Art Zubrod has been a staple at Brittany Farms since 1983. The Louisville, Kentucky native started in Show horses and soon after switched to the Standardbred scene. As General Manager at Brittany Farms he oversees a yearling operation that annually sits atop the standings in terms of average production. Now 73, Zubrod is still going strong and has seen 22 of the Brittany yearlings sell for an average of $124,045 at the Lexington Selected Sale through October 5. He took the time to discuss Brittany Farms, his journey in the sport and much more. How did you get started in harness racing? I was involved with Show horses. Basically all I've ever done is work with horses. After my draft number was passed up in college I left and already had a little stable going and expanded on that. My mom and I started a stable in 1968 and it is still going. Both of my daughters work for my sister at Zubrod stables outside of Louisville. At the time I wasn't making enough money and I had a friend of mine from the Show horse business who transitioned to harness racing -- and I enjoyed it at Louisville Downs -- so I took a flyer and went to Florida to Ben White Raceway in 1976. I have been doing it ever since. I met my future wife there. Then I ended up working for a couple of Hall of Fame trainers and then we got jobs here in Kentucky.  Everyone knows you now as the farm manager for Brittany Farms since the early 1980s. How did you hook up with George Segal and Brittany Farms? My wife had a job at Kentuckiana and I was working at Spendthrift Thoroughbred Training Center -- I was a foreman there. Tom Crouch offered me a job two or three times and finally he made it sweet enough that I took it. I was there and George [Segal] was a client, so I got to know him a little bit, and Carter Duer was the manager. I could see that I wasn't going any further. I guess I was the assistant manager or a foreman. Dr. Kenny Seeber offered me a really good position with Lana Lobell at the yearling farm and I wasn't crazy about being in Pennsylvania. The horse business just isn't the same as it is in Lexington. I was standing in line to buy a lottery ticket on Friday afternoon after we put the paychecks in the bank and Ray Magee came up to me and asked if I heard that George Segal was looking for a farm manager. I turned around, got out of line and joked that I hit the lottery that day.  What is it like working for Mr. Segal? It is the best thing in the world. That is why I'm still doing it. I think a lot of places I would have retired several years ago. It is great for both of us. It has been a very good relationship. I never really wanted my own farm unless I could afford everything on there, and that was never going to happen. Working for George, and to me with the best the breed has to offer, that was always a very important thing to me. It wasn't about the money or glory, I just like working with the good horses and I've been blessed to be able to do that my whole life since I was a teenager.  A half-dozen years ago Brittany sold two-thirds of its farm and over the last decade has drastically reduced its broodmare band. Do you find the revamped operation to be more profitable? Absolutely. Right now our yearlings consignment -- we have 26 yearlings -- is the deepest consignment I've ever had. We have 26 very nice horses that I'm convinced are definitely stakes-material type horses. When we had 100 yearlings I didn't have that many stakes horses. That is one thing George and I always disagreed on. He was paying the bills but I thought 60 was the perfect number of broodmares for any operation. I don't know how you can give them maximum effort with more than 60. We are down to about 35-37 right now. We will keep shrinking. There is nobody in George's family that wants to take this over. We are dwindling down to where we can make it manageable for everybody.  George has mentioned to me and you just brought it up, that when he is gone Brittany is gone. That will be a sad day for the sport, no? Absolutely but it is nice to go out on top. We've made a lot of mistakes but we haven't made any mistakes that have killed us. A lot of people hang their hat on a certain stallion and it kills them. We've had some stallions that didn't help us along the way but it never got so bad that it killed us.  Brittany is on a run of four straight years leading the sport in average earnings per starter. How proud are you of that fact? Honestly, that goes back for years. I started those calculations about 25 years ago. At that time it was Perretti and us. We'd lead for two years and they'd lead for a year. I'm very proud of it and everything we've done. We have a great crew. We are understaffed but the people who are here have been around for 20 years or more; some of them 35 years right behind Leah [Cheverie, wife] and myself.  Brittany has bred countless millionaires. Can you give me one that you knew as a yearling would be a star and one that surprised you by becoming one? One of the first ones was actually the biggest surprise, Lotta Soul (1992-1998, $1,052,015). He was just a little scrawny horse but he had a great attitude and he knocked out a million dollars. It was shocking. I had a lot of horses I thought had potential and almost every year I can pick one out that I think will get there. I guess I'd have to say Artsplace (1990-1992, $3,085,083). He was such an imposing animal from the day he was born. He was really different than any other horse I had raced. He was very aloof but certainly the leader of his group. He didn't lead by beating the crap out of the others like a lot of leaders do. When he walked in the shed the others would make a hole for him and he would walk back out. He never had a friend in his whole life. He never really played with other horses or anything. He was very regal from the time he was born.  Brittany Farms not only sells yearling but also races horses. How does the separation work between the two arms of the business? For years and still somewhat, it discounted our yearlings. I don't think people every realized that we do not keep colts, or at least it is rare for us to keep one. If we do keep a colt it is because it is because it is the fourth colt out of a mare with different pedigree and we'd be struggling to get $40,000 out of him at the sale. We've been pretty successful with some of those horses. I think this year we are keeping three fillies, a pacing filly and two trotting fillies. We are not planning on going out of the business next year but it is ramped down, and I think now people are accepting that not only do we keep world champions but we also sell them. What kind of car do you drive? Lexus RX 300. I've driven a Lexus since 1998.  Favorite dinner meal? Snack? Lobster roll from Prince Edward Island. [expletive] I snack all day long. That's my downfall. I don't eat much anymore at the meals but I snack all day. I would say Fritos, and I haven't had one in probably two years because I have to avoid them. Once I start I can't stop. I'm a chip guy.  What is your favorite track to visit? Why? Red Mile. There is no second or third place in my opinion. It means so much to me to see how the track was saved, what we've done with our program here and the Sire Stakes championships.  What is your favorite big event in racing? Why? I love Hambletonian Day and Breeders Crown day. The issues with the Breeders Crown is that so many are marred by bad weather. You can't have that as your favorite day if you are freezing your ass off or your feet are soaked from standing out in the rain. So, I'll go with the Hambletonian.  How often are horses or racing on your mind? Horses are on my mind 24/7 basically. That is what our hobby is. My daughter has trained Show horses and my grandkids are involved. We travel to the horse shows. What I find odd is that we have hardly any pictures of horses in our house; maybe two. I have no memorabilia at all. For me it is about the horse.  What is your favorite thing to do outside of the sport? I have a lake house and a boat. Getting the family together there is at the top of my list. I used to love traveling but it has gotten to be such a chore. I still travel and enjoy it but it has become something I dread for a few weeks beforehand. I also like college basketball. What is your favorite sport to watch? Team? College Basketball. I don't watch near as much sports as I used to. Louisville Cardinals are my favorite but it has been tough on me the last few years. My parents went there and I've always been a fan. What is one thing about you most fans/bettors don't know? I'm not as big an asshole as most people think [laughing]. What is one word that describes harness racing for you? Good. Harness racing is good right now. You can have a 2- and 3-year-old that is just a pretty good horse, not even top 10, and in this day and age you can make $300,000 to $400,000 and then have a horse that is worth something on the resale. To me that is great. We've never had something like that before. What was your best moment in harness racing? The night that Artsplace won at Pompano was very, very special. Life Sign's [win] at the Jug was special. I didn't see any way for him to win that race and at the last second he did. You run Brittany Farms along with your wife Leah Cheverie. How vital is she to the operation? We wouldn't be able to do it without her. She keeps us all straight and that includes George. He used to call her the conscious of Brittany Farms. She wants everything done by the book and she treats everyone with respect. That's one thing that has been good about Brittany Farms. We've always been able to have a family atmosphere. George has been very good to the employees.  If I know little of conformation, what's the one piece of advice you could give me when examining a yearling? For me the most important thing is that when I look a horse in the eye I want them to look back at me. So many horses will curl, meaning they'll shy away from you when you look them in the eye, but champions don't. Some people don't want a horse that is back in the knee. I hate back in the knee. That is when their legs don't go straight up and down and with one or both legs the knee is closer to the hock then it should be. I sold Miss Flirt for $80,000 as a yearling and she was back in the knee more than any horse I ever sold and she had a line of champions. One of her daughters is one of the only mares still today that produced two Breeders Crown champions. Conformation is not the most important thing. There are certainly some fatal flaws, but I've never had a horse that looked me back in the eye who had a fatal flaw.  It seems most people have a regular spot they stay while the sale is going on. Where is yours? Right inside the back ring. I pretty much go up with every horse so I can constantly see if something is going on. Sometimes I bid spot, not just for my horses but for other people. I see some people jumping up and down raising their arms and not get recognized, so I try to help out. If you had the power to change one thing in the sport, what would it be? For every track to be like The Meadowlands or The Red Mile. I am not a fan of racing on anything other than a mile. I don't even like seven-eighths tracks. I know that is not realistic. People enjoy half-mile tracks and I grew up on a half-mile track. The fairest two tracks that I know are Red Mile and The Meadowlands. I used to love DeQuoin, Springfield I was never sure about because they went so damn fast and I could never figure that out. How do you view the future of harness racing? Much better now than I thought five years ago. Five years ago I thought we were going down a path where in two decades we would be a boutique sport. I see a lot of strength in a lot of areas, from county fairs in Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio to the Sire Stakes, New Jersey is making a comeback, which is a big deal. The Kentucky program is just insane. Certainly in the coming years there will be substantial growth here. Time for the stretch drive... Best Horse you ever saw: I have to give you two. Niatross and Somebeachsomewhere. They were both basically unbeatable. Where do you rank Bulldog Hanover? He is very, very exciting. He was a good horse as a 2- and 3-year-old and this year he is something special. I couldn't count him as the best horse I've ever seen because right now he's only the best 4-year-old I've ever seen. Best Driver Ever: I'm not going to give you the best ever, I'm going to give you my favorite: Lew Williams. I made so much money with that guy in just those few short years. I met him at Ben White, he had a stable there. He was the nicest man, unfortunately he had some demons that he couldn't overcome. He was the first guy that I saw, I'm sure there were more, but he could have a horse leave so fast and the second they crossed over to take the lead they just dropped their head and were relaxed. He won so many races by getting to the front and stealing the next two quarters. He could make a horse go faster than anyone I've ever seen.  Best Trainer Ever: Gene Riegle. From selecting yearlings to having champion 2-year-olds to bringing them back for their 3-year-old season. He did it all. Lasix -- Yes or No?: I think due to the climate in this country, no. It is a therapeutic. Horses race on it. That was the downfall of Wolfgang. He went into the Hambletonian as the morning-line favorite and wasn't worth a shit after he got off Lasix. Favorite TV Show?: The Wire. My wife and I are really into British Detective series.  Trotters or Pacers?: Trotters.