A new vision for David Moore

Late one night in 2002 at the Keeneland horse auction outside Lexington, Kentucky, David Moore laid eyes on a young thoroughbred that no one wanted.

Late one night in 2002 at the Keeneland horse auction outside Lexington, Kentucky, David Moore laid eyes on a young thoroughbred that no one wanted. The horse was strong, with good bloodlines, but blind in his right eye. Moore, a former star analyst and equities chief for investment bank Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, who happens to have no sight in his left eye, snapped up the colt for $70,000, a fraction of the $500,000 to $600,000 that a healthy horse of its caliber would ordinarily fetch. He named the animal Pollard’s Vision, after Red Pollard, the jockey who rode underdog-turned-champion Seabiscuit -- and who was blind in one eye.

“There was a significant emotional attachment for me,” recalls Moore, who left DLJ’s successor firm, Credit Suisse First Boston, in 2001.

As it happens, Moore hasn’t lost his talent for spotting value. Pollard’s Vision, one of ten thoroughbreds racing for Moore’s two-year-old Edgewood Farm stable, lost his first race, in June 2003 at Belmont Park, by 22 lengths and threw his jockey at the finish line. But just when Moore and renowned trainer Todd Pletcher had begun to think the worst, Pollard’s Vision started to win. A lot. Soon he’d earned enough money, including victories at Florida’s Gulfstream Park in February and the Illinois Derby in April, to qualify for the sport’s Super Bowl: the Kentucky Derby. At Churchill Downs on May 1, he was in second place after one mile but faded over the last quarter mile to finish 17th.

Moore knew it was a reach, at best, for the roses, but enjoyed the thrill of being in the race. Since then Pollard’s Vision has won four of six races, including the October 29 Lone Star Derby in Texas. All told, the horse has returned more than $1 million in winnings on Moore’s initial $70,000 investment.

“This horse has a heart of gold,” says Moore, who fell in love with racing at age six, when his grandfather took him to watch the thoroughbreds at Delaware Park, in Wilmington. These days Edgewood Farm is keeping Moore busy and happy enough that he’s not considering a return to the Street anytime soon.

“To my astonishment, there are more incredibly smart, energetic, driven people in horse racing than on Wall Street,” he says. “I’m having a lot of fun.”

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