Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Lisa Mara Favored in $300,000 Franklin Pace

July 18, 2007

On the whole, Andy Willinger would rather be in Philadelphia. Actually, the Philadelphia suburb of Chester, where his horse, Lis Mara, will likely be the favorite in Sunday’s $300,000 Ben Franklin Pace.

But Willinger won’t be able to attend the race because of a family vacation planned last year.

“I’ll be watching from Hawaii,” Willinger said, frowning. “I’ll be dying because I would rather be here. It’s hard to imagine someone saying they’d rather be in Chester, Pennsylvania, than Hawaii – but I would. My heart will be here, that’s for sure.”

Lis Mara set a track record on July 15 with his 1:49 victory in the Franklin Pace elimination race at Harrah’s Chester. He was the Dan Patch and O’Brien awards winner as 2006 Older Male Pacer of the Year in both the U.S. and Canada after winning 10 of 17 races last year. He is 6-for-9 this season, with a victory in the $285,000 Graduate at the Meadowlands Racetrack in New Jersey and a second-place finish in the $250,000 Classic Series final at Mohawk Racetrack in Ontario.

“He’s a heck of a blessing, that’s all I can say about him,” said Willinger, who owns Lis Mara with the MJG Racing Stables. “It’s been a dream. This is just a great sport, and to have one like this at the top of it is just a dream come true.”

Willinger, from Kentucky, is the CFO for a company that distributes Cummins engines in the Southeast and was one of the original owners of Lis Mara, who was purchased as a yearling for $12,000. The group sold the horse, who has earned $1.5 million to date, to Mike Gulotta’s New Jersey-based MJG Racing Stables in June 2006, but Willinger was invited to stay on board, if he liked.

“We felt like brothers on the phone that first day,” Willinger said, referring to his conversation with Gulotta. “It just felt so good and how we hit it off. We talked horses, we talked life, we talked family; he just seemed like the kind of person you’d want to be in partnership with. I consider Mike and his family and all the partners in MJG as extended family. I’m now an honorary New Jerseyan, in a way. I’ve been adopted.”

The owners are active in charity work and pledge a percentage of Lis Mara’s earnings to the “Food for the Poor” program, which builds houses for the needy in Haiti, and the Standardbred Retirement Foundation, which finds homes for horses after their racing careers. More than nine homes have been built in Haiti thanks to Lis Mara’s efforts.

“I can’t help but say ‘blessing;’ meeting Mike and having them buy into the partnership,” Willinger said. “It’s just one of those things made in heaven. That’s exactly what it is. It’s really been a heck of a ride.”

The Ben Franklin Pace field features a deep and talented lineup, including multiple-stakes winners Artistic Fella, Boulder Creek, Jereme’s Jet, Timesareachanging and Took Hanover, along with former world-record holder Gold Dust Beach. Jereme’s Jet and Boulder Creek also are 2005 Dan Patch Award winners; Jereme’s Jet as the sport’s best 2-year-old male pacer and Boulder Creek as the top older male pacer. Timesareachanging won two legs of the Pacing Triple Crown in 2004 (the Cane Pace and Little Brown Jug) and Artistic Fella won the 2006 Meadowlands Pace.