Upper Freehold farm wins breeder of the year honor

BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer

Upper Freehold farm wins
breeder of the year honor
BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer

Perretti Farms of Upper Freehold Township has won the New Jersey Breeder of the Year award from the Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association of New Jersey (SBOANJ).

"The depth and breadth of Perretti Farms’ performance is outstanding," said Leo McNamara, chairman of the SBOANJ nominating committee. "They are the largest breeding farm in New Jersey and horses bred there have won stakes all over the country."

The SBOANJ wanted to recognize breeders who had made an important contribution to the state’s Standardbred racing program, McNamara said. The group wanted to honor "those people out there in the middle of a cold February night foaling mares," he said.

The 800-acre farm was modeled after the greatest Kentucky breeding farms, said Robert Marks, manager of Perretti Farms.

"It didn’t start as a commercial farm," he said. "It evolved into one."

He added that Perretti markets horses for all levels of the racing spectrum, with stud fees ranging from $3,000 to $15,000 and up.

The farm’s founder, William J. Perretti, owned the largest Chrysler-Plymouth dealership in the country. Perretti founded the farm in the late 1980s.

Marks describes Peretti as a man "who sees things on a visionary scale."

Today, the farm stands six stallions — Muscles Yankee, Artiscape, Red River Hanover, Dream Vacation, Matt’s Scooter and McArdle — and has about 160 broodmares. It does business around the world, Marks said.

Marks credits the success of the local Standardbred industry with its proximity to the Meadowlands, which he calls "the pre-eminent [harness] track in the country."

The SBOANJ wants to promote breeding and horse farms using the Green Acres basis.

While gambling drives the horse racing business, racing also contributes to the preservation of open space and provides jobs for "a lot of people who are not mainstream employees," said McNamara.

"It’s important to the agricultural infrastructure in New Jersey," he said. "We buy a lot of equipment, [and] tons of hay, feed and straw."

Perretti Farms pays employee taxes and property taxes on the houses on the farm, McNamara said.

"Farms don’t add much demand on the schools," he said. "We probably pay more than our fair share of taxes for what we receive."

Compared to many other states, New Jersey is a "tough place" for the business due to taxes, said McNamara.

To encourage horse breeding, the SBOANJ has started the New Jersey Mare Residency Program, he said.

If a broodmare resides in the state for nine months or longer and is bred to a New Jersey stallion, 10 percent of the offspring’s winnings in the New Jersey Sire Stakes or Green Acres races will go to the breeder.

The program began in 2003, and the first eligible foals — who will be born this year — could start racing in 2006.

For more information about Perretti Farms, visit www.perretti.com.