David and Starlene Justice began their Thoroughbred journey via MyRacehorse microshare ownership
MYRACEHORSE SPARKS BREEDING ENDEAVOR
When Starlene Justice joined MyRacehorse about seven years ago, the Southern California college geography professor never dreamed that it would lead her to owning the Thoroughbred stallion Tizamagician.
But as someone who tells her students to embrace possibilities, she’s tackling the challenge head-on.
“I’m the last person that should be owning a stallion,” the 54-year-old Justice readily admitted. “I can only tell you that I just felt, at every step of this journey, that I was doing the right thing. And who knows? In the end we may come out of this smelling like a rose.”
Justice and her husband, David, were early investors in MyRacehorse, a well-known racing stable that acquires Thoroughbreds and sells micro-shares of less than 1% to fans desiring an “ownership” experience. One of the couple’s first ventures was Tizamagician, a son of 2000 Horse of the Year Tiznow, a two-time Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) winner and one of the greatest California-bred runners of all time. Tiznow enjoyed an outstanding stallion career at WinStar Farm in Kentucky as well before being pensioned in 2020.
For the price of a couple of shares, they had a close-up view of Kentucky-bred Tizamagician, based in California with Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella. The durable Tizamagician won or placed in nine graded stakes over a 25-race career, including a runner-up finish in the $1 million TVG Pacific Classic (G1). He earned $741,851 before his retirement early in 2023.
Now the only active stallion by Tiznow in California, Tizamagician moved to Linda Madsen’s Milky Way Farm near Temecula to begin his stud career later that year. He was nearing completion of his third season this summer when owner John Teglia decided he would sell the 8-year-old Tizamagician as part of a liquidation of his horse stock. Teglia was a fellow MyRacehorse partner who had acquired the dark bay stallion from MyRacehorse and co-owner Spendthrift Farm.
Starlene Justice has developed a bond with Tizamagician, first through MyRacehorse and now at Milky Way Farm
An “obsessive fan of racing” from an early age, Justice had wanted to breed horses early on.
“I know that’s kind of a weird thing for a kid to want to do, but that was my dream,” Justice said.
She began that effort by supporting Tizamagician with a couple of broodmares. The mares included Sacred Beauty, a MyRacehorse alum Justice and her partners had claimed back as a broodmare prospect.
Sacred Beauty is one of Justice’s broodmares
Justice liked the look of Tizamagician babies at Milky Way and wanted more.
Tizamagician’s first foal was delivered in February 2024, a filly out of the winning mare Esfera, by Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Orb. The dam was leased by the Justices’ Vendetta Racing Stable from Teglia. Starlene recently bought her at a sale for $1,500 after breeding her back to Tizamagician.
“John had offers from foreign buyers” on Tizamagician, Justice said. “We were going to lose him. We were building our program around him. I just couldn’t let that happen. I started calling people, emailing, texting.”
She put together a small group and made an offer to Teglia. But it was not enough. Teglia had a better one from a breeder in the central Asian country of Uzbekistan, according to Justice.
“It was literally the 11th hour, and I was going out to the farm thinking this was going to be the last time I would see him,” Justice said. “Linda had already told me we had lost him.
“But then David called me and said MyRacehorse was working on it and it’s not over yet. Sure enough, they raised enough cash to match the other offer and John accepted it.”
Justice, a lifelong resident of Southern California, has been teaching for 15 years, the last nine at Norco College, where she is also co-chair of the geography department. Norco is part of the Riverside Community College District. She and David, who is chief executive officer at a San Bernardino credit union, live in Devore. They have two sons, Ben and Sam.
Besides horses, she enjoys writing and has authored two books, one fiction and one non-fiction. In fact, it was a novel she started writing years ago centered on racing that led her to join MyRacehorse.
“I had put it aside because I didn’t feel I knew enough about it to write that type of book,” she explained. “(MyRacehorse) got me onto the backstretch, into the winner’s circle; I got to meet other owners and connections. Some of the best friends I have in the world are people I’ve met because of MyRacehorse.”
The Justices, the majority holder of a partnership of seven investors, will be standing Tizamagician at Milky Way for $2,500 in 2026. His first foals will be 2-year-olds in 2026, including a pair that belong to the Justices.
“We think the foals speak for themselves,” Justice said. Noting his precocity as a 2-year-old when he ran five times, she added, “He was such a good, hard-trying horse. He’s got a good mind, a good disposition. He was really sound throughout his career, and he has great presence. He sires very correct horses, and they have a little spice to them, too.”
Twelve mares were bred to Tizamagician during that partial initial season. He had 45 covers in 2024 and 39 this year, according to The Jockey Club statistics.
Justice knows this is a risky situation given the number of available broodmares in the state, but she’s prepared while keeping a sense of humor about it.
“I told David this is what I’m spending my money on,” Justice said.
She also spoke of the advice she received from top MyRacehorse executives Joe Moran and Nick Hines.
“I think the one thing they both stressed was not to go in too deep, too fast,” she said. “As you can see, I completely ignored that advice.”
She added that she felt this was an opportunity she needed to take, saying, “Even if it seems a little ill-advised on paper, I think Nick and Joe understood that this was the case with Tizamagician.”