Robert Masterson has owned racehorses since 1980, and has been involved in partnerships with leading names such as R.D. Hubbard, Barry Weisbord, David Greathouse, and Gary Barber.
Masterson shared an interest in grade I stars such as Gentlemen and Puerto Madero, and has gone on to campaign graded stakes winners including Another, Nefertini, and Sheets under his own name. But he's never had a horse like Tepin, the champion mare who will carry his colors in the $1 million Ricoh Woodbine Mile (Can-IT) Sept. 17, when she will seek her eighth consecutive victory for trainer Mark Casse.
“You just get lucky if you get a horse like that; it just doesn’t happen,” said Masterson, who retired after a distinguished career as a business owner and executive and lives in Del Mar, Calif. “And we’re enjoying it very much. You have to enjoy it while you have it.”
Masterson and Casse also have shown a sporting streak with Tepin, as he accepted an invitation to the group I Queen Anne Stakes at the Royal Ascot meeting in June. Facing males, over a straight mile of soft turf, and racing without Lasix for the first time, Tepin was undaunted and proved best in a field of 13.
“We didn’t expect to win,” Masterson said. “We took her over there because we thought it was the right thing to do. She’d done everything she could do in the United States. We actually wanted to show her off in England, because they were kind enough to invite us over there.
“In fact that’s one of the reasons we’re coming to Canada. Somebody up there said ‘Why don’t you bring her to Canada, and run in the Woodbine Mile?' And, of course, Casse agreed.”
Although Masterson himself has not been to Woodbine, he was represented by a winner there when Exclusive Love took an allowance race for him in his early days with Casse.
He certainly doesn’t plan to be an owner in absence this time, however. “
As long as Tepin is there, we’ll be there,” he said.
