Chris Venis, President and Founder
Chris has been active in the thoroughbred industry for nearly 30 years and is the President and founder of Capitol Hill Thoroughbreds. Chris is a graduate of East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania with both Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees. Beginning at an early age, Chris was active in his family’s racing stable that ultimately led to the development of Capitol Hill Thoroughbreds. The first purchase and winner for Capitol Hill was stakes runner, Flintville, who went on to win over $200,000.00. Capitol Hill has continued it winning ways with Jersey Peach, winner of the New Jersey Breeder's Handicap, who has already earned nearly $250,000.00, Colie Z a promising 3 year old, Fast as a Dash, a dominate allowance runner and a new 2 year old in training by Smart Strike, the sire of Curlin abd English Channel. In addition to Capitol Hill Thoroughbreds, Chris is also a registered lobbyist in Washington, DC and Trenton, NJ where he is President of The Venis Group.
Joe Orseno, Trainer
Orseno’s first job in racing was walking hots. He later landed a job as an assistant to Chuck Spina, before obtaining his trainer’s license in 1977. Orseno won the Garden State training title in 1988 and finished tenth nationally that year with 137 wins. His first full year at Monmouth was in 1991, finishing second in the standings. He saddled Nines Wild to a runner-up performance in the 1992 Haskell. Orseno was the leading Meadowlands trainer in 1996. In 2000 he won the Preakness Stakes with Red Bullet, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile with Macho Uno and the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf with Perfect Sting, all for owner Frank Stronach. Later that year, Orseno was named a finalist for the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding trainer. Currently, Joe is training Graded Stakes winner and Gulfstream record breaker On Thin Ice, track record setter, Slam Bammy, stakes winner Career Oriented, etc.
Jonathan I Green, Consultant
Jonathan has been a licensed thoroughbred owner for over 20 years and has acted as manager of DJ Stable, a family-owned stable, with his parents Leonard and Lois Green. Under his management, DJ Stable has won over 1,200 races ranging from claimers to Grade I races around the country. The stable has bred and/or owned over 50 Stakes Winners including Graded winning Songandaprayer, November Snow, On Thin Ice, Do It With Style, Senate Appointee, etc. Upon graduating with ! honors from Lehigh University, Jonathan regularly appeared on CNBC’s “Business To Business” to discuss his unique views of the current and future thoroughbred markets. He has also written a series of monthly columns on the business aspects of the thoroughbred industry for the top ranked weekly publication, The Thoroughbred Times. Jonathan currently is a partner in the full-service financial firm, Targeted Financial Services, LLC.
