Many newcomers to Thoroughbred ownership dip their toes into the water via partnerships—and younger newcomers are accustomed to carrying the world in their pocket in a smartphone. How can partnerships and syndicates feed this generation’s insatiable appetite for information while juggling multiple horses, multiple partners, and the ever-changing status of horses? 

One of the answers is coming from the Saratoga region’s own Jonathan Romeo and Rachel Dunn, both Thoroughbred owners themselves and the minds behind StableConnect, an information and engagement app for syndicates and owners to communicate more efficiently. 

Dunn, a current Saratoga Springs resident, became involved in ownership when her husband bought her a share in a Sackatoga Stables New York–bred. “My horse ended up being Tiz the Law,” she says of the multiple Grade 1–winning colt. “It was the greatest beginner’s luck story in horse racing.” Now, Dunn is Sackatoga’s marketing and communications director.

Romeo, on the other hand, was brought into racing by his father, who grew up in Amsterdam and is a longtime horse owner. Father and son compete together as Sportsmen Stable, which co-owns Grade 1 winner Scottish Lassie. “My dad started accumulating ownership in multiple horses,” says Romeo, who’s based in Gansevoort. “He called me, and he says, ‘Jonathan, you have to figure out a way to keep this all for me. Can you build me a spreadsheet that you can maintain?’ And so that’s where this started from an idea standpoint. At the same time, being in Saratoga, we had friends exploring the racing environment. A couple had actually left because of how archaic communication was in the sport, so I had that in my mind as well.”

Romeo approached Dunn, whom he knew through various avenues, to see what she thought, and a partnership of a different sort was born. 

“I went home, logged in, and started using it, and was blown away by how smart of a tool it is for the industry,” Dunn says. “Having to send out email after email every time a horse works out or a horse is entered in a race takes so much time and energy. To have a tool like this to help streamline a lot of that work was priceless. So I told Jonathan, ‘This is amazing. And also, I would like to be part of this.’”