Jay Privman (left) © Alex Evers
Jay Privman is a retired writer for the Daily Racing Form and an inductee in the Racing Hall of Fame. He has written books about horse racing and dozens of award winning articles. He has seen and done just about everything horse racing has to offer. Then last year he was introduced to a robust colt by Justify and Privman’s life has never been the same.
“Over the years I covered the group that owns the colt,” Jay says. “It’s a partnership that’s headed by SF Racing and run by Tom Ryan. Starlight Racing, Madaket Stable, Barbara Banke, and others. They buy about 20 yearling colts every year. They’ve been doing it for almost a decade now.”
They bought their 2023 crop in September. In January of ’24, Ryan sent Privman a text message saying they were in the process of naming their 2-year-olds.
“He asks, ‘Would it be okay if we named one of them after you?’ Privman remembers. “I was like, ‘Are you kidding me? That’s incredible. What an honor.’”
The crop included Citizen’s Bull, Madaket Road, Rodriguez and Goal Oriented.
“I don’t know how they decide what name goes with what horse,” Privman states. “But the Justify out of Mo Knows was the one they chose to name Privman.”
Within 24 hours of saying yes, Privman learned which colt had been named for him.
“The text said, ‘Bob will train you,’” Privman recalls referring to Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert. “At that point the horse hadn’t even breezed yet. He was still going through his early training in Florida.”
Privman, the horse, made his debut at Los Alamitos in June of 2024.
“He had a couple of hiccups as a 2-year-old,” Privman says. “He ran once, needed time off, was back in training then needed time off again. Minor stuff but it gave him time.”
Privman, the horse, made his 2025 debut at Pimlico and ran second. He ran second again at Churchill Downs less than a month later and finally broke his maiden opening weekend at Del Mar.
“The one thing we can say at this point is that we don’t know what his ceiling is,” Privman notes. “It doesn’t seem like he’s got to the point where you say ‘Okay, that’s as much as he can do.’ The way he goofed off and still won leads you to believe that there’s more there.”
Jay is referring to Privman’s victory in an entry-level allowance race at Del Mar on August 9 when he took the lead in mid-stretch, gave it up, then re-rallied and won it in the final strides.
“I do know they’ve been really high on him,” Privman adds. “Especially when he came back earlier this year. He began showing us a lot more this time around.”
“I think the talent is there,” Baffert contends. “He’s just green. He looks around and hasn’t figured it out yet but he has that raw talent. He won the other day on raw talent. I think the older he gets he’ll get better and better. We’re just going to let him grow up.”
Meanwhile Privman, the retired turf writer, is going to enjoy the ride.
“It’s exciting to think there’s still more there.”