Tom Bellhouse is the Executive Vice President. His primary responsibilities are to coordinate West Point Thoroughbreds’ operations throughout the East, including the New York, Mid-Atlantic, and Florida Circuits.

Bellhouse is a graduate of the State University of New York at Oswego with a BS in Business Administration and currently resides in Saratoga Springs, NY with his wife Karen.

Prior to joining WPT in 2008, he spent nine years in the automotive industry as a Sales Director for a division of Chrysler.

TB Fun Facts

• An extremely passionate lifelong racing fan, Bellhouse continues to own Standardbreds at Saratoga Raceway and Thoroughbreds with WPT.
• Tommy is the grandson of the late Francis Bellhouse, a leading steeplechase rider and trainer in the East in the 1930s, ’40s & ’50s.
• Not surprising to those who know him, Bellhouse owned and operated “Excuses,” a neighborhood pub, for ten years in Oswego, NY.
• Oldest of three children (two sisters- Sue & Karen) and proud uncle of four nieces and two nephews… all of which reside in suburban Chicago.
• Tommy is extremely active in the Saratoga Springs and Racing communities, participating on the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce Board, the Belmont Child Care Advisory Board, and most recently, elected as an owner representative to the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen Association Board of Directors.

Questions I’m always asked:

“How did you get your crazy passion/obsession for horse racing?” and “How did you get your job?”

Answering the first question is easy…
a. Grow up on Long Island with your Grandmother’s house being only 2 miles away and an “N-6” bus down Hempstead Turnpike from Belmont Park on Long Island.
b. Have a next-door neighbor who loves the trotters and will let a young teenager tag along for company to Roosevelt & Yonkers when his wife won’t go.
c. Idolize your bartender/horseplayer Grandfather who could pour drinks and savage a “tele” (what they used to call the DRF) with the best of them.
d. Take horseback riding lessons in the hope of being the next Steve Cauthen (yeah, I know, a bit crazy considering my current girth).
e. Be introduced to Thoroughbred racing during the incredible 1970s and have your first in-person Belmont Stakes be the 1978 Classic – Alydar vs. Affirmed – then have the opportunity to see many of the all-time greats (Seattle Slew, Forego, Exceller, Spectacular Bid, Coastal, Cox’s Ridge) race at Belmont Park.
f. “Uncle Pete” – enough said. Every young horse lover/handicapper needs an “Uncle Pete.” Going back to the 1978 Belmont Stakes, it should be mentioned that while I was 14 and watching the race with Uncle Pete outside the third-floor Clubhouse, we were both “Alydar Guys,” maybe a bit of foreshadowing of how both of our (mine & Uncle Pete’s) gambling careers would progress.
g. and last but not least…, I have wonderful parents (Tom & Marion) who would only let me go to the races if I got straight “A”s. (Bribery at its finest!)

As for the second question, “How did you get your job?”
– Never, ever take a career position where the lead question is “What’s the least amount of money that you can live off of?”

With Twilight Eclipse, one of my favorite West Point horses of all time.