Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Odds On Racing's

Personality of the Month
for December 2010

Frank Bellino

Owner Frank Bellino has owned a lot of racehorses in his day, but none as special as Rock N Roll Heaven p, 3, 1:47.3M ($2,748,818).

Rock N Roll Heaven has been
Frank Bellino's best horse ever.

"My son saw him on the Internet and liked him," said Bellino, who owns horses with his two sons. "I called trainer Bruce Saunders about him and said ‘My son showed me a horse on the Internet; I really liked him, I'm interested in buying him.'"

Before Saunders could even act on it, he got a phone call.

"An hour later, the guy who owned him called Bruce and said he was for sale," Bellino said. "Bruce went out there, sat behind him, called me back and said ‘Frank, this is a special horse.' I said ‘Buy him.'

"I was sitting with my sons and they thought I was crazy because the horse hadn't done anything yet. It's pretty unbelievable the way it all happened."

Now that the ride is over, Bellino can rest on his laurels, knowing that he owns the most impressive horse in his 19-year career as an owner.

"No comparison," he said. "I was looking for a really good 2-year-old, and this is a once-in-a-lifetime horse for me. This has been a dream of mine and for my family. As things go up and down in life you can have things go bad, but that minute and 50 seconds (racing) can be one of the greatest times of your life."

And that's coming from a guy who has had a pretty great life. Bellino founded his successful construction firm, Bellex Excavating, in the 1950s, and also owns Frank Bellino Real Estate, a commercial realtor, and has a 550-acre farm in Florida where he and his sons retire horses.

Growing up in Yonkers, Bellino couldn't help but be exposed to racing at Yonkers Raceway. He caught the bug at an early age and got into the business in 1982.

"I always wanted to be a part of it," he said. "When I was able to do it financially, we started out with claimers and have been in it ever since. We always wanted to get bigger in the business but there just wasn't the right situation. When we got with Bruce, we hit a couple and Bruce really changed things for us."

The Bellinos have had several successful horses over the years, including Southwestern Dream, a million-dollar winner in Psilvuheartbreaker, and Whispers Spy.

"Whispers Spy was really the horse that started it all for us," Bellino said. "We bought him like, eight years ago. He was a high level conditioned horse, we sent him to a claimer and we lost him. But that's what kicked it off for us. We bought Psilvuheartbreaker and that was a horse that really built the business for us."

But they all take a backseat to Rock N Roll Heaven, who won his Meadowlands Pace elim, the Breeders Crown, the Battle of Brandywine, the Little Brown Jug, the Bluegrass, the Tattersalls, the Messenger, the Matron, etc.

Throughout Rock N Roll Heaven’s career, Bellino had the utmost confidence in his trainer, Bruce Saunders.

"I believed in Bruce and in the horse," he said. "Bruce is honest. When Bruce tells you a horse is right and ready, you know he is."