Adam Weitsman and Jim Boeheim, a pair of Syracuse celebrities, are part of a collection of individuals who own a stake in Hidden Stash, a horse that will compete in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby.
Boeheim is the legendary head coach of the SU men’s b asketball team. Weitsman is the owner of Upstate Shredding-Weitsman Recycling.
After meeting at a philanthropic event, the pair of struck up an unlikely friendship, with Weitsman becoming the team’s most high-profile fan and frequently bringing celebrities to his courtside seats.
Here’s what you need to know if you feel like rooting (or betting) on Weitsman and Boeheim as you sip a mint julep this weekend.
How can I watch?
The post time for the Kentucky Derby is scheduled for 6:57 p.m. Saturday. It will be broadcast on NBC. The channel will be dedicated to horse racing coverage from 2:30 to 7:30 p.m.
What are the odds?
Hidden Stash is one of six horses in the race that have that been given 50-to-1 odds. Those six horses are tied for the worst odds in the field.
Has a horse with odds that bad ever won the Derby?
Yes.
It’s happened only four times, but three of those occasions have come in the last 20 years.
The biggest longshot ever to win the Derby was Donerail, who went off as a 91-to-1 shot in 1913. Country House won at 65-to-1 odds in 2019, although it was an ugly race where the horse that crossed the finish line first was disqualified. The winners in 2005 (Giacomo) and 2009 (Mine That Bird) were both 50-to-1 shots, just like Hidden Stash.
Who is the jockey?
Rafael Bejarano, who was born in Peru and emigrated to the United States in 2002. While he has never won a Triple Crown race, he won more races than any jockey in the country in 2004.
His best Triple Crown result was second place in the Belmont in 2005 aboard Andromeda’s Hero.
What gate did the horse draw?
Hidden Stash will run out of the 13th gate. Four horses have won from the position, most recently Nyquist in 2016.
How did Weitsman and Boeheim get involved?
Hidden Stash is owned by BBN Racing, a syndicate in which outsiders can purchase shares of each year’s crop of BBN horses. Buying into a group of horses gives the investors a better chance of hitting on a winner and enjoying the excitement of their investment like, say, a trip to the Kentucky Derby.
Among the founders of the syndicate were Brendan O’Brien and Brian Klatsky, who operate Gold Coast Wealth Management, which is located downstate. According to The Athletic, they convinced Weitsman to join the group of investors for their first horse, Concrete Rose, in 2019. The syndicate co-owned that horse with Ashbrook Farm.
Concrete Rose was a successful investment, winning $1.2 million in purses while winning six of seven races, then being sold for $1.95 million. Concrete Rose’s biggest win came at Churchill Downs in 2019, when it won the Edgewood Stakes. The race is part of the undercard of the Kentucky Oaks, which is held each year on the Friday of Derby Week.
According to AmericasBestRacing.net, the BBN Racing syndicate aims to sell at least 60 shares of each years’ collection of horses at a cost of $25,000 per share, meaning its horses have their own stable of owners.
According to The Athletic, Weitsman gave a share of his share to Boeheim as a birthday present and Boeheim joked that “I own two hairs on the tail of the slowest horse in the Derby.”
Will the jockey be wearing orange?
Alas. If you bet this horse you’ll have to hold your nose and root for Kentucky blue and white.
While Weitsman and Boeheim hail from Central New York, the majority of the racing group has ties to Kentucky, where BBN is headquartered, and the horse will be wearing Kentucky colors.
Braxton Lynch, one of the founding partners of BBN, is the president of the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association and the owner of Royal Oak Farm. Hidden Stash’s trainer, Victoria Oliver, lives in Kentucky. Rusty Arnold, another trainer with BBN, is a Kentucky alumnus.
“We have partners that are Florida fans, North Carolina fans, Duke fans — but it’s cool because it centers around Big Blue Nation,” Klatsky told Kentucky.com. “And there’s definitely a ton of BBN roots.”
Why else should I root for Hidden Stash?
Weitsman has promised to donate his share of a potential winner’s purse to Central New York charities.
Oliver, Hidden Stash’s trainer, is looking to become the first female trainer of a winning Kentucky Derby horse. She is one of just 18 women to train a horse that has competed in the Kentucky Derby and is the first in five years.
Two of the founders of BBN Racing have basketball ties. Klatsky played at Skidmore for two years and was heavily involved in running an AAU program. O’Brien played at Manhattan from 1993 to 1998 but was briefly recruited by Boeheim to come to Syracuse.
“I was recruited by a ton of schools,” O’Brien told HorseRacingNation.com. “I probably met over 100 coaches through the process and he was really the only one who told me the truth. He said, ‘Listen, you are not going to play (at Syracuse) for a couple years. If you are happy doing that, you are welcome to come. You are going to sit and you are going to learn and you will probably play the last couple years.’ I was young and stupid and thought I was going to be great.”
