these mares have gone on to do, relative to the cheap prices I've attained them for," said Harmon, whose competition consists of six people worldwide. "It really isn't too much different from watching your team play. The adrenaline rush you get is similar to playing sports, coaching or horse racing."

Harmon also owns controlling rights to a stallion named Skimming, who has bred an average of 100 mares per year.

Kentucky Derby hopeful Big Brown is seen in his stall at Churchill Downs on Tuesday in Louisville, Ky. (The Associated Press)

"Every day when I turn on the TV, I can watch his babies run," Harmon says like a proud grandfather.

To conduct his business, Harmon doesn't even have to leave his nine-acre Lodi farm. The mares he purchases are sometimes delivered to his property — currently home to more than a dozen horses — but in many cases they are held by friends in Kentucky, the hub of international breeding.

Harmon wakes at 4 each morning to scan his computer for thoroughbreds. At equibase.com, he can look through the day's entrants in horse races at every track across the country, each mare listed by age, sex, weight and price.

If Harmon finds a filly or mare that catches his eye, he shifts from his desktop to a small CD-ROM database where he can track the horse's bloodline and race record.

Three degrees to Big Brown

Lodi horse breeder Robert Harmon purchased a mare named Miasma in 1997. Miasma gave birth to Mien, who gave birth to Big Brown, the favorite of today's Kentucky Derby.

Horse: Big Brown

Derby Odds: 3-1 favorite.

Age/Gender: 3-year-old bay colt.

Record: 3-0, with victories in the Florida Derby (Gulfstream Park), Allowance (Gulfstream Park) and Maiden Special Weight (Saratoga).

Trainer: Rick Dutrow Jr.

Owner: IEAH Stables purchased a 75 percent share of Big Brown for $3 million.

Jockey: Kent Desormeaux.

"Great horses come from great families," he said. In Harmon's business, money is made not in the young racehorses themselves, but the mares who produce them.

Should he find a good deal, Harmon wires money to the track to enter a claim on the horse, hoping she'll help produce the next generation of racehorses. If Harmon is the only claimant, the horse is his.

Harmon doesn't like to attend the Kentucky Derby in person; too crowded. But he'll certainly be watching Big Brown today. He likes the bay colt's chances, though believes Bob Blackjack, also a relative to one of Harmon's old mares, could create some problems.

"They might kill each other off on the front end," he said.

Either way, he enjoys a point of view on horse racing not many can.

Reader Feedback

sam wrote on May 4, 2008 7:25 AM:

" That derby was so tragic to watch. I still cry watching the video clips shown on the news. "

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educator wrote on May 3, 2008 9:15 PM:

" To Whoe Nellie:

If I had kids just after high school, my kids would be too old for Harmon's class. "

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Whoa Nellie! wrote on May 3, 2008 4:23 PM:

" Educator-- about now Harmon should be having the kids of his first student. And he is a good guy, a real character. "

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nylodian wrote on May 3, 2008 3:49 PM:

" wtf: it makes me heart-sick. :( "

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wtf wrote on May 3, 2008 3:39 PM:

" Pretty exciting, Big Brown, descendant of a horse from Lodi, won the Kentucky Derby. Unfortunately, Eight Belles, who came in second, sustained compound fractures in both fore-ankles and they put her down. I can see where you're coming from nylodian. "

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