Bush Racing, Persie honored at Penn National

The Pennsylvania Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association honored the best of Penn National at its annual awards banquet Monday night with Bush Racing Stable recognized as the leading owner by wins in 2018 and for campaigning Persie, who was named the track’s Horse of the Year.

The other honorees were Tim Kreiser, who topped the trainer standings for the fifth straight year; leading jockey Julio Hernandez; and Tom Coulter, who led all owners in purses earned.

Last year was the most successful for Bush Racing since Bryan Bushey started the partnership-based stable with a single horse in 2004. His son David co-manages the operation.

Bush Racing typically carries eight to 10 horses, who since 2005 have been trained by Les Stickler Jr. It also keeps a small string at Parx Racing with Marya Montoya.

The stable had a career-high number of starters (113), wins (32), and purse earnings ($491,509) in 2018. It won 29 races at Penn National, one more than three other owners, who tied for second place.

“I got choked up talking about our year at the banquet,” David Bushey said. “Bush Racing Stable is not my or my Dad’s full-time job, and we put a lot of effort into it. It all just came to fruition for us this year.

“I’m thrilled for our trainer as much as for us. Les has 15 horses and two grooms, and everyone in the barn works so hard.”

Bush Racing offers modestly priced racing partnerships. The stable’s web site is putting together two $20,000 partnerships, one at Penn National and one at Parx. Each partnership will claim a $10,000 horse.

David Bushey, 35, was close to graduating from college when his father purchased the outfit’s first horse.

“I thought there was real opportunity here at Penn and tried to come up with an equitable structure where partners could own a horse but wouldn’t be getting a bill every month,” Bushey said. “Our partnerships start out with the claiming price and three months’ training fees. We then reinvest the purse money back into the partnership as needed. Our partners buy in blind, and we try to get them a horse who can win.”

Bush Racing hit a home run in May 2018 when it claimed Persie out of a sixth-place effort for $8,000. Persie won seven races from 11 starts and $93,732 for Bush Racing and was one of only three horses in North America – excluding Puerto Rico – to win 10 races last year. The others are Penn National-based Blow the Whistle and Hot Rodin, who raced at Turf Paradise and Assiniboia Downs.

In the one race Persie and Blow the Whistle faced each other – a $15,000 claimer –Persie defeated Blow the Whistle by two lengths. That race may have made the difference in track Horse of the Year voting.

On Thursday at Laurel Park, Persie started off his 6-year-old campaign with a front-running victory in the slop over $8,000 starter-allowance horses. His regular rider, William Otero, was aboard.

Bush Racing also had a successful 2018 with Polite Pearl, a $12,500 claim at Parx in October 2017 it lost for $25,000 at Laurel in August. Polite Pearl won five of her last six starts for Bush Racing and in total earned $99,548 for the stable.

Stickler, who has trained since 1999, had his best year in 2018 with a career-high 49 wins and stable earnings of $724,951.

“They presented us with a Horse of the Year blanket at the dinner and we said that will come in handy at the barn,” Bushey said. “But Les told us he was taking it home to hang on the wall at his house.”