Danny Persaud is always a busy guy. He often has his business, and philanthropic, eyes on varying different projects and causes. With the racing his mind is often doing, it’s no surprise he also has a passion for race horsing.
After attending the Kentucky Derby, his interest grew and now, it’s another project he’s excited about.
Persaud acquired the Florida Division of John Sykes’ Woodford Thoroughbreds in Ocala and renamed the 1,000-acre property as Persaud Legacy Farms.
This year, as Persaud proudly shares, one of the horses on the farm placed third in the Derby.
He still has his other business lines – he’s chief executive officer of MidFlorida Armored & ATM Services, which is still going strong, but now, the Tampa-based philanthropist and businessman is sharing his time on the Persaud farm.
Tampa Bay Business and Wealth caught up with Persaud to talk about his latest venture in greener pastures. This interview has been edited for length and brevity.
How have you been? Keeping busy, as always?
I’m good. I’m, actually, just leaving the farm. It was a busy day out here. I’m here seven, out every 14 days. It’s a big undertaking and I’m loving it. I love what I’m doing. I smile every day. It’s fun stuff but it’s busy work.
Talk about how you came across this land in Ocala.
Suddenly, last year, I got a call from the Sykes family. They had heard I was interested in [buying] a thoroughbred farm. John and I met and we came to an agreement and, guess what? I own a thoroughbred farm now. [Persaud laughs]
I was at the Kentucky Derby, maybe 2018 or 2019, and I said out loud, jokingly, ‘I need to own a thoroughbred farm. I think this is cool.’ [At the time,] I didn’t realize what all went into it. I just thought I looked cool. That’s how I started. I flew [the idea] out there in the universe, but did not pursue it, at all. Like, ‘Hey, I want to go to space one day.’
Danny don’t say those things. We will be doing another story next year about you visiting Mars.
I guess word spreads pretty quick. [Danny laughs]
Where did this interest come from? Were you just a spectator who appreciated the sport? Have you always had a love of horses?
I’ve always wanted a big farm, which I have the other farm, (Danika Farms), so I wanted a big farm that we could live on and could play on. [A place where] our family could come together. My other farm is just a land of crops. I wanted a place where I could have friends, and family, come hang out and just kick back and forget your worries. So that was the big reason behind the whole thing.
As far as the horse side of it, when I was at the Derby, we were privy to be back where the breeding took place. And I was always in love with horses but me, not knowing anything about the industry, I was like, wow, ‘that horse makes how much?’ because he’s a triple crown winner. He’s making $200,000? I was like ‘holy cow!’ That sparked my interest a little bit. Also, my daughter, Danica, loves horses.
So, do you own horses?
We don’t own any horses. We board and train them on the farm. Right now, there’s around 50. It’s seasonal, right? I’d say we could put 180 horses and stalls on that farm and we could probably house about 500 horses, total. It’s a very large facility.
We have the best training track in Marion County and that’s saying something, to be in Ocala and have a bunch of other tracks up here.
This sounds like it’s a passion project for you.
It is. It’s as hard as they get. I mean, if you see what my staff does out here. It’s backbreaking. It’s hard work.
Everything you do has a philanthropic angle. What charitable aspects are there to this new venture?
When I purchased the farm, I remember saying, ‘Wow, I feel like I’m in heaven here.’ There was so much green and you’re away from everything and it’s quiet.
When my dad passed away, a kid named Dylan passed away a couple of weeks after my dad’s death, and Dylan was like 16 or 17. I’ve known Dylan since he was like 5 years old. He was part of the Wheelchairs 4 Kids.
So, this farm, these kids need this. I don’t know how many people know this, but you can take a person who’s either shy, or introverted or suffering mentally from something, or autistic and scared of the world, and you put them around an animal that they build trust in, [and] watch that person totally change. They just open up. A lot of kids, and people in general, are going through stuff. They’re shy, or scared, they’re not comfortable being around people. Put them around an animal and see what happens.
Animals are great therapy.
Animals have a way of bringing the kid out of you. Again, all the headaches and all the problems in the world kind of go away when you’re around an animal, the dog or a cat, a horse, and you’re feeling good about yourself again, you’re feeling good about your vision or your goals again. I think it really helps people, especially people who suffer from mental illness or autistic kids.
Kids in a wheelchairs don’t have access to horses so we’re working on that as well. We’re trying to build something where we can hook the wheelchair into a cart, of some kind, and the horse can trot around with it or something. Or they can feed the horse and they can pet the horses. We want to raise enough funds to build that facility. ♦