Ron Magers Reflects On His Decades In Racing And Breeding

“It all happened only because my wife, Elise, is very careful about where she walks…especially around horses.”

A Chicago-area veteran and established local TV news anchor, Ron Magers knows a good story when he hears one. It was Gulfstream Park in the spring of 1990 when Ron, accompanied by his wife, Elise, were making their way out of the paddock on their way to the airport at the end of the day's races. When something shiny in the dirt caught Elise's eye, she bent and scooped up what was an unassuming and fake-appearing diamond tennis bracelet. In a hurry to make their flight back to Chicago, the pair decided to figure out the identity of the missing bracelet's owner the next day.

“The next morning in Chicago, we were closing on a real estate purchase,” Magers said. “Elise pulled a pen out of her purse and the bracelet was caught on the clip. We told our attorney about the find and he suggested we start by getting it appraised to see if it is real.”

A local jeweler examined the piece and determined that not only were the stones real, but that they were of high quality and worth quite a bit of money. Ron's attorney made a quick phone call back to Gulfstream Park to inform them of the found item of value and, within a couple of days, heard back from a man in California whose wife had lost her bracelet while visiting Gulfstream.

“It turns out that the California man knew Chicago jeweler Lester Lampert, [so] we took the bracelet to Lampert who had it returned to the owners in California. The owner had offered a reward so we gave him the name of a Chicago charity we supported and suggested he send the reward as a donation.”

A story with a happy ending. But, little did Magers know, his story was just beginning.

“Another attorney, Howard Feinstein, called me [later] to say that he knew our attorney and had heard about the bracelet story. He had also been told of our love of horse racing and that we were thinking about buying a racehorse,” Mager said.

From humble beginnings, a partnership was formed.

“[Howard asked], did I have $10,000 that I'd be willing to throw out the window in hopes of having some fun and learning about racing? That's the way he [Howard] approached things. He also joked that anyone dumb enough to return that bracelet was the kind of person that he wanted to take advantage of. [I liked that], Howard was fun.”

As the pair settled into their partnership, Ron's love for the sport only grew and by the summer of 1991, he was ready to buy a horse on his own.

“Trainer Bob Voelkner turned down several horses I proposed claiming,” Magers said. “He finally agreed to put in a claim for a filly named Lemhi Go who was running for a tag of $16,000.”

Lemhi Go (Lemhi Gold), a 3-year-old Virginia-bred, won the race and there were four other claims put in for her besides Magers's. One winning shake of the dice later, Ron Magers was now the owner of his own racehorse.

And what a horse she would go on to become. Racing under the aptly named Diamond Stable, Lemhi Go picked up wins in the GIII Arlington Matron H. and the GII La Prevoyante H. before retiring with a record of 41-12-5-6 and earnings of over $330,000

“When her racing career was over, we sent her to Needham/Betz Farm in Kentucky to be sold as a potential broodmare,” Magers remembered. “That choice came at the urging of longtime horseman, Rob Marcocchio, who had done business before with that farm.”

Thankfully for Magers, he was talked out of the decision to sell.

“A few weeks later, the farm owner, Bill Betz, called me to say he didn't want to see this mare sold. I told him I knew nothing about the breeding business and wasn't sure it was for me. His proposal was to have the mare appraised, the farm would buy half, and we would be equal partners sharing the same risk while I would learn about breeding.”

In what would prove to be a wise choice, Magers kept Lemhi Go and bred her that first year to GISW Gone West. The resulting filly, named Triple Treasure, sold for $650,000 as a yearling. Magers retained Lemhi Go's second foal, a filly by MGISW Summer Squall, before finally selling Lemhi Go, in foal to 3-year-old champion colt and GI Kentucky Derby winner Unbridled, in the 1996 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale for $400,000. That Summer Squall filly, later named Temporada, would go on to produce a Kentucky Derby contender in 2016 GII Xpressbet.com Fountain of Youth S. winner Zulu (Bernardini).

“Elise and I continued to breed a band of mares with Needham Betz and other partners for more than 25 years,” said Magers. “We had great success along the way and one of our last crops of yearlings included champion 2-year-old filly Echo Zulu (Gun Runner).”

Echo Zulu wins the GI NetJets Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies | Eclipse Sportswire

As Magers prepares to step away from the racing and breeding industry after over 30 years, he couldn't help but go back to where the whole story started.

“We stepped away from the breeding business in 2019 but, in wrapping [that up], we bought back three babies from the partnerships out of a line that traced back to Lemhi Go,” said Magers. “All three raced at Gulfstream Park with trainer Ralph Nicks and all three were mid-level claiming winners running in bright, coral-colored silks with a black diamond on the back.”

Magers admits, “It is a delightful way to end our career with horses.” He continued, “Diamonds will last forever and, for us, so will the stories and memories that came with a career in racing and breeding.”