Aguiar Makes His Case at OBS March

As a Louisville-based trial lawyer handling high-pressure cases, spending time at the racetrack is “like a sanctuary” for relatively new owner Craig “Sam” Aguiar.

Represented by a trio of winners from a handful of his inaugural “low budget” yearling purchases in 2016, the 36-year-old personal injury attorney–his clients know him as Sam, but he races under his first name Craig–will seek a different kind of refuge in Ocala as a first-time pinhooker at next week's two-day OBS March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale.

“I really don't treat it like an investment,” Aguiar said of his approach as an owner. “I think anybody that does is either way smarter or way dumber than me. I told my wife when we were getting into this that it's an expensive hobby, but if we even have a month where we make our money back, we really need to be celebrating that night.”

With Tom McCrocklin consigning, Aguiar's trio of prospects at OBS March includes: Hip 137, a colt by Bodemeister ($100,000 KEESEP yearling); Hip 158, a colt by Trappe Shot from the female family of champion Hansen (Tapit) ($90,000 KEESEP yearling); and Hip 557, a filly by Declaration of War ($100,000 KEESEP yearling).

“The one that I'm most excited about is the Bodemeister colt,” said Aguiar, who added that the Trappe Shot colt has been scratched to await the OBS April Sale. “Tom is a true pro and he's real humble, so anytime he sends text messages about the Bodemeister like, 'I couldn't be more excited,' that's a lot coming from him. He has plenty of class and has been breezing really well.”

Aguiar's path to horse ownership, and, believe it or not, marriage, both began with some luck on the First Saturday in May. After cashing in on the Animal Kingdom over Nehro exacta (paid $329.80) in the 2011 GI Kentucky Derby, the graduate of Murray State University and the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law purchased an engagement ring for his wife Janelle and also began investing in racehorses with Pocket Aces Racing. He immediately hit it off with the syndicate's trainer Steve Margolis and decided to launch his own stable a couple of years later.

“I went over to the backside one day at Churchill and was like, 'Man, this is cool!' I kind of started drinking the Kool-Aid,” Aguiar said with a laugh. “Within a couple of months of me probably bugging Steve too much, he picked us out a Dialed In Louisiana-bred for $50,000 at the [2016] OBS June 2-Year-Old Sale. My wife said, 'Oh good, you got me a horse.' And she was cool with us getting more at the Keeneland yearling sales that year, too. If I give credit to one thing, it would be getting introduced to Steve. He's a class act and he introduced me to Tom. They're both phenomenal people.”

One of those first yearling purchases for Aguiar was Ebben (Trappe Shot), who brought $25,000 at the 2016 Keeneland September Sale. Trained by Margolis, the chestnut graduated at second asking in a maiden special weight at Indiana Downs last summer and was also fourth in the GIII Iroquois S. at Churchill Downs. He rolled a pair of sixes in both the GIII Lecomte S. and GII Risen Star S. earlier this year.

“He's named after my son Evan, who will be starting college at George Mason in the fall,” Aguiar said. “My 5-year-old son couldn't pronounce his V's, so he'd call him Ebben. I thought it would be a good name for a horse and it's been pretty cool running in a few Derby preps with him.”

Aguiar has also acquired a few via the claim box, including subsequent three-time winner Diamonds For Leah (Fusaichi Pegasus), who was haltered for just $30,000 last March. He has another four juveniles in Ocala slated to join his racing stable–soon to be rebranded JS Stables (Janelle and Sam)–this spring.

If one of Aguiar's pinhook prospects hits it out of the park next Tuesday or Wednesday, don't expect that money to be sitting in his pocket for long.

“That would awesome [if one sold big], but the reality is if that happened I'll either probably parlay it into more next year or buy another one at the OBS April Sale,” he concluded. “I'm excited to be partnering with Tom. If we could do well and he could do well off it too, it's kind of my way of saying thanks for all you've done for me.”

The first of three breeze shows for the OBS March Sale begins Thursday at 8 a.m.