Greg Luther isn’t your typical owner who pays the bills and makes an occasional decision. Luther is very much hands-on with his gigantic stable that includes stallions, broodmares, yearlings and racehorses numbering close to 200. He’s also been a trainer and driver, sporting just under 100 wins as a conditioner and double-digits in the bike. Luther is a bit of a rarity not only as an owner but in his zest for success as well as his blunt answers. We covered everything from how his journey began to his $16+ million dollar investment to his losses to his exit plan from the sport he loves. So sit back, relax, grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the 287th edition of the "On The Backstretch" Q&A. How did you get started in harness racing? My grandfather got me involved when I was 12 years old. He was going out in the evening to feed one night and he took me along. I was hooked immediately. Were your parents involved or just your grandfather? Just my grandfather. He worked for Gene Riegle for about 30 years. You don’t work in the sport for a living, but was something in harness racing always going to be your path? I was a bad kid when I was in school and harness racing sort of cleaned me up, got me off the streets and on the racetrack. I found a better path that way. It allowed me to compete; I’ve always been highly competitive. It helped me realize that the harder work and more work I put in, the better the results were. I think I’m different than a lot of owners. I’m in the paddock, adjusting the equipment and watching them warm up. I’ve always considered myself a horseman first and an owner second. Even when we are in the big races at The Meadowlands, I’d rather be in the paddock than in the grandstand. While everyone knows you as a prominent owner over the last five years, do you think people realize you’ve been involved as a driver and trainer going back 30 years? I’m not sure. I’ve actually been involved for 35 years because I was a groom for a long time. I never made the headlines when I was just a driver and a trainer at Lebanon Raceway, so getting into some of the bigger horses has put me into the headlines and people have taken more notice. You don’t get listed as trainer anymore but you are sitting at 99 career wins. Are you eager to get to 100? I didn’t realize that. Maybe I need to put myself down on one next week [laughing]. I’ve got about six trainers that work for us in various cities and states, but my brother [Todd Luther] has been my primary trainer recently. In 2020 you made a mark by saying you would invest one million dollars into buying horses. Four-plus years later, how much have you invested? It is definitely over $16 million at this point and that is just on the horses themselves. I actually just bought a farm in Lexington [Kentucky} and we are doing a big breeding operation down there with all of my broodmares. It’s been quite the investment. Once you get the bug and you get into that higher-end horse, you are always looking for the next big one. How many broodmares do you have now? 47. Has it been profitable, or like many companies are you still waiting for all of your breeding and other investments to reach a positive R.O.I.? It has absolutely been nowhere near profitable. I think it is profitable on the emotional, fun and entertainment side but certainly not financially. Nowhere near half has come back financially but it is a passion I have and it is facilitating an awful lot of jobs for family and friends, so I truly enjoy doing it. Of course we dream that one day it will be break even or profitable but that it really not my goal here. I am a hobby owner. This is just for something to do. Profit runs second fiddle to having a good time. You mentioned your brother Todd trains the majority of your stable. What is your relationship like? It depends on what day it is. He is royally bred. I always says he’s a half-brother to a champion [laughing]. It is like working with family at any time. It is incredibly difficult, but in this industry that is the case and you usually work with family. It does make it twice as sweet when you win; the celebration is extra special. The highs are really high and the lows are really low. ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter There is something to be said for having someone you trust train most of your horses, no? Absolutely. The difference with me and the reason I don’t do partners and that type of thing is because I’m an active owner. I want to call the shots. If I want a horse jogged longer or trained differently, I can do that with family and we kind of understand that is what we are doing as a whole, rather than me just being the crazy owner that wants to boss everyone around. Frankly, if I couldn’t [be directly involved] I wouldn’t be in the industry. I want to be a horseman at heart and not just an owner. What is your favorite track to visit? Why? Greenville, the great Darke County fair. That is where my grandfather kind of got me started with the horses and he was a caretaker there for years. We raced a ton of horses there at the county fair. I get more excited winning an $800 race there than a $200,000 race somewhere. There is just nostalgia for me. It is by far my favorite track and my favorite week of the year. This year we actually won 10 races in one day in Greenville. They had an afternoon and evening card. I think we raced 22 horses in 18 races. Did you drive any of those winners? I drove three and I won two of them, so I had a good driving percentage this year. As soon as I got the big horse [Amazing Catch] over at Harrisburg this year for $1.8 million, I texted my brother and said ‘man, Greenville is going to be crazy when I race this horse there next year.’ [laughing]. Racing there is like the Breeders Crown for me because it is such an amazing track with amazing horsemen. There is a lot of second, third and fourth-generation horsemen there who have been there forever. If Charlie May can go to Greenville and win, why not Amazing Catch? I think Ake [Svanstedt] has him pointed towards the really big races but we’ll see how it goes. What is your favorite big event in racing? Why? Definitely the Little Brown Jug. I’m an Ohio guy, so my ultimate dream is to win the Little Brown Jug. That is what I’m consistently pushing for. I’ve realized a lot of the really best horses never even come up for public auction. When you see a homebred win the Little Brown Jug, that means I could’ve spent a billion dollars and bought every horse that sold that year and I still wouldn’t have won the Jug that year. That is why I started getting into homebreds and trying to upgrade my stock as best I can. What is your favorite thing to do outside of harness racing? I’m a sales and marketing coach, mostly for real estate agents, and I truly enjoy watching them succeed. So partnering with them and helping their businesses succeed is really my favorite thing to do outside of the racing. What is one thing about you most fans/bettors don’t know? See answer as part of later question. What is one word that describes harness racing for you? Dominant. What is the best advice you’ve ever gotten or given about harness racing? On the betting side, which frankly when you own a horse you are kind of gambling anyway, it is better to bet a horse that is moving up in class than one who is moving down in class. What was your best moment in harness racing? It still hasn’t happened yet. That is the ever-present goal that we all need to keep pushing forward. How many horses do you currently own? As of this morning 175. Well, actually 174.5 because I own a half of one. Could that number change by tonight? Yeah. There are a bunch of really good horses that are selling today so there is a good chance I’ll spend over a million dollars this afternoon. [EDITOR’S NOTE: Luther spent $606,000 on two horses that afternoon in the Preferred Equine Online sale.] Part of your collection of horses includes stallion Catch The Fire. How happy were you with his first crop of 2-year-olds this year? I was very happy with him because his first crop was a very small test crop with 50 foals. Frankly speaking, he had a really cheap stud fee at that time so he got really average mares. So he over-performed. I’m incredibly excited for this year because we have a full crop and much better mares. I’m very impressed with what he is doing here as well as in Australia. I think the big sleeper in the state of Ohio is another one I own Captain Kirk. I’m breeding some of my very best to him and buying broodmares for like $200,000 that I’m breeding to him. I really think he is going to be outstanding. His first foals are expected in February. You recently purchased Amazing Catch at the Harrisburg sale for $1.8 million with the intent of racing him for one year and then going to stud duty in Ohio. Was there any hesitation about taking that shot? Not at all. He was the horse I definitely wanted to come home with and I had everything worked out in advance with Ake to make sure we weren’t changing trainers or drivers. My goal was to get him for under $2 million and I figured he’d go somewhere between $1.5 and $2 million. I think a lot of people knew I was planning to buy because I had breeding farms and other people calling me. You recently announced a limited syndication of Amazing Catch where people can own a part of him as a racehorse and stallion. How has that been received? It has actually been received well on both ends of the spectrum. Some people just want to race and they are planning to enjoy that ride before selling their shares perhaps at a premium after next year. I think his price will go up after he wins a few big races. We’ve also had a bunch of breeders that think it could be fun to be involved while he is racing and then they get to breed. I tried to limit the number of shares we would sell up front to 30 because I wanted to save some for next year when they might go at a premium, and we’ve had far more requests than that. I’m going through the people to see who is a good fit and if needed I’m opening spots up for them. I think it is going to be a fun year….and make for some huge winner’s circles. Where do you see your horse operation in 5 to 10 years? It depends on whether I win the Jug or not. Going back to the question on what people don’t know about me, the day after I win the Little Brown Jug I’m done; everything is for sale. That’s kind of the goal. I keep saying that and then I keep spending millions of dollars. I think it has always been in my blood to be in the big races but once I win the Jug I think I’ll cut way, way back; just keep our people employed and that kind of thing without pushing and pushing like I’ve been doing. In five to 10 years I’m guessing I’ll have 300 to 400 horses or something like that while still pushing forward with top grading, but if I win the Jug we’ll go the other way. Maybe if you win the Jug you’ll decide you want to win the Hambletonian next? That’s the way it always happens, you want it once until you get it and then you want it again. If you had the power to change one thing in the sport, what would it be? There are so many things I would change. The marketing of the business. They don’t understand what that means. I’m a marketing guy myself. I could get 800 people to the track on a Wednesday but I guarantee they’re not coming back. So until they understand the marketing side of the business is not giving away TVs or a $20,000 Pick 5. Until they understand the industry is not going to make it and it is in a bad position. But to get someone who understands that marketing it is very expensive. They don’t understand the social side or the overall marketing of the business. That is what is really crushing us right now. It is not that the internet is here and that there are so many other options available. The Cincinnati Bengals get 30,000 people to watch them and there is no gambling; and they pay $100 a person to get in. It has nothing to do with other distractions, it is just that it isn’t promoted or presented the right way. Is it possible for harness racing to make these changes? Oh yeah. It is going to cost money but it can be done...I don’t think they want the change that needs to happen but we need to market to a much higher-level person rather than the guy screaming that the races are fixed because he lost $2 to show. We have to get better quality people there. I love Scioto Downs but it is not a place that a guy like me would take a date. I can’t even get a $100 bottle of wine there. However, the steak houses are sold out weeks in advance to spend $500. The dinner and entertainment needs to be there and it needs to be marketed the right way to the right people to make it profitable. Is there a number it would cost the industry to get there? Is it $5 million, $500 million? I could definitely figure it out…the best thing to do is to take someone who has never seen harness racing, take them to the races and watch how confused they are. Like if I go to the casino I’ll play Blackjack all day but when we are playing that Chinese Pai Gow, I don’t even know what that is and you are not going to get me to put my money down. That’s part of the problem with the wagering side as well, let alone the overall presentation. How do you view the future of harness racing? Right now, let’s face it, we’re on welfare and getting subsidized money, so it really is going to come down to people realizing that they are going to have to invest on the marketing side to completely revamp what we are doing. If that happens, not only will it survive but it will thrive. We can be self-sustaining, we can succeed, but it is going to take some really big guys who understand this business and understand marketing to make it happen. But I don’t see it doing well after five or six years if we just allow the insidious erosion that we’ve had here. What does a day in the life of Greg Luther look like? I work from home so I’m generally on video meetings all day long, whether it be with my high-end clients or whatever the case. I had a lady that worked in the barn for us as a groom for four years and hired her as my personal assistant on the racehorse side. Her name is Theresa Brown. She kind of handles the registration changes, staking, purchases, sales, wiring of funds, breeding contracts and all of the things we have to do because that is a full-time job in itself. That allows me to focus on my sales and marketing side. I’m generally working from seven in the morning until nine at night, keeping the hustle going. My expenses with the racehorses are over $700,000 a month right now, so you have to make a lot of money to keep that going. I keep my primary business strong so it is profiting and I can pay all the bills and also have the additional revenue available to invest in these quality horses. Time for the stretch drive… Best Horse you ever saw: From mine, Captain Kirk. He never got to perform at the highest level but I do think he is the best horse I ever saw for overall potential and heart. Aside of the ones I own, I would probably say Artsplace. Favorite TV Show: Yellowstone. On the business side it is The Profit and Shark Tank, but Yellowstone is good for a little getaway and it ties us into the horses as well. Trotters or Pacers: Pacers for me. My grandpa would kill me if he ever heard me say that. He was a trotting man for years and passed away 20 years ago. When I was 13 years old I was standing at the rail at the Delaware County Fair and my grandpa said to me, ‘if you ever get one in this race [Little Brown Jug], you’ve made it in life.’ I think that is really what has pushed me to win the Jug.