Horse Racing

A Tribute to Herb Moelis: Hooray for Hollywood


Via

In the early 1980s, your reporter had the great fortune of being a guest lecturer at a series of foundational seminars organized by Bradley Telias and at the sometimes too precious New School. in the West Village of New York City. Basically, there were about a few dozen people in each two-hour meeting, mostly people who wanted to get in on the race and purebred, or some who were already in the game but wanted to expand their knowledge. their consciousness.

The first-year class included Vivien G. Malloy, who became a close friend and customer and was twice New York Breeder of the Year. She is still quite active at 90 and has served as the Secretary/Treasurer of New York Thoroughbred Breeders, Inc., for many years.

The sophomore class is attended by two members of a newly formed racing alliance, who have met in that endeavor and are ready to go on their own – after they will be sworn in at their wedding. They are successful CPA and entrepreneur Herbert Moelis and real estate executive Ellen Avenna – a nice Jewish guy from Brooklyn and a pretty and elegant Italian woman from Queens. Welcome to New York!

Somehow the three of us managed to keep in touch, and a few months later, Herb and Ellen sat behind me at a conference sponsored by the American Horse Council in Washington, DC, an event at which I was invited to speak on the topic of investing in limited partnerships and over-the-counter purebred racing and breeding efforts. After a presentation in which I noted my deep skepticism about investing in public stocks unless they are very closely solicited, I return to my seat and Herb grins. grin on the face.

“That will shake up a few people, good luck!”

The editor of an industry magazine loved it and asked permission to publish it – then I was fired from my position as a public relations consultant for a small Wall Street firm that was planning to issue shares. vouchers at one of those new over-the-counter companies.

Apparently, Herb had a point.

Many in the industry quickly learned that when Herb Moelis told the truth, always, he was right. He and Ellen were in the process of developing their Candy Land Ranch in Delaware and along the way they asked for my advice on their breeding plans. One of my suggestions was noted in October 11 edition of TDN was TD Thornton’s strikingly perfect announcement of Herb’s passing last weekend, in which longtime Candy Land manager Mike Palmer gave a wonderfully detailed and accurate overall picture of Herb.

It was an offer where they demanded a dirty sum from the La Troienne family for $20,000. When it came time to buy a season to have it bred in Herb and Ellen told me they wanted to sell it commercially and were hoping to find a stallion that could put the foal in the Saratoga Yearling Sale this year. 1993.

“I’m looking to spend $50,000 on a stud fee,” he told me, “which one do you recommend?”

I jerked my jaw off the ground and told him that at most one foal could bring in $125,000 at Saratoga and that he should consider a new stallion “sleeping” for much less.

They eventually took my recommendation to Houston, a Seattle Slew son who entered the stables for $5,000 – and as a result the pony topped the Saratoga sale in 1993 for 335,000. dollars. Herb and Ellen commissioned Anthony Alonso to paint the scene in the pavilion where the pony gets beaten down with Herb and Ellen clearly visible to the left and surprisingly, you can actually see it clearly in the center. As a “thank you”, they asked Anthony to send me a copy, which has a proud place in our apartment showroom.

At the time Herby and Ellen founded Purebred Charity of America in 1990, the history of this organization is nicely reported in the TD Thornton article but for these purposes more detail is needed. (go https://www.tca.org/about/ and scroll down to History). At that time, my wife and I were invited to spend the weekend each year at Candy Land, and we were there when the first auction was held in 1990.

When they decided to move the event to a campfire location on the farm every January, I was surprised and honored when Herb and Ellen asked me to become the Master of Ceremonies, an honor that I am proud of. have enjoyed for at least ten years.

On the way, I called him one day to discuss an upcoming party and he was in a hurry to the airport. I asked him where he was going, and he said California. I was surprised that he had never mentioned such a trip before, so I pursued.

“Where in California?”

“Beverly Hills.”

“Is it true? Why?”

“My son is a financial professional and lives there.:

Because he knew then how my brain worked, he just laughed when I said:

“Okay, now you are officially the Hollywood Herb.:

After that, whenever we ran into each other at sales or other events, all I had to say was “Hi, Hollywood!” and he and Ellen would just beam.

So, with apologies to composer Richard A. Whiting, who wrote the song for the 1937 Hollywood Hotel film, I think anyone in the life of the moving Herb Moelis would be happy to take a part. the chorus of his widely used and very popular song, “Hooray for Hollywood. “

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