Tom Pedulla is interviewing prominent owners, trainers and jockeys as they travel the Road to the 150th Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve May 4 at Churchill Downs.

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This installment features C. Steven Duncker, who owns Gotham Stakes winner Deterministic in partnership with Vinnie Viola’s St. Elias Stable, Ken Langone and Kevin Warsh’s Vicarage Stable. Deterministic earned 50 Derby qualifying points with an impressive two-length score in his 3-year-old debut.

Duncker, 65, has owned horses for 47 years. He was a partner in Goldman Sachs & Company before he retired in 2001. He is former chairman of the New York Racing Association, where he continues to serve as a member of its Board of Directors. He is also a current member and former Steward of The Jockey Club, the managing trustee of The Jockey Club Safety Net Foundation, and serves on the Equibase Company LLC management committee. In addition, he founded and oversees the C. Steven Duncker Foundation.​

Duncker discussed the insight he has gained through his involvement with NYRA, the exciting future of New York racing with the opening of the new Belmont Park in 2026, and the emergence of Deterministic, who is trained by Christophe Clement, during a question-and-answer session conducted on behalf of America’s Best Racing.

PEDULLA: How did you become interested in racing?

DUNCKER: When I was 13, my best friend (Ted Levis) took me to the track and I was hooked.

C. Steven Duncker

PEDULLA: What was the first horse you owned?

DUNCKER: That same buddy and I, when I was 17 we started a business tarring driveways in St. Louis, Mo. We took the money and bought a racehorse. The horse we bought was Informal Affair (for approximately $3,500). The horse won by five lengths. Half of our high school was there and we were big shots.

PEDULLA: I read that you won a financial stake in multiple-Grade 1 winner Bates Motel while playing backgammon as a Duke University undergraduate student. Is that correct?

DUNCKER: It was several games of backgammon, but that is accurate. I had a fraternity brother I played backgammon with and I won a lot of money. He couldn’t pay. His mom had given him 10 percent of a foal for Christmas. He called me up and said, “Will you take the 10 percent?”

PEDULLA: What is the mission of the C. Steven Duncker Foundation?

DUNCKER: It was to focus on children’s charities and, to some extent, educational opportunities for children.

PEDULLA: Why did you focus on children?

DUNCKER: My sister (Christy) was a social worker for St. Louis County. A lot of it had to do with understanding what she went through in her work.

PEDULLA: I believe you also have some business interests in baseball. What can you tell me about that?

DUNCKER: I am on the board of a company called Big League Advantage. We buy income shares in minor league players. We find somebody in Single A baseball, we make them an offer for some percentage of their major league baseball salary going forward, and if they say “yes” and make the big leagues, we do the percentage. If not, they keep the money. So it’s venture capital for minor league baseball players.

PEDULLA: As a current member of NYRA’s board, how do you see the state of racing in New York?

DUNCKER: We at NYRA, and especially (chairman) Marc Holliday and (president) David O’Rourke, have been able to make the case to the state as to why racing is good business for the state of New York. I’m very bullish because of what can happen at the new Belmont Park. I think it’s going to be beautiful. It’s really going to be a new beginning.

PEDULLA: Attendance on an average day of racing at the old Belmont had been poor. Is there the belief that if you build it, they will come?

DUNCKER: It was too big. It was not the right size. The new Belmont Park will be flexible. You could have 100,000 people there for the Belmont Stakes. But if it’s not a big day, you’re still going to feel like you want to be there. There’s going to be a lot of green space and we’re going to be able to use the infield.

Rendering of the new Belmont Park. (Courtesy of NYRA)

PEDULLA: Will the new Belmont Park be able to host events beyond racing?

DUNCKER: Definitely. We’re going to be a resource for the community.

PEDULLA: Deterministic went for $625,000 at Keeneland’s September Yearling Sale. How did the partnership come together?

DUNCKER: My friend, Kevin Warsh, and I were at a Jockey Club dinner. We’ve always been friends with Vinnie Viola (St. Elias Stable). We started talking and Vinnie said, “I’d love to own some horses with you guys.”

PEDULLA: Who spearheaded the decision to buy Deterministic?

DUNCKER: All of the magic, all of it, is due to Vinnie. We are free riders on his expertise. And I’m not kidding, either. It sounded glib, but I didn’t mean it to be glib. I’ve owned horses for 47 years and I’ve never been in this position. He really is good at it. That’s it. His whole team, all the credit to them. I cannot say that vociferously enough.

PEDULLA: What can you say about the job Christophe Clement and his son, Miguel, have done in developing Deterministic?

DUNCKER: They are just so good. They are a great team. They always put the horse first. Christophe is the horsemen’s horseman. Miguel is the next generation of the same. I don’t even know how to express it. I have so much respect and confidence in them.

PEDULLA: Were you at Saratoga when Deterministic made a winning debut at seven furlongs last summer?

DUNCKER: I was. I’ve had a lot of great moments in racing, but that was right up there. He had trouble leaving the gate and (was) seven wide.

PEDULLA: Did you come away from that day thinking you might have something special?

DUNCKER: Absolutely. We’ve been going to the races a long time. We know there are going to be loaded seven-furlong races at Saratoga and this was the first seven-eighths race of the meet. We know what winning one of those races means. There are going to be three, four, five stakes winners coming out of a race like that. So we were very high on him.

Deterministic and jockey Joel Rosario post-Gotham. (Susie Raisher/NYRA)

PEDULLA: Why did he run only once as a 2-year-old?

DUNCKER: He had a tiny chip taken out of his ankle.

PEDULLA: He won the Gotham by two lengths. Were you expecting such a strong effort?

DUNCKER: I have the same emotion in these situations. It’s hopeful optimism. He’s strong. He’s not 17 hands but he moves so well. That was a pretty good field. He beat some good horses.

PEDULLA: Do you have any sense of what is next?

DUNCKER: I don’t. I went up and saw him at the barn at Payson Park and we kicked it around. Christophe wants to get him back to a work and see how he is after that and then we’ll decide.

PEDULLA: Do you have Derby fever?

DUNCKER: Huge Derby fever. Immense Derby fever.

PEDULLA: What is that like?

DUNCKER: You just think about it a lot during the day. You check the standings. You check who’s going to run in what race. Who’s written an article? What piece of information can we get? You think about it all the time.