TDN Q&A: Summerfield's Andrew Vanlangendonck

It has been 10 years since Summerfield sold a million-dollar horse, and now they have had two in a space of just a few weeks, a $1 million American Pharoah colt at Saratoga, and a $1.8 million Curlin at Keeneland September. Ironically enough, the 10 years in between also marked the time when Andrew Vanlangendonck, son of Summerfield's owners Barbara and Francis, was away serving his country in the United States Air Force. Now that he's back at Summerfield full time, we caught up with him to ask about his family's run of success and to ask, `Are you the family good luck charm?'

LM: let's talk about your decision as a young guy, 19, to leave the family business and to go off and serve the country in the Air Force.

AV: I felt it was a choice that was entirely up to me. My dad was all for it, mom was a little hesitant on losing her baby boy. But I felt that it was very important for me to see other avenues of the world and things like that. I really wanted to travel the entire world. One of the things that my dad always did whenever we were younger traveling, was we would, driving up to Kentucky and such and he's say, we would talk about places that he's been. He's been all over the United States and I remember thinking at a very young age that I wanted to do that but bigger. I wanted to go to the world. So, aside from the obvious reason of wanting to serve your country and things like that, that was a big motivator for me it was wanting to get out and travel and things like that. That's really why I joined the Air Force. I figured they'd pay me and then they'd send me where they wanted me and I would travel the world.

LM: And you did see the world, serving in Bahrain, Afghanistan and Japan. In 2017, you decided to leave the Air Force and come back to civilian life?

AV: December 19th, 2017 was my last day in the Air Force. Initially, it was just supposed to be a four-year tour. I was just going to go to the Air Force, see the world a little bit, and then ultimately come back to the Thoroughbred industry. However, whenever that four years came up, I was in Japan and I just got done having the experience of the earthquake (see Lucas Marquardt's video) so I was really patriotic. They also, they asked me if I would like to reenlist, so I spoke to my dad about it for a couple weeks. He ultimately told me, it was the deciding factor of the Thoroughbred industry, we'll always be here. So if you would like to do another four, go ahead and do it. So I pulled the trigger and I did another four which led me up to eight. After that, they kept giving me fairly good bases, but they said I had to extend my contract by five, six months. So what's another five, six months right? Ultimately, that led to about 10 years.

LM: Was it an easy decision to say alright, now I'm gonna leave the Air Force and come back and join the family business? Did you think about doing something else in racing?

AV: The decision was fairly easy. As I said before, I was planning on getting out after four years. As far as the what I want to do in the industry, I want to be Summerfield. That's the ultimate goal. This year has been very, very, very good to my family and Summerfield Sales as a whole. The American Pharoah (hip 62) that we sold in Saratoga was amazing and then we sold a Curlin (hip 211) at this sale and book one for the Curlin that we sold for one point eight million. I believe the last seven-figure horse that we were able to sell was back in 2009 at this very sale so having two in a row this year has just been amazing. I'm very happy that this is the year that we were able to accomplish that.

LM: Are you stressing to people that obviously you're a good-luck charm?

AV: Very much so (smiles). Hopefully, this would really open up people's eyes that we can handle these kind of animals and we can produce them. So, hopefully we'll get some more animals of that quality and we'll be able to sell some more in the future.

LM: Let's talk about that American Pharoah up in Saratoga. There is a bit of history there with you father and the Nielsen family, isn't there?

AV: Yes, and the fact that we were able to sell a seven-figure horse for people that were so close to us, literally my entire life, was just amazing. Being able to share that experience with Joanne and her kids that all came up for the sale was just an amazing experience. It couldn't been for better people. They've been in the business for longer than I've been alive and they've had some success and they've had some downs just like everybody else in this industry. But I was very pleased that I was able to be there to share it with them. Summerfield is here because of Jerry Nielsen, who was dad's long-time mentor and best friend. Originally, I believe he was managing a farm and Jerry Nielsen approached him and asked him to be a manager of a different farm. Dad said he didn't want to jump from being a manager at one farm to being a manager at another farm. So Jerry said, `well, how about you be a partner? I'll buy 80 acres down in Ocala, Florida and I'd like you to be a partner with me. And eventually, after X amount of time, you'll buy me out and that will be your retirement.' Just as Jerry predicted, that came to pass. So we are very, very, very appreciative of the Nielsen family as a whole which just makes having such success with them this year that much more memorable.

LM: Your brother is involved as well, is that right?

AV: My brother is involved. He and I work hand to hand every single day and he's been doing amazing. I can't think of anybody better in this industry to be under to learn. I believe it's in my DNA. I grew up on a horse farm. Part of me joining the Air Force was wanting to see other avenues and once I left, after about two years, I would pass farms with horses on them in different countries and I'd roll down the windows because I wanted to get the smell. Cause I didn't realize on how much I miss this industry. So I'm very excited to be able to come back.