The Southern California racing scene has added a fresh face.
Trainer and restaurateur Carlo Vaccarezza, who has run his stable mostly in Kentucky and Florida in recent years, has sent a string to the West Coast. He currently has six horses at Santa Anita Park and plans to add another six more next week after they travel from Keeneland.
The 68-year-old native of Italy who immigrated to the United States in the 1960s had a starter Jan. 8 at Santa Anita when King Theo was unplaced in the seventh race, a $65,000 allowance optional claimer at a mile on turf. This came over a course on which Vaccarezza had prior success, although not as a trainer.
He was the breeder and his wife, Priscilla, the owner, of Florida-bred gelding Little Mike who posted a 17-1 upset in the $3 million Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) at Santa Anita in 2012, when trained by Dale Romans.
Two relatives of Little Mike—3-year-old filly Little Jewel and 4-year-old colt Militarist, both by Liam's Map —are among the six Vaccarezza trainees bound for Santa Anita next week.
Vaccarezza, who will have a string of horses at Santa Anita for the first time, has been training since 2014 but he is not a one-trick pony.
"I've been in the restaurant business all my life," he said. "I own restaurants in New York City, and I'm building one in Lexington. I have a couple in South Florida, and I'm involved in an olive oil company in La Mirada, Calif., but my passion was always horse racing."
All his restaurants are named Frank and Dino's, after Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.
"They are high-end Italian restaurants, and we play the Rat Pack music and rock and roll," Vaccarezza said. "I used to cook for Frank."
Family and racing are other passions for Vaccarezza, and sometimes they intertwine.
"In 2007 I got lucky and bred a mare (Hay Jude) that actually was a giveaway to Spanish Steps, and the rest is history," Vaccarezza. "The foal was Little Mike," named for the trainer's 18-year-old son.
His 21-year-old son Nicholas, who earned his spurs as a foreman and assistant to Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown, now assists with his dad's business.
Both sons miraculously survived the deadliest high school shooting in American history on Feb. 14, 2018, when a gunman killed 17 people and injured 17 others at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., 15 miles from Vaccarezza's Frank and Dino's restaurant in Boca Raton. Vaccarezza raised $182,254 in a fundraiser to benefit the school.
Little Mike, who went 14-2-1 from 30 starts with earnings of $3.5 million, has been Hay Jude's most successful foal. Spanish Steps was an unraced son of Unbridled who had a modest stud fee.
Vaccarezza decided to make the move this winter to California after discussions with Craig Fravel, CEO of The Stronach Group, which owns Santa Anita, and Santa Anita's new director of racing and racing secretary, Chris Merz.
A key factor is the track's Sunshine Bonus Incentive Program, which offers a guaranteed $3,000 bonus for any eligible starter in a non-stakes race whose previous start was made outside California. Also, there is an additional 35% bonus applied to the purse earnings of eligible runners when finishing first through fifth.
"It's an extra incentive," Vaccarezza said of the program. "A beautiful gift."
