HITS Shows, which originally stood for Horse Shows in the Sun, has been a major business in Saugerties, with the hunter/jumper horse show complex and the Diamond Mills hotel, restaurant and events venue on Partition Street. The developer of the complex, Tom Struzzieri, owns five hunter/jumper tracks across the country. He lives in Saugerties and has been a major contributor to the Town, Village and school system.
Struzzieri announced on Thursday, March 31, that Traub Capital Partners are purchasing a majority share in the HITS operation. “Traub Capital Partners (TCP) will leverage HITS’ exceptional history, track record and reputation as part of its vision to bolster and further investment in the five show locations currently operated by the company,” a press release announcing the investment states.
While Traub Capital will be the majority investor in HITS Shows, Struzzieri retains a substantial ownership stake in the operation, and will continue to oversee it, the release states.
“The investment by TCP will allow HITS to make improvements to all five venues with the goal of not only investing in the facilities and infrastructure, but also in elevating the level of service and hospitality.”
Struzzieri is quoted in the release as saying, “TCP is the ideal partner for HITS, as they have a history of backing companies in the sport enthusiast industry as well as expertise in the aspirational and lifestyle categories. Our new partners will provide us with strategic capital investments and will ensure that our exhibitors and their horses are supported to the highest degree.” Struzzieri was not at the HITS office in Saugerties on Friday.
Saugerties supervisor Fred Costello said that the new partnership will be good for Saugerties. In addition to promoting tourism in the Town and bringing in revenue, HITS has offered the Town both the draw of one of the largest hunter/jumper venues in the country and the many activities that draw the community during the show season.
HITS has also been a good neighbor, Costello said, citing Struzzieri’s funding of sports programs at Saugerties High School when the school could not afford a varsity sports program and the funding of a nursing program at the school. During the lockdown in the worst of the corona virus pandemic, Struzzieri provided thousands of meals in Saugerties through a countywide program to ensure that people whose children had received subsidized lunches at school or received food through programs that had lapsed during the pandemic continued to be fed.
Costello cited the synergy between the successful HITS operation and the funding and advice that TCP could provide.
From HITS’ description of itself on its home page: “For more than 40 years, HITS has established itself as an industry leader and the largest producer of hunter/jumper horse shows in the United States. HITS revolutionized the industry when it produced three of the then-richest Grand Prix in the world. By the numbers HITS, operates five venues; 46 weeks of sanctioned hunter/jumper competitions; six weeks of dressage events; and 65,000 horses expected to compete in 2022. Based in the Village of Saugerties, New York, HITS is a national company producing horse shows in Ocala, Florida; Culpeper, Virginia; Wayne, Illinois; East Dorset, Vermont; and Saugerties, New York. www.hitsshows.com.”
Traub Capital Partners Describes itself as “a New York-based strategic private equity firm specializing in building value in consumer companies using its unique combination of investment, strategic and operational expertise as well as a culture-led, engaged approach. The fund targets investments in companies with revenue between $50 and $250 million. To learn more about Traub Capital Partners, visit www.traubcapitalpartners.com.”
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