Donald Lucarelli

/xmlfeed.aspx?action=media%26category=8%26id=21065

2007 Record: (36-6-10-7)

2007 Earnings: $1,399,021

2007 Win %: 16% In-The-Money %: 63%

Born: 1952, Schenectady, N.Y.
Residence: Duanesburg, N.Y.
Family: wife Barbara; children Josepha, Donelle and Joseph; grandson Andrew
Professional Background: With brother Joseph, founded and owned Bellevue Builders Supply, an upstate New York company that provided building materials and financing for home builders … Company was sold in 2004, although Lucarelli still provides lending to builders on a smaller scale … Owns a stair company with his brother … Builds and develops land in upstate New York
Racing Background: The Lucarellis attended the races with friends at Saratoga every summer for more than 30 years, always dreaming of owning a racehorse … With available cash from the sale of the business in 2004, they turned the dream into reality … Were introduced to Jack and Laurie Wolf (Starlight Stables) at a party for a mutual friend in late 2003 and the seeds of a partnership were planted
Breeding/Racing Operation: The Lucarellis have attended yearling sales with the Wolfs and bloodstock consultant Barry Berkelhammer each of the past four years … Presently owns three 4-year-olds, six 3-year-olds, 14 juveniles and 20 yearlings in various partnerships with Starlight, Paul Saylor, and Jonathan and Barbara Kurtin ... After enjoying unsurpassed success with the horses they campaigned under the Starlight Stables banner, the Wolfs and Lucarellis recommitted themselves to racing by forming a new entity, Starlight Racing (www.starlightracing.com), in the summer of 2007 ... Their business plan calls for investing in higher quality yearlings by joining with a select few new partners who also want to compete at the upper levels of the sport ... Starlight Racing acquired 12 colts and seven fillies at the 2007 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky, Saratoga and Keeneland September yearling sales ... Horses are trained by Todd Pletcher and by Steve Margolis in the Midwest … Sam P., who was unplaced in this year’s Kentucky Derby and third in the Santa Anita Derby, is his second Kentucky Derby starter after an unplaced finish with Keyed Entry in 2006 ... Most successful runner has been Breeders' Cup Distaff contender Octave, who finished second in the 2006 Juvenile Fillies and 2007 Kentucky Oaks ... Lucarellis say that Octave has “given them a lot of joy. The intention is to race her as a 4-year-old because she gives us so much joy. She runs her heart out every time” … Lucarellis say one of the things they like best about racing is the opportunity it has provided them with to travel. “Until we went with Sam P. to Mountaineer, we had never been to that track. Our schedules are flexible so we can travel to see the horses run and we are always on the move.”