My new boss Dave Portnoy bought a horse. Another one.

Author's Note: Hey. New guy here. Finally have access to the blog. I have been posting audio blogs (Splogs? Blogio?) the past few days over on X.com. People seem to like them. Not sure if those continue or just do both or just do audio. I like doing them. I guess we'll find out together! 

On Sunday, I spent the day watching football and BEGGING my kids to stop walking around the house saying “six-sevennnnnnnnnnn.” The football went okay. The brain-rot talk continues. Painfully. 

Anyway, that was my Sunday. And a nice little pasta dinner. Can’t complain. 

My boss had a much more interesting Sunday, buying this grey yearling out of the Keeneland September sale.  This daughter of Chrlatan out of the mare Halo’s Verse... well, she was not an inexpensive purchase. 

She’s grey, which seems to be a requirement for Dave’s blossoming team of horses. She looks like a great addition to the Go Go Grey Stables. 

I can’t actually tell how many horses are officially part of the Go Go Grey Team. 

There’s Mr. Pistacio, who looks very brown, but Dave says is listed as a grey. 

There’s this one, a grey he bought from the Ocala sale out of Tapit. Dave got bullied online for not being jacked in this picture. 

Dave wanted to buy a horse this summer at Saratoga and even bid as much as $2.8 million. He got outbid. And then had his interview crashed by the guys who did it. Brutal. 

So yeah, I don’t know exactly how many horses make up Go Go Grey. But Dave has been busy this summer. 

Betting on horses and winning is hard. Ownership might be harder. 

Now, have I owned horses? Of course not, but take the case of The Green Monkey. 

In 2006, as a two-year-old, The Green Monkey sold for auction for a world record price of $16 million. Despite the massive price tag, The Green Monkey was not a good racehorse. He ran only three times, with his best finish getting the show dough. For his career, he earned just $10,440…for $16 million…tough game. 

In 2023, Dave’s very rich friend, Mike Repole, had the morning line favorite in the biggest race in America, the Kentucky Derby. The morning of the Derby, the track vets didn’t like the way he looked and scratched the horse from the race. There was nothing Repole could do about it. The pre-race favorite in the 2011 Derby, Uncle Mo, was also owned by Repole. He was scratched the day before the race because of a gastrointestinal infection. Again, tough game. 

Dave knows this. But he’s still willing to spend his hard-earned money on horses. And that’s a good thing. Because without gamblers like me who bet on the sport, there is no horse racing in America.  Without the players who study the Racing Form and make their bets and go to the track every couple of months - horse racing doesn’t exist, at least in its current form. 

There’s no big TV money. No sponsorships. None of it. Thousands of fans would not be pouring through the turnstiles every weekend if the races were just exhibitions and the prizes were fancy ribbons. The gambler is the backbone of the sport. 

Along with the owner. The gambler and the owner take the risks, and without either, horse racing would not really exist. 

So good for Dave. I’m on record as saying that when he starts running his new Go Go Grey horses (next year?), it will be a big deal for racing. The number of fans at the Barstool Travers Day Show was wild - plus the thousands watching on stream all day. His fans will support the Go Go Grey runners when they hit the track. 

As a racing fan, one of the reasons I was excited to come to Barstool was the chance to see that up close - to watch Dave and Barstool help to “grow the game.” 

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Dave was taking suggestions for a name for his newest acquisition on Monday. I offered up Charlie’s Halo, tying in the names of the sire and the mare. I thought it was a good name. No word from Dave on whether he liked it. The last text I received from him ended with the word, 'moron.' He probably rushed to reserve it with the Jockey Club right away. Smart. 

Saw some other interesting name suggestions from fans: 

Miss MutStack 

Audio Blog

MutSlut

LockedOn GreyHorse

Drake Graye (fire name for a male horse TBH)

Not sure those would make it past the Jockey Club, but they're creative.  

Congrats to Dave and Go Go Grey. As an Ontario-bred, she’ll be eligible for the King’s Plate in 2026. Hopefully, we're all there to cheer her on. 

An audio version of this blog, read by the author, can be found here.