Bob Baffert, D. Wayne Lukas (pictured) and Nick Zito, trainers who have won 26 Triple Crown races combined, including Zito’s upset victory in the 2008 Belmont Stakes, have joined forces in the new Thoroughbred Legends Racing Fund. According to a June 9 article in the Wall Street Journal, plans call for the fund to raise $75 million to $125 million by late August 2008, and buy young horses selected for training by Baffert, Lukas and Zito.

The fund, developed by Olin Gentry; Thomas Gaines, whose father, John R. Gaines, founded the Breeders’ Cup; and Tripp Hardy, will buy 70 to 100 horses a year for three years, with investors required to commit a minimum of $3 million over the three years. The fund will charge a two percent management fee and retain 20 percent of profits from racing and sales. Baffert, Lukas and Zito will receive equal benefits from the fund, irregardless of individual horse performance.

Big Brown, recent Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner upset by Zito-trained Da’ Tara in the Belmont Stakes, is the property of International Equine Acquisitions Holdings (IEAH), established five years ago by ex-Wall Street investors Michael Iavarone and Richard Schiavo. Iavarone and Schiavo are attempting to set IEAH up as a $100 million hedge fund, but Iavarone has come under scrutiny for failure to disclose that he was fined and suspended by securities regulators for unauthorized trades in 1999. IEAH horses have already earned more than $4 million this year.

Both Bob Baffert and D. Wayne Lukas began their careers as Quarter Horse trainers. Lukas, who is the only member of both the Thoroughbred racing and the American Quarter Horse Association’s Halls of Fame, is the all-time leading Breeders’ Cup trainer in money won, starters and winners.

Baffert was the first trainer in history to saddle back-to-back Kentucky Derby and Preakness winners: Silver Charm (1997) and Real Quiet (1998). Baffert purchased Silver Crown, who also won the Dubai Cup and earned $6.9 million lifetime, as a yearling for $85,000. He paid $17,000 for Real Quiet, who ran out $3.3 million.

Zito, who grew up near Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, began his career as a hotwalker in the mid-1960s. He sent out his first winner in 1972; scored his first graded stakes win in 1981; and was inducted in Thoroughbred racing’s Hall of Fame in 2005, the year his stable earned more than $8 million.