No one would have blamed prominent Peruvian owner/breeder Boris Schwartzman if he had walked away permanently from the sport he loves.
Shaken by the horrific slaying of four stallions on his farm more than a year ago, Schwartzman nearly did—but his lifelong passion for Thoroughbreds prevailed, and the third-generation horseman said he is starting from scratch, this time in Kentucky.
"I still have to heal from what happened and it is very difficult, but I also want to follow my dreams. The horses are my passion," Schwartzman said. "I know something like this will not happen in Kentucky."
Schwartzman owns Haras Barlovento near Cañete, Peru, the country's oldest stud farm started 69 years ago by his family, where he spent the last 20 years trying to elevate Peruvian breeding and racing by importing higher quality mares and standing shuttle stallions with deep pedigrees. Longtime adviser and bloodstock agent Marette Farrell said Schwartzman has always had a global awareness of quality families and had built a broodmare band on par with Central Kentucky's Hinkle Farm, which has bred top horses such as multiple grade 1 winner Divisidero , or Hermitage Farm, which produced elite performers such as C. S. Silk, Justwhistledixie, Mani Bhavan, Northern Afleet, and Siphonic.
His mission reached its apex with the 2019 breeding and foaling season. The farm's stallion roster then included graded stakes winner Cyrus Alexander, a son of Medaglia d'Oro whose first foals of 2018 were being lauded for their exceptional quality; a graded-placed son of A.P. Indy named Timely Advice; group 1 winner and Peruvian champion Kung Fu Mambo; and shuttle stallion The Lieutenant, a grade 3-winning half brother to Triple Crown winner Justify who was standing at Sequel Stallions New York.
The entire dream shattered the night of Dec. 21, 2019, when eight armed intruders came onto the farm, overpowered the night watchman and killed the four stallions for their meat. No arrests were made for the crime, according to Schwartzman, and when he later asked local law enforcement officials for the files from the investigation, he got nothing. A similar incident happened again in late September at a farm near Haras Barlovento where 2004 Gran Premio Latinoamericano Falabella (G1) winner Comando Intimo was killed.
"Here we had built a magnificent operation in Peru and having had this happen, if I were to try to bring another shuttle horse to Peru—if I was the person selling the horse, I would say, 'Thank you, but no thank you,'" Schwartzman said. "I don't think I could bring a shuttle horse to Peru. If I could, at the level of the stallions we had, I wouldn't be able to go to sleep, thinking the phone is going to ring at 5 o'clock in the morning telling me something has happened."
Schwartzman closed Haras Barlovento and sold most of the 40 mares he owned. He intended to abandon his lifelong desire to breed and race top-quality Thoroughbreds, focusing instead on his family's extensive textile and agricultural businesses.
The dream wouldn't let him go, though, and earlier this year he began making plans to attend the Keeneland November Breeding Stock sale.
"If I could have started in Kentucky 30 years ago, I would have, but I wanted to keep running the farm that was the most important farm in Peru," he said. "I don't question why things happen. Maybe you find out many years after. This shifted the winds to Kentucky."
Farrell is helping Schwartzman navigate his breeding and racing venture in the States. Schwartzman was one of her first clients when she went out on her own.
"Boris is extremely knowledgeable about pedigree depth, and his mind works like a computer," said Farrell. "He and his son Manuel are fanatics about breeding and racing; they talk about it incessantly.
"The majority of his mares traced back to the blue hen families we have here," she continued. "I have no doubt he'll apply the same principles of stealthy buys like that and develop them accordingly. He is so excited to get his teeth into it here and by dipping his toe in the water last November, he will get a feel for the hows and whys in this country. He will build on that over the next few years, step by calculated step."
Schwartzman said he could not have accomplished what he has to date without Farrell's expertise and sharp eyes for a horse.
"She does her homework and takes calculated risk and is so honest. She helped me build up what we had in Peru. Now we are going to build something nice in Kentucky, I know that," he said.
Schwartzman is not planning to buy a large farm in Central Kentucky to recreate what he had in Peru. Instead, he is boarding at Ted Kuster and Matt Koch's Shawhan Place near Paris, Ky.
"This is the first year for this new adventure that is probably going to get fairly big in the next few years," he said. "I think we'll do a little bit of everything. We will do some pinhooking because I love that, and we will be big in quality, not in quantity. The sales show you there is no in between like it used to be. If I want to compete, I have to be on the higher end."
Schwartzman did retain 10 of his best mares in Peru that will foal this year on Southern Hemisphere time and then be relocated to Shawhan. He hoped the coronavirus pandemic might create opportunities at the Keeneland November sale to acquire high-quality weanlings and mares. Instead he found the market for the horses he wanted "extremely tough," and he wound up the under bidder on several six-figure horses. Schwartzman did land one mare, the Mr. Greeley daughter Happy Now, who is out of the A.P. Indy stakes-placed winner Meghan's Joy and a half sister to five graded stakes winners. The mare is in foal to Claiborne Farm's grade 1 winner and second-crop sire Mastery.
Racing is an integral part of Schwartzman's plans, too.
"I left Kentucky after the November sale energized," he said. "One day, I want to see my silks running in important races. You want to run in the Kentucky Derby, you want to run in the Breeders' Cup, you want to run in Dubai, you want to run in the Arc d'Triomphe. I believe when you love something and you are passionate, then you find excellence."
Schwartzman also believes success at the races will allow him to settle a debt he feels is owed Becky Thomas at Sequel Stallions.
"Becky is such a classy person. After what happened with The Lieutenant, she was more worried about me and my farm," Schwartzman said. "Now we are back, and I hope to repay her in some way. If tomorrow I had an important horse going to stud and I had a good offer from Kentucky but Becky is interested, then the horse would go to her. The way she supported me in those moments I will never forget."
