'New' School

When highlights of your first trip to the GI Kentucky Derby include shooting craps with actor Vince Vaughn, how do you possibly top that?

Having a starter in the race would certainly be a good starting point.

Meet Chris Fiumara.

Racing under the nom-de-course of Newport Stables, the native of Boston owns 25% of GI Toyota Blue Grass S. runner-up and live Derby longshot My Man Sam (Trappe Shot).

“It's a surreal feeling,” said Fiumara, who has returned to Louisville for the first Saturday in May a handful of times since his aforementioned “unbelievable experience” in a soggy Churchill infield back in 2004.

“I can't even believe it's happening. This is anyone's dream. In the back of anyone's head when you buy a horse–I don't care what they say–they have this vision of competing and going to the Derby. Anyone that says that's not true is lying.”

The 41-year-old continued with a laugh, “I have about 60 people that are coming down for this with me, including my immediate family–my brother, sister-in-law, little niece, girlfriend, mother, etc.–and I'll be putting them all up in one of those infield suites. My phone has not stopped ringing since this thing happened. All I did last week was field e-mails, phone calls and text messages from people out of the woodwork that I haven't heard from in 10 years. It's been crazy. It's going to be pretty awesome.”

Fiumara, an owner for less than two years, currently has pieces of approximately 14 horses. His first purchase at public auction–a $70,000 son of Cape Blanco (Ire) at the 2014 FTNAUG yearling sale–was named Peter Junior in memory of his late father, who introduced him to the sport as a kid.

“My father owned horses when I was growing up–we had a farm out in Westwood Mass.–and I used to go to the track with him, too,” Fiumara explained. “Unfortunately, my father passed away when I was 14, so I kind of got out of it at that point.”

After graduating with a degree in psychology in 2000 from Richmond, The American International University In London, Fiumara founded the Watertown, Massachusetts-based real estate company Suffolk Management LLC. Fiumara credits Jay Hanley–a fellow developer in the area and co-founder of Sheep Pond Partners of Lady Eli fame–with getting him re-interested in racing after his long hiatus. Coincidently, Fiumara went to grammar school with Hanley's partner in Sheep Pond, Sol Kumin. My Man Sam is campaigned by Fiumara along with Sheep Pond and breeder Jay W. Bligh.

“Ironically, Jay [Hanley] was telling me that he was buying horses with a guy named Sol, and I said, 'Sol who?'” Fiumara said. “It was pretty cool–I knew them both independently of each other.”

He continued, “I watched Jay and Sol with Lady Eli and all these other nice horses and had an opportunity to invest, but said, 'You know what? I'm just going to wait, sit back and learn the game a little bit more through you guys.' My father is the one that really got me into this whole thing many years ago and Jay Hanley brought me back into it. And it's been great to rekindle an old friendship with Sol, too. We went to Fessenden [independent day and boarding school for boys in West Newton, Massachusetts] together up to ninth grade. We were close friends during that points of our lives, then we went to different schools afterwards. But this has really brought us back together.”

My Man Sam won't be Fiumara's only rooting interest during Derby week. American Sailor (City Zip), winner of the $50,000 Bucharest Turf Sprint S. at Houston in his first start off the $30,000 claim by trainer Joe Sharp, is being aimed at the GIII Twin Spires Turf Sprint S. on Oaks Day. He was a respectable sixth in the GII Shakertown S. at Keeneland Apr. 9.

“I've watched people do this all the time that have early success and then automatically think that they're a genius,” Fiumara said. “I know how lucky I am to be in this position. I don't think that I'm some mastermind horsemen now. I like the way that I do it and don't see myself changing my strategy. Maybe I'll buy pieces of three or four different horses in a year.”

Fiumara is also quick to acknowledge Jeffrey Epstein–a former teacher at Fessenden and longtime horse owner at Suffolk and Rockingham–for helping mentor him in the horse business thus far. The two became friendly when Fiumara returned to the private school to coach football.

“I'm a real estate developer in three different locations in the Northeast and I'm a landlord–that's how I make my money,” Fiumara said. “Racing is something that I have a passion for and love, and to have success with it is making it even more fun. Even if my horses didn't do well, I would still just love being around them and going to the stable. As a little kid, that was all I loved to do.”

My Man Sam, a well-beaten fifth in his debut sprinting in Ozone Park Dec. 19, posted a spectacular eight-length come-from-behind win in his first attempt going long over the inner track Jan. 31, good for 'TDN Rising Star' honors. He rallied smartly into a soft pace to complete the exacta in an $80,000 optional claimer there Mar. 6, then nearly overcame post 14 to finish within 1 3/4 lengths of Brody's Cause (Giant's Causeway) in Lexington most recently Apr. 9. My Man Sam is trained by Chad Brown.

My Man Sam's stakes-placed dam Lauren Byrd (Arch), a homebred for Bligh, is a half-sister to grassy GII Dixie S. winner Hudson Steele (Johannesburg).

“We haven't seen this horse run his race yet,” Fiumara warned. “He wants to run further–the 1 1/4 miles is what he wants to do. The distance is going to be huge for this guy. I think this is really where you're going to see this horse excel.”

My Man Sam's namesake, meanwhile, Kumin's 4-year-old son Sam, is currently in the homestretch of Pre-K at–you guessed it–Fessenden School.

“Everything in life just comes back together,” Fiumara concluded.