Black Sheep Equine Services

Dominick J. Manzi

 

Co-Founder/Trainer

 

Dominick was born in Brooklyn, New York and raised in Southern California. He has 40 plus years of experience at all racetracks in California and across the country, racing horses in California, New York, Kentucky, Florida, and Minnesota. Dominick is a multiple graded stakes winning trainer.

 

Dominick mentored under the guidance of his father, Joe Manzi, who was also a multiple graded stakes winning trainer.  Dominick worked his way up from the bottom, starting off in 1972 by walking hots during the summer at Del Mar. He continued to walk horses until the following winter meet at Santa Anita. Dominick groomed horses for his father for the next few years and rose in the ranks of the stable to assistant foreman, then to assistant trainer. Dominick ran the stable at the Pomona/Fairplex meeting while his father was on vacation. Dominick saddled the bull ring specialist, He's a Saros, to back to back wins in the Pomona Invitational Handicap, then gaining Horse of the Meeting two years in a row. Dominick also saddled Fran's Valentine to a 17 length romp in the Bangles and Beads Stakes at Pomona in her first stakes win. Fran's Valentine became the first horse to win a Breeders Cup race and be disqualified. Fran's Valentine was an eventual winner of the Kentucky Oaks.

 

Dominick has had success in his own training career. He saddled the front running grass mare, Saros Brig, to consecutive victories in the Golden Poppy Handicap, Bueana Vista Handicap, and the Santa Anita Budweiser Breeders Cup .

  

Dominick has made purchases for clients at Fasig Tipton, Barrets, and in Ocala, along with numerous private sales. He has experience in equine sales prep work and equine evaluation for prospective buyers.

 

In recent years, Dominick has studied the natural horsemanship skills of Pat Parelli, Clinton Anderson and Chris Cox. Dominck has a patience that is a necessity for young horses and is excellent at teaching ground manners.

 

Dominick is a well-rounded horseman with a lot of knowledge to share.

 

Melissa McCrann

 

Co-Founder/Media Director

 

Melissa brings 20 plus years of customer service and administrative assistance experience to our team. Her attention to detail has made her an invaluable team member. Having spent several years in the veterinary field, Melissa brings those assets to our team, broadening our scope of knowledge in the equine field.

 

Melissa is always willing to take the time explaining and helping clients better understand our services . Melissa is very considerate and understanding of clients' needs, always going the extra mile for our clients.

 

Melissa assists in coordinating the shipping plans for the horses after purchases, setting appointments for us to go look at horses with clients for auctions and on site visits to work with or evaluate horses. 

 

Melissa is currently managing our website, email correspondence, blogs, Google+ page, Facebook page, and Twitter feed.