B
ill Sandbrook ’79, CEO of U.S. Concrete has a rock solid contender for horse racing’s Championship Day. Sandbrook had been a long-time fan of horse racing with no direct involvement until he met Terry Finley ’86 in 2015. Finley is CEO of West Point Thoroughbreds, a New York-based company that syndicates racehorses. Sandbrook and Finley met at a 2015 Veterans Day event at NASDAQ in 2015 that was put on by the Thayer Leadership Development Group.
Almost exactly four years later, Sandbrook owns the largest share in Decorated Invader, a West Point Thoroughbreds colt who is a top contender for a $1-million championship event in the Breeders’ Cup next Friday at Santa Anita Park outside Los Angeles.
Decorated Invader captured a Grade 1 race, the highest level of North American racing, at Woodbine racetrack in Toronto on September 15 in his third career start. West Point Thoroughbreds purchased the colt the previous September at a yearling sale in Kentucky. Sandbrook owns part of nine other horses with West Point Thoroughbreds.
“It’s pretty incredible to have a horse like this and to be in a position like this so soon as an owner,” said Sandbrook, who has led U.S. Concrete since 2011, during which time the company’s price per share on the NASDAQ exchange has risen from less than $2 to $56. “Ownership has changed my life. I’ve always been a fan of horse racing but it’s an entirely different dynamic when you own them. I linked up with Terry from us both being alumni of West Point. It’s fitting that two West Pointers are doing this together with a horse named Decorated Invader.”
Sandbrook, a member of the prestigious Pit & Quarry Hall of Fame, lives in the Dallas area. He attended the Breeders’ Cup the one time it was held in the area, at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, in 2004. Next Friday, he will be there front and center at Santa Anita with a live contender.
Photo: Michael Burns/Woodbine racetrack