Riding to the rescue of the state’s faltering equine industry, a prominent businessman and farm owner intends to win a critical race

by Laura D.C. Kolnoski • Photos By Doug Polle

As soon as Sam Landy could walk, he was drawn to the horse farm that bordered his Monmouth County yard; fascinated by the Standardbred and thoroughbred race horses training there. By age eight, he was riding at local facilities and taking in sire stakes races at his neighbor’s farm, unaware he would win his own races there in his twenties.

The Landy family passion for all things equine began with Sam’s father Eugene, well-known in New Jersey equestrian culture. Raised near Freehold Raceway, Eugene bought his first horse in 1976, purchasing a Colts Neck farm the following year.

Ever since, Landy’s life has revolved around horses. Now owners of the idyllic Congress Hill Farm in Monroe Township, Landy and his wife Laurie, a pediatric occupational therapist, revel in the life, from breeding to racing to sharing their passion with others. Beyond boarding and riding lessons, their farm opens regularly to numerous groups, including the acclaimed Shared Steps program Laurie created and runs for special needs adults and children. All three of their sons were born at Congress Hill. One, Harry, began raising and racing horses early on, and is continuing the family legacy.

The entire family received the Governor’s Award as Horsepersons of the Year in 2013, honored for their lifetime of accomplishments, dedication, and commitment to “bringing horses and people together.” At the 2013 Dan Patch Awards, the U.S. Trotting Association honored Sam Landy with its Unsung Hero award. (The family has produced several champions, including a New Jersey Sire Stakes Champion.)

Both awards also recognized Landy’s creation of the familyoriented Open Space Pace in 2012. The festival and agricultural fair, held each September, begins with a colorful parade of some 100 horses down Freehold’s main street and onto the grounds at Freehold Raceway for a day of harness races, exhibits, demonstrations, vendors, pony rides, a petting zoo, tailgating, food trucks, a concert, and fireworks. The goal is to celebrate the horse, New Jersey’s state animal, while educating and “grooming” new fans.

It was no easy feat to bring together the diverse interests and sometimes contrary players in New Jersey’s horse industry to plan such a massive undertaking, but a core group of volunteers, along with knowledgeable advisors, continue to pull it off successfully. The first two Open Space Pace evenings featured performances by equine supporters Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. The event continues to grow, drawing thousands, including a plethora of equestrian industry bigwigs and public/private groups and agencies, all striving to save the state’s horse industry.

As a non-profit organization that endeavors to bolster related groups, The Open Space Pace also donates tens of thousands of dollars to other non-profits.

Horses have long been big business in The Garden State. The Rutgers Equine Science Center estimates the state’s equine industry to be worth about $4 billion, creating a profit of about $1.1 billion each year. The industry includes breeding, training and feed farms, stable workers, suppliers, veterinarians and other businesses, supporting an estimated 42,500 horses and 7,200 equine facilities. Several factors, however, are sending participants and dollars to states like New York and Pennsylvania, where operations are more lucrative. Landy wants to reverse that trend.

“If we combine our efforts, we can rejuvenate New Jersey’s harness racing industry while preserving open space,” he said. “Freehold Raceway is a fantastic historic harness racing venue largely unknown to many people. We want to introduce new fans to the sport, because a healthy racing industry will help preserve horse farms.” Even at Congress Hill, purchased in 1986, New Jersey’s deteriorating horse industry is evident.

“Our farm was full in 1987,” he said. “Today I have only 100 of 150 stalls rented.” Landy is intent on growing the Open Space Pace large enough to attract outside purse money to sponsor the day’s races, encouraging horse breeding and thereby expanding excitement, awareness, networking, and job opportunities.

Down on the Farm
Congress Hill has grown from a 70-acre race horse breeding and training center to a 200-acre farm offering fields, woods, and streams along the Manalapan River. The facility includes an equine pool, a 5/8-mile training track, indoor and outdoor riding arenas, and 100 miles of trails cut by Landy himself. During the Revolutionary War, General George Washington brought his army to the site, accompanied by the Marquis de Lafayette and local war hero Joshua Huddy, leading an artillery company from Colts Neck. Its rolling hills and bucolic woodlands host different gatherings in the 21st Century. The Boy Scouts, 4H Clubs, summer camps, and students on school trips have enjoyed the farm, which also hosts weddings and the acclaimed Special Strides program
Laurie started there in 1999. The nonprofit clinic, which works with about 130 children and 18 horses, has been recognized as one of the best therapeutic riding centers in the country. Laurie and
Sam have shared its benefits at similar centers in Israel and Spain. During the recent holidays, Laurie traveled to Guatemala, training people there in therapeutic riding. The program offers hippotherapy, used by occupational and physical therapists and speech pathologists to affect change in the nervous system through the movement of a horse. Before meeting her future husband on a blind date and moving to the farm after their wedding, Laurie had no equestrian experience. She began bringing her patients to see the horses and immediately saw a marked difference, especially after watching a noncommunicative girl begin singing after she was placed upon a horse. The program started with four clients and one horse in a manufactured home donated by Sam’s parents. Today, a large team of therapists, instructors, specialists, and volunteers strive to meet each participant’s goals.

“We purchased the woods adjoining the farm over the years and turned them into beautiful riding trials, a playground for Special Strides, and a goat farm,” Sam Landy said. “The goats clean up the woods so we can hike through them.
Visitors enjoy seeing them, they improve the land by eating away vegetation so our woodlands can also be utilized, and they mostly take care of themselves.” From an original ten, the goat herd is up to 84, though tending to them is a far cry from Landy’s day job.

The Other Family Business
Two companies begun by pat r i -arch Eugene Landy in 1969—UMH Properties, Inc. (originally United Mobile Homes) and Monmouth Real Estate Investment Corporation—are real estate investment trusts and premier sponsors of The Open Space Pace. Both are on the New York Stock Exchange.

Eugene Landy is Chairmen of The Board of both companies. Sam is President of UMH, and his brother Michael is President of Monmouth Real Estate Investment Corporation. Of the 88 manufactured home communities owned by UMH, consisting of 15,100 home sites in various states, many are located near harness racing tracks. In addition to the horse trainers and jockeys who live in UMH homes, Landy pointed out that the firm’s Nashville locations have housed famous country & western singers, including Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton during their early days.

“Laurie laughs at how I see the world and people through horses,” Landy said. Raising children, confronting fears, developing confidence, demonstrating managerial leadership, the importance of exercise and healthy living—all can be compared to breeding and racing horses in his eyes.

“Horses respond to reward and will go out of their way to please,” he reasoned. “People are the same way. They need to be acknowledged and they want to know you see their contribution. Letting them know you appreciate their efforts improves the quality of everyone’s work experience. Working with horses is great for the soul and makes you a better person. Many who work with them happily choose the long hours, bad weather, inconsistent pay, and other hardships over office jobs.” Sam Landy does both with panache.

Congress Hill Farm
118 Federal Road, Monroe Township
732.446.0945 / congresshillfarm.webs.com