Bruce Lunsford

2008 Record: (35-4-4-3)

2008 Earnings: $171,420

2008 Win %: 11% In-The-Money %: 31%

Born: Nov. 11, 1947, Cincinnati, Ohio
Residence: Louisville, Ky.
Family: daughters Amy, Cindy and Brandy
Education: B.A. degree from University of Kentucky and J.D. degree from Northern Kentucky University's Salmon P. Chase College of Law
Professional Background: Chairman and CEO of Lunsford Capital, LLC, a Louisville-headquartered private investment company … Founder and former chairman and CEO of Ventas, Inc., one of the nation’s largest health care real estate investment companies … Served as Kentucky’s Commerce Secretary from 1980-’83 under Gov. John Y. Brown … Veteran of the U.S. Army Reserves and Ohio National Guard … Served on the Board of Directors of Churchill Downs from 1995-2000 … Ran for Governor of Kentucky in 2003 and 2007, dropping out of the race in the days leading up to the 2003 primary after a campaign marked by negative ads including some attacking his role at Ventas when the company settled fraud and mismanagement cases with the government … Ran unsuccessfully in 2007, losing in the Democratic primary election ... Serves as chairman of Deyta, Inc., a company which measures customer and employee satisfaction and performance levels, and also as a member of the Board of Directors of Aerocare Holdings, Inc., a provider of respiratory therapy services
Racing Background: Lunsford caught the racing bug while attending the University of Kentucky as an undergraduate
Breeding/Racing Operation: He entered the racing game as an owner with claiming horses in the late 1980s, including $15,000 pick-ups Cornstalk Road and Dross, both of whom went on to earn more than $100,000 … Over the years, he has had horses with trainers Frank Brothers, Bill Mott, Al Stall and Bob Baffert … As a breeder he’s best known for grade 1 winner Golden Missile (Pimlico Special), who earned $2.1 million and finished third in the 1999 Breeders’ Cup Classic … Bred multiple grade 1 winner Arravale, 7th in the 2007 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf. He consigned her to the 2004 Keeneland September yearling sale where she sold for $190,000 ... Top horses raced include multiple graded winner First Samurai (in partnership with Lansdon Robbins) and homebred Vision and Verse, 1999 Belmont Stakes runner-up and hero of that year’s Illinois Derby. Vision and Verse, who he campaigned with Yoshiyuki Ito, finished eighth and ninth in his Breeders’ Cup Classic attempts of 1999 and 2000 … Lunsford also raced millionaire filly Madcap Escapade, winner of six stakes including the G1 Ashland, before being retired in July of 2005 due to a slight ligament tear. He sold Madcap Escapade for $6 million at the 2006 Keeneland November breeding stock sale ... He keeps a small broodmare band at Claiborne Farm, near Paris, Ky. ... First Samurai won the 2005 Hopeful and Champagne Stakes before finishing third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. He went on to win the Fountain of Youth and finish second in the Hutcheson as a 3-year-old. The colt was forced to retire after he was discovered to have cracked ribs, apparently the result of a starting gate mishap two weeks prior when he finished fifth in the Blue Grass Stakes ... His filly Bel Air Beauty won the 2006 Alcibiades and finished eighth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.