Don Lucarelli gets shining results from Starlight

quiet star
By Steve HaSkin
Don Lucarelli gets shining results from Starlight
W
hether it’s been called Starlight Stables, Starlight Partners,
or Starlight Racing, Jack Wolf has always been the most
recognizable star in Starlight’s racing universe. While
others have briefly held the Starlight in their hands and
reaped its vast rewards, it has been Don Lucarelli and his wife, Barbara,
who have helped keep the stars shining brightly for eight years, and not
just from a financial standpoint.
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the Lucarellis and the Wolfs (including Jack’s wife, Laurie) have become much
more than partners. their families have formed a strong friendship that has made
Starlight more about fun and family than simply sharing in the stable’s success,
which has included grade i winners Shanghai Bobby, Octave, take the Points,
Monba, and Hilda’s Passion, as well as graded stakes winners algorithms, keyed
entry, and ailalea.
Prior to Lucarelli joining forces with Wolf in 2004, Starlight captured grade i
stakes with Harlan’s Holiday, under the sole name of Starlight Stables, and with
ashado and Purge in partnership with Paul Saylor and Johns Martin. ashado provided Starlight with its first two eclipse awards—for 3-year-old filly and older
female in 2004-05, respectively. it’s been Wolf and Lucarelli managing the stable
since 2005, along with several other partners.
they say opposites attract and that is as evident with Lucarelli and Wolf as it is
with the original “Odd Couple” of Felix and Oscar. Wolf is outspoken and gregarious, with a cutting edge to his humor. you can find Lucarelli hanging out with the
crowd at Saratoga, eating an ice cream pop and trying to keep it from dripping all
over his shirt.
“Jack and i are the Odd Couple,” Lucarelli said. “Jack is so vocal and outspoken,
and my philosophy is, there’s always tomorrow. i’m more laid back. i hang out with
everyone. anybody who wants to talk horses knows they can come up to me and
start a conversation. they know i don’t care if they have two cents in their pocket or
two million in their pocket. it makes no difference to me. i remember where i came
from, and, to me, values are very important in life. it’s all about family and friends.
We’re in this to have fun. Of course, you want to win, but i just want to see the horses
come out of their race healthy and go on to fight another day.
“and i want to be able to bet on them and handicap and bring my family to the
races. even if you have 10 losers in a row, as an owner, when you get that one winner,
you forget about all the pain of having 10 losers. you know what it takes just to get
them in the starting gate and the odds that are against you winning a race. So to win
a stakes race on top of that is indescribable.”
With Lucarelli aboard, Starlight Racing has been able to expand its operation
in the sales ring, thanks to the expertise of former trainer Frank Brothers, who
replaced Barry Berkelhammer as bloodstock agent, and in
“You couldn’t find a better
partner who is more honest
and who cares more about
the horses.”
– jack woLf
new partnerships, with the help of Brothers’ wife, former
jockey Donna Barton Brothers, who as chief operating officer has recruited four new partners.
But it has been Lucarelli, who resides some 30 miles from
Saratoga in Duanesburg, n.y., who has provided the impetus needed to turn the one-time business operation into a
close-knit family affair.
“you couldn’t find a better partner who is more honest
and who cares more about the horses,” Wolf said. “We’ve
become best of friends. When Donnie came in, we decided
to expand and attract additional partners and be co-managing partners. He’s done a lot of the behind-the-scenes work
as far as the financial part of it and getting everything out
to the partners. and he’s been instrumental in keeping the
lines of communication open. He is so crazy about horses
and the racetrack and the betting; this is right up his alley.
He’s living the dream.”
But that dream didn’t begin until later in life. Lucarelli’s
Don Lucarelli in his Duanesburg, N.Y., home with grandson
andrew Longo; inset, Lucarelli with his wife, Barbara
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early contact with horses and racing came
through Standardbreds, as that was the only racing on tv in Bellevue, n.y., just outside Schenectady, where he grew up.
When he was 20, his aunt and uncle took him
to Saratoga. it was august 1972, and Lucarelli remembers the 3-year-old Spanish Riddle breaking the six-furlong track record (1:08), which still
stands. He fell in love with the family and carnival atmosphere of Saratoga, and although he
knew nothing about handicapping, he became
fascinated by the challenge of analyzing the races
and trying to determine the outcome and how a
race would be run.
He also fell in love with the horses. after graduating from Siena College in 1975, he and Barbara
would go to Saratoga every Saturday and Sunday
with their lawn chairs and large cooler, setting up
camp under a large tree right across from Chico
the shoeshine man, who was a fixture at the Spa.
each weekend he would hang out with the same
bunch of guys, handicapping all the races.
Lucarelli with Starlight Stables partner jack wolf at the fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale
Lucarelli and Barb, as she is called, define the
term partners for life, having been together since she moved ness in this area locked up. We plowed all our profits back in, and
next door to him when he was 13.
from that we built our own basic distributorship and manufac“you know the old story about marrying the girl next door; tured our own roof trusses, our own stairs, and our own interior
well, that’s me,” Lucarelli said. “Within a month of her moving and outside doors. if my father could have seen what we built
in, we started going out, either hanging out after school or me from his small family business, he would have been so proud.
going over to her house. i’d sneak in a kiss now and then. i’ve
“We built a pretty big empire up here and became very well
never dated any other girl—just me and Barb from the begin- known throughout the country for our business practices
ning. Pretty boring, huh? Her parents knew i was a straight- through the trade organizations. We never looked to sell, but we
laced kind of kid who did my homework and they loved me. in always got offers every year. We’d always take it a little further
fact, her mother lives with us at age 93.”
just for evaluation purposes to see what our stakes were worth to
as much as Lucarelli loved racing and going to Saratoga every make sure we were covering ourselves for insurance purposes.”
weekend, he was unable to devote a significant amount of time
Finally, in 2003 came the big breakthrough that would drato it because of his thriving business.
matically change Lucarelli’s life and his lifestyle. the BritishLucarelli’s father, Joseph, had started a small lumber busi- based Stock Building Supply, which had a U.S. operation and
ness after immigrating to
was owned by a Fortune 500 company in
the U.S. in 1933.
england, expressed interest in buying the
“He was a carpenter and
company.
he always needed supplies,”
During the eight months of negotiating,
Lucarelli recalled. “He’d
the Lucarellis were attending a retirement
buy a unit of two by fours,
party in Lake George for their friend Bob
and other people would
Burton’s sister, never imagining it would
come by and want to buy a
lead to yet another major life-altering enpiece from him to do a job.
counter. also attending the party was Jack
it hit him in the head that
Wolf, who had gone to school with Burton.
maybe he could make a
(years later they would name a colt after
business out of this, so he
Burton, who flew 747s for Delta airlines.
started a small lumberyard
When Burton’s f light to Shanghai was
called Bellevue Builders
canceled in 2011 and, instead of telling his
Supply. When he passed
wife, he went to the races at Saratoga, Wolf
away in 1966, my brother
and Lucarelli decided to name a colt they
Joe took it over. i was still
purchased the following month Shanghai
in high school, and when i
Bobby.)
graduated from college, it
“i knew Bob through his sister,” Lucarelli
was with the intention of
said. “i was introduced to Jack and we startgoing right into the family
ed talking, and the next thing we knew we
business.
were talking late into the night about hors“My brother and i were
es. i said to him, ‘if this ever comes down
going to build up the busithat we sell our business, would you mind
ness and we did. Lo and betaking on another partner?’ and he was
hold, by the late ’90s we had
looking to spread his risk at the time. He had
the biggest lumber yard in
a good feeling about me and said, ‘Let me
the country by volume. We
know when it happens and we’ll talk.’
saturated our market here
“in May 2004 we closed the deal to sell
Starlight Stables’ algorithms winning
last year’s Holy Bull Stakes
and had 80% of the busiour business. i called my wife to tell her, and
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Skip DickStein photoS
then I called Jack up and told him the deal was done. He said,
‘Laurie and I are coming up for the season at the end of May.
Let’s get together and talk.’ I went to their house in Saratoga and
sat down with him and he told me the good, the bad, and the ugly
of owning horses, and how fragile the horses were. I knew that
because I’d been betting on them for more than 30 years and
knew the different things that can happen to a horse.
“It didn’t take much convincing at that point. I was going to be
in no matter what. I gave him a three-year commitment and said
‘Whatever you buy, I’m in.’ At that point it was just Jack, Paul
Saylor, and me. Johns Martin had gotten out, so for Jack this was
perfect timing. We went to the sales and whatever we bought, we
carved it up into thirds.”
Shortly after, Saylor went out on his own, and Wolf and Lucarelli went 50-50 on everything they bought. Two of the yearlings they purchased in 2005 were Octave, winner of the grade
I Coaching Club American Oaks and Mother Goose Stakes, who
also placed in six grade I stakes; and Sam P., second in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes (gr. II) and third in the Santa Anita Derby
(gr. I).
So, in only his second season Lucarelli had a colt in the Kentucky Derby (gr. I) and a filly in the Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) in the
same year. In fact, he had two Derby starters in his first two
years, having bought Keyed Entry as a yearling for $145,000 in
2004. The colt earned his way into the Derby with a victory in
the Hutcheson Stakes (gr. II), a second in the Gotham Stakes (gr.
III), and a third in the Wood Memorial Stakes (gr. I).
Octave would have a profound effect on the entire Lucarelli
family. Donnie and Barb wanted to name their first child after
Donnie’s father, and when they had a girl, they named her Josepha. Their second child was to be named after Donnie, and when
they had another girl, they named her Donelle. Finally, they had
a boy and named him Joseph. In January 2006 Josepha’s husband was killed in a head-on snowmobile accident at age 28,
leaving her with a year-old son.
That summer Octave won the Adirondack Breeders’ Cup
Stakes (gr. II), giving the Lucarellis their first stakes victory at
Saratoga.
“There will always be a special place in our hearts for Octave
because she came along at a time when we were still grieving
over the death of my daughter’s husband,” Lucarelli said. “Winning our first stakes at Saratoga, it really brought the family together. She gave us something to rally around at a time when we
needed it.
“My grandson Andrew is what it’s all about for me. After any
big stakes win, he’s in my arms in the winner’s circle. He really
loves racing, and it goes back to when all that happened. He’s
grown up without a man in his life except me. I couldn’t take the
place of his father, but I spent a lot of time with him and when-
ever we had a horse in, I made sure he came with us. He’s an
important part of our life, as every grandchild is.”
Josepha is getting re-married in October, so Andrew will
again have a father figure. The Lucarellis remain a close-knit
family. They have 96 acres and subdivided it in the hope all the
kids would like to live close to home. Josepha did build a house
on one of the lots; Joseph is single and still lives at home, and
Donelle just finished her Masters at Fairfield University.
With Shanghai Bobby now off the Derby trail, Lucarelli has
other dreams he would like the colt to fulfill, and once again it all
goes back to Saratoga.
Lucarelli at Saratoga after champion Shanghai Bobby’s
score in the Hopeful
“Jack has always wanted to win the Derby, but because I’m
from up here and have had such close ties to Saratoga and such
fond memories, I’d rather win the Travers (gr. I),” Lucarelli said.
Lucarelli has kept the stair manufacturing company that he
still runs and created a company that lends money to builders
and developers. But come noon during the Saratoga meet, it’s off
to the track. And the rest of the year you can find him at Capitol
OTB every day.
The Lucarellis and the Wolfs have begun a new venture called
Star Ladies, an all-girls syndicate headed by Barb and Laurie,
along with Donna Brothers, in which they purchase only fillies
with strong enough pedigrees to give them broodmare potential.
Every owner aspires to win major races, and Lucarelli is no
different. But to him, his venture into the Sport of Kings has a
much deeper meaning. He is appreciative of every minute he
gets to enjoy it with his family and friends.
“Never did I think we would ever be this blessed and get to the
level we’ve been able to attain, and to become such good friends
with Jack and Laurie,” he said. “Our families have gelled really
well together and we spend our summers hanging out, and the
kids get along. We’ve become very, very close.
“I’m living a dream, as far as I’m concerned. I told Barb when
we were young we were going to get a mobile home one day and
go from track to track. I wanted to notch a new track on my belt
each time. We didn’t get to do that, but I am traveling to different
tracks and trying to squeeze in as much as I can. Win or lose, I’ve
never had a bad day at the track. Just being able to enjoy it has
been therapeutic for me, and I’m going to continue to enjoy it for
as long as I can.” B
Grade I winner Octave holds a special place in Lucarelli’s heart
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