NEWS
David Ingordo
Posted: Thursday, June 24, 2010 12:08 PM
DAVID INGORDO
PhotosByZ.com
Ingordo Bloodstock Services, Juddmonte Farms
At the age of 29, David Ingordo made the acquisition of a lifetime. Bidding on behalf of Jerry and Ann Moss at the 2005 Keeneland September yearling sale, he signed a $60,000 ticket for a filly who would blossom into two-time champion older female Zenyatta.
Four years later, Ingordo shared a jubilant moment at Santa Anita Park with the Mosses, his mother, Dottie Ingordo-Shirreffs, and his stepfather, John Shirreffs, all with direct ties to Zenyatta’s triumph in the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1). Ingordo missed much of the celebration, choosing instead to return to Kentucky on a red-eye flight so he could resume his preparations the next day for the Keeneland November breeding stock sale.
Ingordo, who started working at the racetrack at age 14 for Racing Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel, took to heart what he considers the best advice he has ever received.
“All the old-timers have always told me that the horse business is a game that is perfected in the early mornings,” he said. “They told me if I can get up early and be at work, I’d have most of the competition beat because we’ll be ahead of them.”
Success has come early and often for Ingordo, who decided to pursue a career in the Thoroughbred industry after watching Sunday Silence win the 1989 Kentucky Derby (G1). Ingordo’s late father, Jerry, was the agent for Sunday Silence’s jockey, Pat Valenzuela.
His mother, Dottie, served as Frankel’s business manager, and she has been the Mosses’ racing manager since 1984. In 2000, David Ingordo recommended John Shirreffs as a candidate to train for the Mosses. Shirreffs got the job.
Date of birth: May 15, 1976
Birthplace: Arcadia, California
Residence: Lexington
Company: Ingordo Bloodstock Services, Juddmonte Farms stallions and racing division
Education: Bachelor of Science, University of Kentucky College of Agriculture
Family: Single
Career: Worked for Racing Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel starting at age 14 and pinhooked his first two-year-old at age 15 with Jeanne and Brian Mayberry; spent five years at Walmac Farm in Lexington before starting his current position in the Juddmonte Farms stallions and racing division
Favorite horse: Zenyatta
What book are you currently reading? The Grand Senor, by Joe Hirsch, and War As I Knew It, by Gen. George S. Patton
What’s on your iPod? Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, The Police, Breaking Benjamin
Personal motto: “Opportunity does not ask for you. You have to ask for it.”
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