West Hartford businessman has horse in Kentucky Derby

A West Hartford businessman will take a horse to the Kentucky Derby for the second time next weekend.

Michael Gualtieri, owner of ProCourier, which offers time-critical delivery services and is headquartered in West Hartford, is also a founding member of Don't Tell My Wife Stables.

Don’t Tell my Wife Stables, based in Fort Worth, Texas, has more than 30 member owners. Gualtieri and three other courier service presidents founded the stable on a whim during a business trip in 2010.

This year, their horse, Confidence Game, will be one of 20 colts in the starting gate at the Kentucky Derby on May 6. 

Confidence Game, whose odds are 30-1, is 3-year-old colt who won the 2023 Rebel Stakes and had two wins in 2022 during races in August and November at Churchill Downs. 

“He’s probably the most well-bred horse our stable has ever bought,” Gualtieri said.

The Kentucky Derby, an elite race and the first leg of the American Triple Crown, is typically the province of larger stables. But that didn’t deter Gualtieri.

“Who says lightning doesn’t strike twice?” Gualtieri said. “I’m so happy and feel so fortunate to be part of a second Derby appearance in five years.”

In 2018, the stable ran its first Derby contender, My Boy Jack, who placed fifth in the race.

Gualtieri, who grew up in Waterbury, began hanging out with the racing crowd in 2010 in New Orleans after a board meeting for a professional organization of courier companies.

Gualtieri and three other presidents met a mutual friend, well-known horse trainer J. Keith Desormeaux, at a nearby racetrack after the meeting. Desormeaux gave them a back-side tour of the track and they spent a day watching races.

That night, the group decided to pool their resources to buy their first horse. Others in the courier business joined, and Don’t Tell My Wife Stables was born.

That was how Gualtieri caught the horse-racing “bug.”

Their first horse, Alcazar, was an unexpected success. Alcazar won his first race and then three others. The horse was so successful that someone purchased him, giving the stable new funds to buy other horses. 

Since then, several of the group’s horses have seen success, competing at racetracks including Del Mar, Santa Anita Park, Keeneland, Churchill Downs, Fair Grounds, Belmont Park and Saratoga.

Their horses include 2016 Preakness Stakes Champion Exaggerator, 2014 Breeder’s Cup filly Danette, 2015 Breeder’s Cup colt Swipe, 2016 Grade 1 winning filly Decked Out, 2018 Kentucky Derby colt My Boy Jack and 2022 Kentucky Oaks filly Candy Raid.