Page 16 - November 2019 Thoroughbred Highlight
P. 16

By Beverley Smith
a few races and at one point we ended up with no horses, because they all got claimed,” he said.
Well, actually by
the Entourage Stable, which as a unit, plunked down $30,000 for the quirky chestnut at the CTHS yearling sale six years ago, and then waited for success to spring.
It didn’t, at least not immediately.
the stable, it was an easy split: they had $140,000 in the kitty. Five members were left: The person with two shares stayed in, the other three kept their one share, and DiGiulio Jr. had three shares.
Entourage on the ride of a lifetime
Whenever Pink Lloyd races and leaves his equine peers in the dust, he’s followed by an entourage.
Things changed after that. Two dropped out for various reasons. With no horses in
But once the gelding
started to race, the
members of the
Entourage Stable
have been on the ride
of a lifetime as Pink
Lloyd has steamrolled
his way through a
career that has made
him a millionaire, the 2017 Horse of the Year, and a legendary sprinter around these parts and beyond.
The stable now consists of DiGiulio Jr., Ed Longo (no, not from the family who owns the grocery store chain; he gets
it all the time); John
The Entourage crew actually started out as the Maverick Stable more than 14 years ago when longtime Woodbine owner Frank DiGiulio decided to put together a partnership group to bring some friends (and family) into the business.
Lucato, (vice president and controller at Wind Mobile); DiGiulio’s cousin Victor Mele, (retired physician) and John Peri, president and chief executive of cer of Enwave Energy Corp.
Frank had already been  rmly grounded in the business from a young tad, following in the footsteps of his father, Frank DiGiulio Sr., who emigrated
to Canada from Italy as a 13 year old. Frank Sr. graduated from being a shoe-shine boy at a barber shop, to owning his own salon, to buying and selling real estate,  nally shopping malls. At 70 years old, he decided to buy racehorses. At 75, he brought Frank Jr. into the business.
To change their luck, they all decided to rename their stable. A couple of guys in the group loved the television series, Entourage, seen on HBO, that told the satirical tale of a rising New York  lm star trying to make his way in Hollywood. It ran for eight seasons on HBO, won Emmy Awards and critical acclaim, and always featured famous guests such as Christina Aguilera, Kanye West, Jessica Alba, Gary Busey, Martin Scorcese, Matt Damon, Eminem, LeBron James, John Cleese, Phil Mickelson.
DiGiulio Sr. died at age 91, just before the 2001 Queen’s Plate, when his Win City was favoured to win the classic. Their  rst good horse was Domasca Dan, a local folk hero that was a major factor in the 1989 Triple Crown, except that he had to tangle with With Approval.
It was a show in a comedic vein, and the Entourage Stable members decided to have fun with their adventure, too.
DiGuilio Jr. has been reading the Daily Racing Form since he was young. The other members of the Entourage Stable have not.
The game plan as owners was to buy a few yearlings every year, and not get too big. “My cousin and their friends weren’t necessarily people who
were lifelong race track goers,” DiGiulio Jr. said. “Not like people who had always dreamed of owning a horse. When I came up with the idea, they seemed interested and had the resources to do it, so they did it. They’re not ones to attend the races all the time. They’ll come when the horses run, when they can, but they’re not ones to come on a day when the horses aren’t running.”
In 2005, after his own stable had a good year, earning more than $1.7-million, DiGiulio Jr. formed
a partnership of owners called the Maverick Stable, selling 10 shares for $25,000 each. “My hope was
to raise $250,000,” DiGiulio Jr. said. “And use that money to buy yearlings and/or claim horses and have money left over, so that I wouldn’t have to ask people for more contributions. There would be enough money there to pay expenses.”
They claimed a horse called Lord of Greatness, that won more than $591,000 in his career and raced for nine seasons in Canada, winning a race every year he ran,  nishing third in the Bob Summers Memorial Cup Stakes at Fort Erie in 2016. A durable sort, he started 74 times.
Seven people jumped in. Five took one share. One person took two shares. DiGuilio Jr. ended up with the last three shares. They carried on for eight years, with some success, nothing spectacular. “But we won
There were others. “We had some failures,” DiGiulio Jr. said. “Probably more failures than successes but luckily, the success was a big one.”
From L-R: Victor Mele, Luke Di Giulio (behind), Ed Longo, John Peri, John Lucato, Frank DiGiulio Jr. Pink Lloyd and his groom Michelle Gibson.
Continued on Page 18
Thoroughbred Highlight - Page 16 - November 2019


































































































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