Episode 3-2: Taking Off & Ascending - Mike Piazza & Zilla Racing Stable

For The Love of The Game

What’s in a name? Mike Piazza, syndicate manager of Zilla Racing Stables, shares the same name with a Hall of Fame baseball player but there is no confusing the two. Horse racing is his game, and you can hear the passion he has for the sport when you listen to the newest episode of “For The Love Of The Game” podcast, presented by Horsebills.com. Growing up near Saratoga and attending the races as a fan at a young age, Piazza, who had a love of analytics and handicapping, combined an accounting background into the formation of Zilla Racing in 2012 when they claimed their first horse. Hear how “lazy” work horse Celtic Chaos turned out to be a multiple stakes winner with earnings of more than $650,000 and how collaboration and teamwork at sales landed them English Soul, another multiple stakes winner with earnings of over $325,000. Listen to how their trainers, Brad Cox, Ray Handal and Joe Sharp, combine “efficiency” and communication to give Zilla its best chance at success while competing with bigger outfits on a limited budget. How Piazza tries to sell the value of the experience, rather than a financial investment to his partners, and the emotional scene of watching one of his loyal partners walk Celtic Chaos into the winner’s circle after a stakes win. And finally, Piazza talks about the “efficiency” of using Horsebills and how he can bill out his whole stable of horses in an hour, whereas the same job used to take 10 hours using QuickBooks. Online payments from partners, instead of piles of checks on his desk, have made his life much easier, too. Thanks, Mike, for the glowing endorsement and continued success with Zilla Racing. Enjoy our newest episode!