Justin Zayat’s racing knowledge grows, but he’s still learning

Justin Zayat was barely a teenager when his father bought his first two racehorses. Zayat, who was more interested in other sports at the time, was not particularly impressed.

“I was never involved in horse racing. I thought it was the weirdest thing ever,” Justin Zayat said. “I loved watching ESPN. My dad once in a while would have a horse race on TV, and I would be like, ‘Turn this crap off and put on SportsCenter.’ He went to the sale and bought two horses. I said, ‘Good for you, Dad. Enjoy that. I’m going to go and play basketball.’ ”

A few weeks later, Ahmed Zayat bought 18 horses at an auction.

“I was like, ‘Whoa, I guess I have to take this seriously,’ ” Justin Zayat said. “As soon as I watched one of the first races, I just got hooked. I remember when I was in eighth grade, I would be getting equine alerts on my phone. I didn’t even know what three furlongs in 38 seconds meant, but I was getting them to my phone.”

A decade later, Zayat is the racing and stallion manager for Zayat Stables, which owns 147 horses, including American Pharoah, who on Saturday will attempt to complete Thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown in the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes.

“How he won the Preakness and how he’s doing now, I can’t sleep at night,” Zayat said in a recent interview at his office in Hackensack, N.J. “I just can’t believe I own a horse like this.”

To some, it might be hard to believe that at age 23, Zayat is making key decisions for one of the largest outfits in racing. Dealing with Hall of Fame trainers such as Bob Baffert and D. Wayne Lukas, Zayat finds himself both idol-worshipping and task-mastering at the same time.

“When I first met Bob Baffert, he was like an idol in my eyes. I was star-struck when I saw him,” Zayat said. “I remember our first winner with him was E Z Warrior, and he said on TV, ‘Justin, that was for you.’ I always looked up to him.

“Wayne Lukas would say to me, ‘I’ll do what you want. I work for you,’ ” Zayat added. “I would say to him, ‘Mr. Lukas, I hate when you say that – I’m 23 years old. We work together as a team.’ A trainer’s going to win with us most of the time at the end of the day.”

Zayat gradually grew into the position he now holds. In 2011, his father put him in the racing manager’s role, replacing Bradley Weisbord, who had replaced Sohby Sonbol.

“He has an incredible balance,” Ahmed Zayat said of his son. “Where I tend to be more aggressive in my approach – I’m pretty demanding in the way I act – he’s the other way around. He is soft-spoken, he is more deliberate, he’s sweeter. As he keeps growing, he keeps learning. People find him to be easy to work with. He’s not arrogant when he speaks with trainers.”

Baffert, who has trained for the Zayats for about seven years, said he believes Justin Zayat is the main reason he trains for the operation.

“He always liked me,” Baffert said. “When he was younger, his dad would give him the questions. Now, he asks his own questions. I’ve always had a very good relationship with him. He’s very smart, he’s bright, he knows the game, but he’s not afraid to ask questions. He wants to learn.”

Justin Zayat said a key individual in helping him learn the game was Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, who trained for the Zayats in 2007, during which time Mott and Ahmed Zayat were the leading trainer and owner at Saratoga.

“Bill Mott used to walk me around the stable and show me all the horses,” Justin Zayat said. “If one of my horses had a foot thing, he would bring me to the foot, he would make me pick up the foot and actually show me. He would always tell me, ‘You need to teach the younger generation or there’s not going to be a younger generation.’ ”

Though Mott no longer trains for the Zayats, Justin Zayat said he remains good friends with Mott’s son, Riley.

During American Pharoah’s Triple Crown run, Zayat was finishing up classes at New York University, where he had a double major in economics and minored in business studies. He had to take final exams three days before the Preakness. He graduated three days after American Pharoah won the Preakness by seven lengths.

“My dad told me, ‘Racing is always going to be here. Take school seriously. Put it first,’ ” Zayat said.

Zayat said he’s still learning all the time. He recalls himself and his father making mistakes early on.

“We bought Maimonides for $4.6 million,” Justin Zayat said, referring to a son of Vindication who won his debut by 11 1/2 lengths, finished third in the Grade 1 Hopeful, and never raced again. “When I look back at that now, I say, ‘Justin, you guys are stupid.’ Yeah, he’s a really nice horse, but he was by a freshman sire at the time. What were we thinking?”

Two summers ago, in an attempt to boost the image of their stallion Pioneerof the Nile, the Zayats put American Pharoah through the auction ring at Saratoga. Justin Zayat remembers being at Disneyland in California with his family the day of the sale and talking with his father about not wanting to sell the horse. Ahmed Zayat agreed, and they had agent David Ingordo buy the horse back for $300,000.

“A lot of our good horses – Bodemeister, Pioneerof the Nile, and American Pharoah – all went through sales, and they did not get bought,” Justin Zayat said. “Sometimes, it’s better to be lucky than smart.”

Justin Zayat, it would appear, is both.