Steins aim high with
La Leyenda

Alberto and Renata Stein have turned breeding and racing Thoroughbred horses from a hobby into a way of life, and the couple is creating a new way of doing business in Argentina’s racing industry with their newly formed La Leyenda.

Thoroughbred Daily News
www.thoroughbreddailynews.com

Jessica Martini

Alberto and Renata Stein have turned breeding and racing Thoroughbred horses from a hobby into a way of life, and the couple is creating a new way of doing
business in Argentina’s racing industry with their newly formed La Leyenda.
“Alberto started going to the races on the weekends when he was 18 years old,” explained Renata. “When he was 26, he bought his first filly. Since then, we have had five horses a year on the racetrack.”
Alberto was CEO and owner of a steel manufacturing company with facilities in Argentina, Europe and the U.S., while Renata worked as an architect and as a
professor at the Architecture University of Buenos Aires.

“In November 2006, Alberto sold his main business and we decided to start working on something we really loved, but that had been a hobby until then,” Renata recalled.
The couple already owned a dairy farm near the town of San Antonio de Areco and, when they decided to invest in land for Thoroughbred breeding, they started their search there. In April 2007, the Steins purchased 622 acres of land that had previously been part of Haras La Florida.
Explaining the appeal of the property, Renata said, “It has rolling hills, something very rare in the Argentine pampas; it is one mile from town, has magnificent views and is in the middle of the Thoroughbred cluster of San Antonio de Areco.”
After purchasing the land that would become La Leyenda, the Steins set off on a recognizance mission to the Bluegrass of Kentucky.
“We went to Kentucky and we took the TOBA course for breeders and spent an extra week visiting the best Thoroughbred farms in Lexington,” Renata said. “This gave us the opportunity to understand how the industry works in the U.S., with its best practices and standards.”
The Steins returned to Argentina and created a business plan that they hope will blend the best of both hemispheres.
“La Leyenda is a new business model, and our goal is to combine the best Northern Hemisphere bloodlines and best equine management in the world with Argentina’s centuries-old tradition of horsemanship and of raising some of the best horses in the world.
“We will have a stallion center, shuttling proven stallions that are climbing upwards in their performance in the U.S. and, at the same time, we have created a new
’Breed to Race’ business model,” Renata continued.
“The model consists of a venture with Northern Hemisphere owners who will contribute selected mares for a period of seven years. Once the mare reaches Argentina, the owner shares in the collective ownership of the offspring and still owns the mare at the end of the venture, hopefully with her value enhanced by the performance of her Argentine-born foals.”
In order to bring the project to fruition, the Steins recruited long-time Three Chimneys farm manager Dan Rosenberg to act as director and North American representative for La Leyenda. Ricardo Correas, whose family has been involved with Thoroughbred breeding in Argentina for over 100 years, is the stud’s general manager.
“We wanted to have a world-class operation, with the best management and facilities,” Renata explained. “That is why we have Dan Rosenberg in the U.S. and Ricardo Correas in Argentina as part of our team.”

Writers Up cont.
According to Renata, racing in Argentina has mostly been the province of the rich. But La Leyenda will open up the sport to a new section of the population.
“Our model also enables Argentina’s business class of professionals to become involved in the industry previously limited to only Argentina’s ultra-wealthy,” she said.
“Most of the farms in Argentina breed to sell, and other farms are populated only with the horses that belong to that farm’s wealthy owner. Our plan is to widen both the circle of people and the bloodlines available for Argentine racing.”
Renata said that North American interests have been enthusiastic in their response.
“We have received a very positive response from stallion owners and believe we will assemble a stallion roster second to none in Argentina,” Renata said. “Response from mare owners has been very strong as well. Most of these people have experience in Argentina and love the country, its people, the quality of its horses and the level of horsemanship.”
She also thinks the uncertain economic climate could encourage more owners to send their mares to La Leyenda.
“The current economy and market conditions lend itself to this venture,” she asserted. “People like the idea of having zero obligation for capital over a sevenyear period, while they still own the mare, continue to enjoy the thrill of racing and have the possibility of
coming up with the ’big horse. ’”
La Leyenda began its broodmare band with the acquisition of five mares out of the Keeneland November sale. The stud purchased Key West Cammy (Street Cry
{Ire}), Cinderella’s Charm (Unbridled=s Song), Candance in Aspen (Woodman), Summer Scent (Kingmambo) and Perfect Timing (Deputy Minister).
“We look for precocity and speed in the mares for the syndicate,” Renata explained. “The Argentinian blood has a lot of soundness and stamina. It has been proven that a well-balanced combination of both bloodlines can create superior racing horses, like Asiatic Boy, Invasor and Bayakoa.”
The new project is already generating speculation in Argentina, according to Renata.
“So far, we have been doing instead of talking, so there is a great curiosity and interest in learning more about us,” Renata said. “Then, when we hired Ricardo Correas, who is one of the most prominent horseman in the country, the curiosity increased. People are very interested because this is something really different.”
Renata and Alberto are hoping to attract new people to racing in Argentina through a combination of education and high-class facilities.
“We want to be able to communicate the excitement of racing and the passion of breeding,” said Renata.

“We plan to follow the model of Cot Campbell’s Dogwood Stable, which has been very successful in attracting new people to horse racing in the United States. We are building special guest facilities for our Argentine partners and investors when they visit, as well as our North American and European mare owners. We will provide special concierge services to our partners to make sure their investment is not just good business, but also enjoyable. That is a high priority for us.”

Construction at La Leyenda is well underway. “We have finished our first stage of construction,” Renata confirmed. “The roads, the underground hardware, the paddocks with Centaur flex-rail fencing imported from the U.S., the waterers, the stallion barn with capacity for six stallions, the office facilities and some of the worker’s housing and the social area are completed. The breeding shed, the light barn, the foaling barns, veterinary and more workers housing are still under construction.”

La Leyenda is also close to announcing its first stallion acquisition.
“We are very close to being able to make the announcement of our first stallion, and we are extremely excited about him,” Renata said. “He is a horse that the entire Argentine breeding industry has been interested in. And we are negotiating for several other outstanding stallions. We have been very pleased with how stallion owners have received our idea and our business plan.
We are very excited about 2009.”

-Jessica Martini