Harness: Profile of breeder Joe McLead

What kind of car do you drive?

Buick Enclave.

Favorite dinner meal? Snack?

Steak; Power bar.

What is your favorite track to visit?

Meadowlands and Red Mile. I make The Meadowlands a yearly trip to see the best in the sport compete. At The Red Mile, we are there for basically the entire meet because of the sales and it is a great display of the entire sport from top to bottom.

What is your favorite big event in racing?

Little Brown Jug. It's my hometown track. I grew up there. It was the first track I ever jogged and drove a horse. I started off as a groom there for my uncle. I was born and raised in Delaware, Ohio.

How often are horses or racing on your mind?

About half the day. The other half is focused on family and friends.

What is your favorite thing to do outside of racing?

Spend time with my family.

What is your favorite sport? Team?

Ohio State College Football.

What is one thing about you most fans/bettors don’t know?

My favorite rock group is Dave Matthews Band.

What is one word that describes harness racing for you?

Promise.

How did you get started in the Standardbred business?

My grandfather was a veterinarian and my uncle was a trainer and driver.

Does that mean it was set in stone for you to be involved in harness racing?

No. I was a groom for my uncle through high school. I went to college and worked for him during the summer. When I was 19 years old I decided to join the Navy and was going to be a TV weatherman when I got out of the Navy, but my dad, while I was in boot camp, he was 44 and got a Grade 5 brain aneurysm. He owned a local insurance agency in Delaware Ohio. My life probably would have been working as an insurance agent with my dad, but that dried up right away when that happened to him at such a young age. I went back to college for a little bit and went to work for my uncle Billy (Walters). I wouldn't say that I was a lost soul, but I really needed someone at the time and he really stepped up. He was a key person in my life. He made me into the person and the horseman I am today. I never did finish school. I met my wife on a blind date during the time I was selling radiators and air conditioners. After we dated for about a month, we went to the Jug when No Pan Intended won and she told me my cousin has that horse. So I said, your cousin is owner Bob Glazer? She said no, Joe Thomson from Winbak Farm. When we got married, Joe asked us to come out to Winbak and about a year later I went to work for him. It is all very interesting because if it wasn't for my dad having an aneurysm I wouldn't be doing this now.

What is the best advice you’ve ever gotten about harness racing?

Be honest and surround yourself with the right people.

What was your best moment in harness racing?

Probably owning the fastest 3-year-old filly trotter Impinktoo. She set the world record at Lexington (Red Mile) of 1:49 4/5.

You sold her pretty quickly, right?

Yeah, the very next day in the Mixed Sale at Lexington. I bought her for $27,000 and she sold for $300,000. She also made $420,000 or so for my partners and me in between.

Which is the best horse you’ve ever owned?

Impinktoo. I haven't owned that many racing-wise, probably no more than a dozen.

What makes you decide to go in on a horse?

Now that I'm a bit older, I have the financial means to get into a few. I basically only buy fillies to add to our broodmare band eventually. Impinktoo made it so I could afford to pay off a lot of stuff at the farm and make it so I had no debt. That's why I sold her.

Is it hard for Sugar Valley Farm to compete against the larger farms?

Financially yes, because I can’t go out and buy the top stallion, but I've made a niche with our farm to have great relationships with people who own the top horses coming off the track. So I've been able to develop my business in that manner by having relationships with guys like George Teague. If it wasn't for George Teague helping me get off the ground with I'm Gorgeous and Mr Wiggles, they were part of my first group of stallions, if it wasn't for his faith in my decision to have a farm all of a sudden, I couldn't have gotten to where I am today. Aaron Waxman and I bought Woodstock, he was part of our first stallion roster. David Heffering with Pilgrims Taj helped out to complete our first four stallions. Then I had Dragon Again through a great relationship with Ed Mullinax. Jim Simpson and Dr Jablonsky at Hanover Shoe Farm have been very helpful with Yankee Cruiser and Well Said. George Teague helped me out again with Lather Up. Also the Burkes (Ron and Mickey) helped me out. They gave me Foreclosure for a year before he went to Ireland. I was also able to develop a great friendship with Adam Bowden from Diamond Creek Farm, which helped me add Downbytheseaside. I think if you are an honest person and do the right job, good things will come around. That is how I can compete with a lot of people, because I have people.

Do you have any mares at Sugar Valley or of your own?

My uncle and I, along with a partner named Jason Melillo, own about 16 or 17 broodmares. Then I have probably 25 other broodmares on the farm as well. In this business, you have to have money to have quantity, but if you are smart about it, you can have quality. And remember, the smart is often luck.

Considering his pure speed, how excited are you about the first crop of Lather Up?

I'm really excited, not only because of the type of mares that were bred to him, but his pure speed was second to none and if you dig deep, he's got a solid pedigree. He's by I'm Gorgeous, who is a son of Bettor’s Delight. His mother’s side is very solid with over a dozen horses who were very consistent and made money. Plus the dam’s side leaves it wide open to just about any mare you want to breed to him outside of a Bettor's Delight mare.

What has the slot-enhanced purse money meant to Ohio?

One nice thing about Ohio is that we did it the right way and learned from a lot of other states. The popularity of the sport is big here. We have the USTA here. We have 66 or 68 county fairs that race. We've been able to create a little nest egg through the Ohio Harness Horseman’s Association. We had a nice rainy day fund and never thought a pandemic would make us have to dig into that. But I think Ohio has a nice future in front of it. There are a lot of good people who have taken a lot of time and effort to do the right thing in Ohio. Hopefully we'll be able to stand on solid ground for quite a while.

What do you think the future holds for Sugar Valley Farm?

I think we have a great future because we have a niche in this business. We are not the biggest farm, we are not the best farm, but we work hard at it and have good solid employees. Between my uncle's knowledge and me out working trying to provide the best for Ohio and also on the Grand Circuit, things are going well. We just try to provide the right stallions at the right price so we don't scare anybody off. We try to convey that we have something of quality for you at your price structure.

How concerned are you about the effect of COVID-19 on the upcoming yearling sales this fall?

You have to try to be optimistic, but that being said, one minute I'm positive and the next minute I'm shitting in my pants. How can you look at it any other way. We've lost some good people in our business to the pandemic, with the Fusco family and John Brennan. That hits close to home, not personally, because I didn't know them well, but I have very good friends in this business who knew them very well.

When you look at the yearling sales, a lot of the higher end goes to the wealthier people. The middle market is your trainers that own a few themselves or have three owners that split a horse. Is that market going to be there anymore? I have friends that work at the Honda of America factory a few counties over, people who make $65,000 to $85,000 a year and they own horses. A lot of them that were furloughed for at least a month, they didn't even breed their mares this year. They are the guys who buy 20-to-50 percent of a yearling. Are they going to spend that money? That's the scary part. The top end will always be there, but the rest is what I worry about.

If you had the power to change one thing in the sport, what would it be?

I would make it to where we had a universal system of rules for everywhere.

How do you view the future of harness racing?

We've always been a resilient sport, so I think we’ll persevere through this. We’ve all taken our hard knocks before. You have to be smart and work through the tough times.

I see you had 17 driving wins in your career. What made you quit driving?

My age. Back when I was starting off my uncle couldn't afford to let me drive his, so I had to rely on other people to get started. It was back when it was the trainer/driver days and the Scioto Downs colony was Jeff Fout, David Miller, Bill Fahy, Billy Walters, Dan Ater, Chip Noble. How do you get started when you have guys like that standing in front of you? I didn't have it in my head that was what I wanted to do. I always wanted a family, though I didn't know when it was going to happen. If you were a trainer/driver, you lived like a gypsy, in Florida in the winter and who knows where during the summer. I didn't want to do that.

Time for the stretch drive. What's the first thing that comes to your mind?

Best Horse Ever: Somebeachsomewhere

Best Driver: John Campbell

Best Trainer: Ron Burke and George Teague

Lasix – Yes or No?: Yes

Best place to eat in Ohio? Bun’s Restaurant in Delaware, Ohio.

Commissioner for the Sport – Yes or No?: Yes

Trotters or Pacers?: Pacers

Favorite TV Show?: Two and a Half Men