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With Dazzling Gem, Steve Landers Sr. Stays In the Running

3 min read

One lesser-known aspect of auto magnate Steve Landers Sr. is his involvement in horseracing.

Landers has participated in the sport for 15 years and owns 19 racehorses, including Dazzling Gem, a thoroughbred that as of late last week stood at 24th in points in the lineup for the Kentucky Derby on Saturday. That means four other horses would have to drop out for the 3-year-old to earn a place in the race.

Landers, who spoke to Arkansas Business by phone from Kentucky, wasn’t too worried about Dazzling Gem qualifying for the Derby, saying, “We think we’re going to shoot for the Preakness,” to be run May 21.

“We’ve got a great racehorse. We’re letting him tell us kind of what he wants to do instead of us telling him, because when you’ve got one that young, that talented, you just kind of let him tell you what he wants to do.”

Dazzling Gem has run only four races, winning his first two, at Oaklawn Park. He came in third in the Louisiana Derby on March 26 and fourth in the Arkansas Derby on April 16.

“He’s kind of like a ninth-grader starting on the senior team,” Landers said of the horse, “because he’s very lightly raced, and each race he improves and each three or four weeks that he’s not running he gets bigger and stronger.”

Landers predicts great things for Dazzling Gem. “We’ve beaten some really good horses with him,” and the horse proved “he’s capable of running the distance, and he’s also capable of running with the best 3-year-olds in the country.”

Brad Cox is Dazzling Gem’s trainer, and his jockey is Joe Talamo.

“Brad does a great job with him. I don’t make the decisions because I just sell cars,” Landers said. “Brad and Dazzling Gem make the decisions on where we want to go next. … But we think the Preakness is a good fit for us.”

And More on the Way

Landers bought Dazzling Gem as a yearling, paying $95,000 for him, which is a lot of money to your Whispers crew but pin money in the racing world.

“The thing about the horseracing industry is, money doesn’t get you winners,” Landers said. “If it did, all the Arabs over in Saudi would have every winner of every race. And they don’t have. … In the last 15 years, the Kentucky Derby has been won by a horse that was $100,000 or less.”

He just paid $150,000 for another horse, Gold Exchange, at Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky. “I just don’t think you have to pay some of the prices that some people pay,” Landers said, adding that some of his horses have beaten $1 million thoroughbreds.

Landers became more involved in horseracing since his semi-retirement from auto sales a couple of years ago. “I just work a 40-hour week now instead of a 70-, 80-hour week.”

But, he says, he doesn’t bet on the races.

“I like the business side of it, buying the horses and raising them. I’ve got five mares that are in foal right now, so I’ll have five babies coming soon. And I hope we get lucky with one or two of them.”

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