PADUA STABLES=S SATISH SANANOver the past 16 years, Padua Stables=s Satish Sanan
has gone from neophyte owner to one of the sport=sleading statesmen. Sanan=s story is well known. A
native of India who emigrated to Great Britain when hewas 16, Sanan became aserious student of the gameas a handicapper. Later, his
far-reaching success inbusiness, first in computers
and then in the health careindustry, gave him theresources to match hisambition. In 1996, Sanan
made the jump intoownership. With trainer D.
Wayne Lukas on board, hespent lavishly at public sales,
dropping millions on blueEquiSport photo
blooded stock with the goalof Awinning Classic races
around the world.@
Success came quickly. One of his first purchases, the$1.2 million yearling Cash Run (Seeking the Gold), won
the 1998 GI Breeders= Cup Juvenile Fillies. She wasfollowed by the Grade I winners Yes It=s True and Proud
Accolade and the Grade II winner Exchange Rate. In
2002, Padua was represented by a confirmed superstar
in Vindication (Seattle Slew), a $2.15 million yearling
who was undefeated when he won the GI Breeders= CupJuvenile and later named champion 2-year-old male.
Padua soon became a family operation, with Sanan=swife Anne, his daughter Nadia and son Sasha all playing
major rolls in its development. (Another daughter,Chemain, helps oversee Sanan=s business interests
outside the Thoroughbred industry.)
Padua=s influence wasn=t just felt on the racetrack. In
Florida, Padua opened a sprawling breeding, training andstallion facility, where it stood, among others, Exchange
Rate, Delaware Township and Proud Accolade. The
latter was proving a useful sire before his untimelydeath, while Exchange Rate=s fast start at stud
prompted a move to Three Chimneys in Kentucky.
But Padua=s success wasn=t always in line with its
tremendous outlay, and over time, Sanan altered thebusiness plan. In 2007, he announced Padua wasdispersing or relocating its Florida-based stallions andbreeding stock, and Sanan purchased the former
Bluegrass Heights Farm in Lexington. At the sales,
Padua rarely went after the seven-figure prospects, andthe number of horses it put into training each year
dropped dramatically.

Padua had previously gone it alone with its racing
prospects, but that changed, too. In 2007, Padua joinedwith Jess Jackson=s Stonestreet Stable to purchase amajority interest in an eye-catching maiden winner nameCurlin (Smart Strike). The big chestnut went on to win
the GI Preakness and GI Breeders= Cup Classic and wasnamed Horse of the Year. That year, Padua also coowned Any Given Saturday (Distorted Humor), whodefeated Curlin in the GI Haskell.
Sanan has also spent much of his time working on themyriad problems the industry faces. Roughly eight years
ago, he spearheaded the Alliance for Industry Reform, agroup that helped pushed through transparency reforms
at auctions. Today, Sanan sits on the board of directorsof both the Breeders= Cup and National Thoroughbred
Racing Association (NTRA).
The TDN=s Lucas Marquardt recently caught up with
Sanan and asked about his ups an downs in theindustry, his relationship with the late Jess Jackson,
and what changes he=d like to see the industry embrace.
On May 31, Padua Stables in Ocala, Florida is being
auctioned. Why did you decide to relocate to Kentucky,
and what was behind the decision to put the Ocalaproperty on the auction block?
AOver the years, Padua has evolved into abreed-to-race operation, rather than buying horses, andwe decided the best thing for us was to transition toKentucky. We were shipping mares from Florida to
Kentucky and back again every year, and financially, it
didn=t make sense anymore. It's a shame, because weput our heart and soul and a lot of capital into the farmin Florida. We invested close to $30 million on the farm,and it's a state-of-the-art facility. Everything that wesaw when we traveled around the U.S. and to Europe,
everything went into the farm, and it is the best of thebest. But there comes a point where you need to moveon. We purchased the former Bluegrass Heights farm in
Kentucky, and over the past four years have developed
it. So the only we=ve been doing in Florida is breaking
horses, and to carry that big an operation, with thenumber of people and costs, didn=t make sense for us
financially.@
At your peak, how many 2-year-olds did Padua put intotraining each year?
"At our peak, we used to have 50 or 60 2-year-olds
out there every year. Not any more. The last few years,
we've been putting 15 to 20 into training. It's still a lot
by the time you have 3- and 4-year-olds and so on.
Right now I think we have 15 to 20 currently in training,with another 15 [juveniles] or so coming into the fold.@
How many mares do you currently have at Padua=s
Lexington farm?
AWe have about 30 to 40 mares. Every year we retire
a few of the good ones, and sell some, either throughclaiming races or at the sales.@Q&A cont.

Padua really developed into a family operation. Has thatbeen particularly rewarding?
AThat=s how it evolved, and it=s both a challenge and apleasure when your kids work for you. The balance istough, but they=re very passionate about the business,
which is good. My son Sasha worked with Taylor Made,
Todd Pletcher and Steve [Asmussen], and now he=s
managing the farm in Kentucky. He basically runs Padua
Stables now.@
You=ve been involved as an owner for over 15 years
now. What=s been the highlight of your involvement?
"From a pure racing point-of-view, from a satisfaction
and achievement point of view, it was Vindication. As
you know, the year before we had parted company withWayne [Lukas], and probably by that time had invested
close to $100 million in the business. We had a lot ofsuccess--Cash Run won the Breeders' Cup, and we had
Exchange Rate, Yes It's True, Dance Master. We won a
heckuva lot of races, but Vindication was very special.
Nadia was involved and our team was involved inpicking him out. Unfortunately he was injured, but hewas an undefeated champion.
AI would say that the best year of racing we had wasthe year I owned a part of Curlin and a big piece AnyGiven Saturday, also. We won the GI Preakness S. withCurlin and the GI Haskell with Any Given Saturday, whobeat Curlin. Then we won the [Breeders= Cup] Classicand Horse of the Year. Then Darley bought Any Given
Saturday and Jess Jackson bought us out on
Curlin. So financially, and from a racing point of view,
to win those races with those purses, that was perhaps
the most enjoying and satisfying year racing.@Back in 2004, you began the Alliance for Industry
Reform, which led to changes in the auction process toprotect buyers against things like dual agency. Are you
happy with the reforms that were made?
ANot really. Once AIR picked up momentum, not only
the good guys, but some of the bad guys ended up
joining. The whole initiative was taken over by TOBA,
and we=ve seen some changes, but not a lot of changes.
I think the only really positive thing we=ve seen is a lotof the dual agency practices are gone, but I think a lotof the unethical practices that were going on are stillcontinuing. Not as openly as they used to, and not as
abusive, but they=re still going on. Am I satisfied, no?
I=m a glad I did it? Yes. But I think we have a long way
to go.@The issue of Lasix has been in the headlines lately.
What=s your position?
AI=ve studied it inside and out, and I=ve spent a lot oftime with some of the best European and American
trainers, guys like Dermot Weld and Michael Stoute inEurope, and Bob Baffert, Wayne Lukas, Todd Pletcher
and Steve Asmussen in the States. When themedication issue was raised about a year ago, I spent a
lot of time talking to Todd Pletcher and Steve Asmussen
in particular. My personal view is that I don=t think[Lasix] is good for the horses or good for the breed.

I don=t think we need raceday medication. But I thinkpeople get confused on the issue of Lasix and general
medication. I think we need to learn to manage it. I=magainst raceday medication, but that doesn=t mean I=magainst medication, and against Lasix. European trainers
use Lasix when they train, and I think that=s what weneed to do. The problem with raceday Lasix is that itmasks other medications. To a degree, I think we needto do what the rest of the world does. It=s not that they
don=t use [Lasix]--I think there=s a perception they don=t.
They use it, but they manage it and use as part of a
racing program.@
You and the late Jess Jackson partnered with Curlin
during his 3-year-old year before Jackson bought youout after Curlin=s Breeders= Cup Classic win. What
happened?
AWe had a lot of success, but toward the end, there
was some tension in terms of the partnership, and I justdecided that if I wasn=t enjoying that part of it, weneeded to get out. So I asked Jess to buy us out. ButBarbara [Banke, Jackson=s widow] and I are goodfriends, and Jess put a lot of capital into the business
and was very passionate about the business.@
In some ways, you and he seemed to be cut from thesame cloth.
AHe wanted to see the same things I wanted to see-stopping the unethical behavior and things like that. His
philosophy was to approach things from a legal
perspective. He sued a lot of people, and that=ssomething I don=t do. I don=t believe in litigation. I=drather sit across the table and try to solve the problems
that way. But those were the differences, and weagreed on more things than we disagreed on. I think
Jess will be remember forever for what he did for theindustry. His contributions in terms of the time andmoney he spent, but also the impact he had on theindustry in general.@
The old question: if you were named Czar of Horse
Racing, what do you do to improve the sport?
AWe have three or four strategic issues facing thesport. We have a business model issue, a medication
issue, and a marketing issue, in terms of how we
present our sport. Candidly, we=re not united, and until
we=re united, I don=t think we=ll be an industry able that
can address these issues. The most important thing that
we need to do is make sure we have an integratedorganization of all the stakeholders.@
Who are the stakeholders?
AThere are three groups. The stakeholders are theowners; they are horseplayers who put $12 billion into
the business; and they are racetrack operators. Because
they are the only three constituents who put money into
the business. Ultimately, there needs to be a way for us
to work together and fix the business model.

Q&A cont.

If we fix the business model, which today is based on
the 1979 Interstate Horse Racing Act, you can getmoney coming back in, and you can then afford to put
more capital back into the infrastructure and back into
purses. And then you can address all the other issues.
You can set aside a small amount for jockeys= welfare
issues, you can take a fraction of the percentage andtake care of horse retirement issues we deal with, youcan even tackle medication issues with increased
funding for testing and research.@
You=ve been very active in industry organizations andworking for change. Why?
AI came into the business somewhat naive. I thought I
knew everything about the business, because I was
successful in other businesses. Having put in well inexcess of $100 million into the business, we learned thehard way. But I think we know the business now. I
spend a lot of time on industry issues because ourindustry faces a lot of challenges. And I want to makesure I=m part of whatever change happens.@