From DMTC Publicity
DEL MAR, Calif. (Nov. 29, 2018) — A pair of high-profile horse owners who have raced some of the nation’s top Thoroughbreds in recent years, as well as having long established themselves as notable leaders in their respective fields, have agreed to join the board of directors of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, it has been announced.
California farming magnate Kosta Hronis and radio and television star Jim Rome became the latest members of the Southern California track’s guiding council this past week bringing to 11 the number of board members who supervise the business of running one of the nation’s most popular racetracks.
Hronis, 59, oversees a massive (6,000 acres) fruit farm in the fertile San Joaquin Valley, specializing in the growing, packing and shipping of table grapes and navel oranges. He has been an avid racing fan since his youth and a horse owner for the past decade. Among his stable’s current stars is the $5.7-million earner and Horse of the Year candidate Accelerate.
Rome, 54, is one of the most well-known and successful sports broadcasters of all time, having garnered major market shares and shelves full of awards for his work on ESPN and CBS, doing both radio and television. He came to horse racing later in his career, but since has preached its gospel passionately to a nation-wide audience. His top runner was the multiple-stakes winner and Eclipse Award champion Shared Belief.
“We hit not one, but two, home runs when we got these fine gentlemen to join us at Del Mar,” said DMTC chief executive officer and director Joe Harper. “Kosta and Jim come from different worlds, but they share a mutual love of our game and a desire to see it flourish. We could not be more pleased to add a pair of sharp minds like theirs to our leadership ranks.”
Hronis says he became “a racetracker at age 5,” thanks to family trips from their farm in Delano to their grandparents’ home in Arcadia, where Santa Anita Park is located and the Hronis’ clan would gather. In 2010, Kosta and brother Pete took the step and became horse owners, following advice from the man they’d been recommended to – veteran trainer John Sadler. Slowly but surely, the Hronis/Sadler connection began to pick up steam. Their first big hit came in 2012 with Lady of Shamrock, who went on to earn more than $950,000 and subsequently sold as a broodmare for $2.8 million. Then came million dollar winner Iotapa and $1.2-million star Hard Aces. Next was champion Stellar Wind, winner of six Grade Is and more than $2.9 million. She, too, was sold as a broodmare, this time for $6 million.