SDA Holding his horses

[Key Guy]

From the Boston Globe online

http://www.boston.com/sports/other_sports/horse_racing/articles/2009/07/07/holding_his_horses/

Quote:

Here’s a sure bet. No horse trained by Giuseppe Iadisernia ever will win the Kentucky Derby.

Iadisernia has the highest winning percentage of any trainer at Suffolk Downs with more than 12 starts this season, but he never races on Saturdays, the day the Derby and most high-stakes races are held.

He’s a Seventh-day Adventist, a religion that observes the Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.

That makes him the Sandy Koufax of horse racing.

“If you gave me $5 million to run, I wouldn’t do it,’’ Iadisernia said. “I don’t race on Saturday. I respect God. My Kentucky’s in the sky, it’s not here.’’

On a recent Saturday afternoon, when the stables of Suffolk are giddyup and go, Stable 14 is serene. Iadisernia is nowhere to be seen. The horses are resting. They have been fed and their stalls have been cleaned, but that’s it.

“My horses are all Seventh-day Adventists,’’ he said with a laugh. “My secret is to work every day but Saturday, work hard, work long. That is my secret.’’

And like Koufax, who refused to pitch on the Jewish High Holiday Yom Kippur during the World Series in 1965, he doesn’t like to talk about himself. He asks a reporter not to list his age (early 50s) and he refuses to answer questions about money.

Born in Italy, Iadisernia moved to Caracas at age 6. He started working in a laundry.

“I was rich with sweat,’’ he said. “I worked 18 hours every day.’’

His dad, an electrician, liked the ponies.

“My father brought me to the track on Sundays, ’’ he said. “He would always try to win the Pick Six and something like $31 million.’’

He never did.

Halfway there

When Suffolk opened in May, there was racing only on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Iadisernia missed half the races, but he didn’t care.

“People were asking me why are you not working Saturdays? I explain to them it’s good for the horses to have one day where they don’t work. The money isn’t everything in life. The Ten Commandments say you work six days. Then on the seventh day you don’t work. I respect the Ten Commandments.’’

Even with Suffolk’s current four-day racing schedule, other owners say missing even one day is financially impractical.

“I can’t afford to stop my horses from running, regardless of what religion I am,’’ says Steve Maldonado, who owns six horses. “I need the money. “[iadisernia is] a millionaire, he’s got a ton of money, he can do that. If it was a poor guy, you’d have to run, regardless.’’

Trainer Carlos Figueroa, known as the “King of the Fairs’’ for his success at summer fairs, was even more blunt.

(more text plus photo online)