Seth Klarman has made a fortune as an investor and hedge fund manager by playing the odds. Klarman has had great success in Thoroughbred ownership as well, again, by playing the odds.
Investing millions in the game while hitching his wagon to Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown, Klarman visited the infield cupola at Pimlico Race Course for a second time in five years with the victory of Early Voting in the May 21 Preakness Stakes (G1). Klarman and Brown celebrated their first classic win together with 2017 Preakness winner Cloud Computing (in partnership with William Lawrence).
"Cloud Computing was a once in a lifetime horse ... and it's really hard to believe it could happen again .... only with Chad Brown," Klarman said immediately after the race.
Klarman, who was celebrating his birthday at Old Hilltop with his wife, Beth, was born in New York City but grew up in Maryland in Mt. Washington, a neighborhood a stone's throw from the Pimlico grandstand. A graduate of Cornell University and Harvard Business School, he became a billionaire while focusing on "value investing." He is the chief executive and portfolio manager of Baupost Group, a Boston-based private investment partnership he helped found in 1982.
With some financial cushion, Klarman entered ownership via the partnership route.
"The first horse I bought was with a friend I had growing up," Klarman said. "I might have had to spend a night or two on the couch because my wife wasn't thrilled with that, and it was a pretty inexpensive horse.
"Horses are expensive. I didn't grow up with a lot of resources," he said. "When I had the resources, a friend suggested I join a partnership in the early 1990s. We invested in it and then thought, 'Maybe we could do it ourselves.' That's Jess Ravich, which is why we're called Klaravich (he races under Klaravich Stables). It just took off from there."
Klaravich Stables began in earnest in 2006. He later paired with Lawrence, and the pair won the Eclipse Award as owner in 2019.
On his own, he's owned grade 1 winners Domestic Spending, Digital Age, Newspaperofrecord, and Search Results. His better runners are all trained by Brown. Klaravich Stables has won more than $29 million in purse money, and $43 million more in partnership, largely with Lawrence.
"I give all the credit to Chad Brown for getting the horse here and ready to run a big race," he said.
Early Voting entered the Preakness off a runner-up effort to Mo Donegal in the Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by Resorts World Casino (G2). Chad then chose to bypass the May 7 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1).
"He (Early Voting) needed a little more seasoning," Klarman said. "He's pretty lightly raced with only three races before today and as it turned out, it was the right call because the pace in the Derby was kind of suicidal, so he probably would not have done that well. So, we wanted to do right by the horse, and I'm so glad we waited."
And waited to celebrate his birthday with another classic.
