Edge La Penta
January 6th, 2004by Chad Summers
Derby Choice The Cliff’s Edge
Keeneland/Bill Straus Photo
Robert La Penta may be a relative newcomer to the horse racing industry, but already he is sitting on the cusp of competing in America’s most prestigious race, the Kentucky Derby, with morning line favorite The Cliff’s Edge.
La Penta, a 58-year-old native of Yonkers, New York, recalls watching the Derby as a young child with his family.
“The first Derby I remember watching was when Needles won the 1956 edition of the race,” La Penta shared. “My mom would bet $2 dollars on 10 different horses in the race, and we’d all gather around the little television rooting for the horses she picked. It was very exciting.”
Currently the president and CFO of L-3 Communications; a publicly traded company that supplies intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems and products to their clients, La Penta has the U.S. Department of Defense as a major customer. His professional success has afforded him the opportunity to own a top-class racing stable.
La Penta entered the sport of kings as an owner a little over five years ago as a partner in Rick Pitino’s Celtic Pride Stable. One of those horses was 2000 Triple Crown contender Valiant Halory. It was with this connection that he met trainer Nick Zito, and after Celtic Pride Stable was disbanded, he decided to venture out on his own, with Zito as his trainer of choice.
“I’ve known Rick a long time,” La Penta said. “In fact, he and his wife are throwing us a party the night before the Derby. As for Nick, he is a guy that is just superb. He is great with the horses and very patient.”
La Penta’s ownership strategy is not standard in the industry. He likes to purchase yearlings at the sales and then pinhook them as two-year-olds, keeping the ones who are injured before they go through the ring or fail to meet their reserve at the sale.
Earlier this year, at the Fasig-Tipton Calder Selected Two-Year-Olds In Training Sale, La Penta’s knowledge and eye for finding quality yearlings was exhibited when his horse, a son of Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus, consigned by Kip Elser’s Kirkwood Stables, was sold for a world record price of $4.5 million – the highest price ever paid for a two-year-old in training.
La Penta has also been fortunate to catch some big breaks along the way.
After purchasing The Cliff’s Edge as a yearling for $200,000, he was to be sold as a two-year-old at the 2003 Fasig-Tipton Calder Selected Two-Year-Olds In Training Sale. The reserve price was $200,000. When the hammer was dropped, the board read $195,000. The handsome son of Gulch remained in La Penta’s stable.
“It’s funny just $5,000 more and I wouldn’t have him today,” La Penta stated.
Since that sale, The Cliff’s Edge has not disappointed, winning three graded stakes races and earning $835,258.
La Penta’s racing manager, Ernie Reichard, thinks that if The Cliff’s Edge was sold at the sale, there is no guarantee that the colt would be in the position he now enjoys.
“I think he is where he is, thanks to Nick,” Reichard said. “He is so patient with the horses and lets them mature on their own. Our goal has always been to run in the Kentucky Derby and look at where we are. Whatever were doing, it must be working.”
La Penta has ten horses currently in training including Summer Storm, El Prado Rob, Ghost Mountain, Go Now and Pies Prospect. He also owns 10 two-year-olds that will be making their debuts later in the year.
Although La Penta owns a couple of broodmares including Summer Rain, he does not plan on buying a farm and becoming a full-time Thoroughbred breeder.
“I choose to enter this game because unlike other sports, there is the opportunity for a quick return on your investments,” LaPenta said. “We have had a very successful year this year. I hope that we can continue doing the same thing and have the opportunity to run in the top races in the sport.”
All those who know La Penta well, attest that it is his character as a person that makes him special.
“He is a great man,” long-time chart caller, and The Cliff’s Edge’s namesake Cliff Guilliams said. “The way to tell that is by looking at the way he’s given back to his alma mater, Iona College. Everything comes full circle in life, he deserves this trip to the Derby.”
La Penta does have a message to all of those interested in breaking into the game.
“It”s not just two minutes of racing that make this sport so great,” La Penta said. “It’s the community of racing that you learn about that is so special. It is important to try and stay within yourself at all times emotionally and financially, and hope for the best.”
