If there is someone to root for, it is Joe Tartaglia.

The Stage 4 cancer patient will fulfill a dream when he competes in the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s National Horseplayers Championship this weekend at the Horseshoe Las Vegas.

Tartaglia, 49, was introduced to racing when he was five years old. He established Little Blue Bird Stables in 2019 to make ownership accessible to middle-class fans and has significantly grown the operation since then. His love of the game – and for life – could not run deeper.

“I’ve been a bettor my entire life. The game has been good to me,” he said. “The NHC is a once in a lifetime opportunity and it comes at an interesting time in my life. I want to take full advantage of it.”

Joe, son Luke, and friend. (Courtesy of Joe Tartaglia)

Tartaglia and his wife, Kaleigh, have two sons, Andrew, 8, and Luke, 5. Times do not get more challenging than they are now.

The New York native was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2023. Doctors felt certain that surgery could eradicate the disease only to find during the operation that the malignancy had spread.

“I woke up from surgery thinking I was going to be cured. I found out it got worse,” Tartaglia  said, breaking down often during the course of a phone interview from his home in Austin, Texas.  “The immediate response to waking up to a different diagnosis was ‘I’m dying soon.’ You just immediately think the worst.”

Doctors offer no hope of a cure through treatment. “The goal is to stabilize and shrink, if possible,” Tartaglia said. “We tried to see if surgery was an option, but it’s not.”

He is determined to live as fully as he can for as long as he can. “I don’t know what the future looks like. There’s a ton of uncertainty,” he said. “I know I’m going to be here for another six months. You start to think in these short windows.”

He spends as much time as possible with family. His father, Michael, will accompany him to the NHC when he vies for the top prize which could reach approximately $800,000 and an Eclipse Award as the 2025 Horseplayer of the Year. He does not miss a Little League game. He and Kaleigh have booked a three-week vacation in July to Saratoga Springs, N.Y., where heavenly Saratoga Race Course beckons. He is doing everything possible to help Little Blue Bird Stables to succeed.

“I think what’s keeping him going is family, for sure, and then the horses and the whole operation itself,” said Nicolai Lazar, director of growth for Little Blue Bird and a good friend. “If he didn’t have these two things going for him, I don’t want to think about it.”

At Saratoga with Mark Hennig, Flavien Prat, and Drew. (Courtesy of Joe Tartaglia)

Tartaglia and Lazar met through what was then Twitter. Once Lazar had his first phone conversation with the founder, he was all in.

“What sold the whole group for me was Joe,” he said. “I didn’t feel I was getting a slick car salesman kind of thing. I really felt he was getting into it for the right reasons.”

Lazar added, “He’s a good guy top to bottom.”

Lazar’s intuition did not betray him.

Tartaglia observed a landscape dotted with partnerships that deal in regally-bred horses with price tags that made them unthinkable for the average person. For the 180 partners it has grown into, Little Blue Bird is doable and a blast.

“I like to say we’re the group that gets together at the bar, not the luxury suite. We have awesome fans of racing and awesome owners,” Tartaglia said. “We’ll let the big boys play in the higher ranks and buy expensive horses. There are a lot of people who love this game and want to be involved but can’t do so at the higher level. We created something that is mid-tier.”

Little Blue Bird has grown from the purchase of one yearling, Devil’s Edge, to 15 horses. It claims horses, buys yearlings and 2-year-olds and owns four broodmares. Tartaglia eagerly awaits the arrival of next year’s foals while recognizing that he cannot look too far ahead.

For now, Tartaglia is intent on savoring every moment, every deep breath. “I want to make these last years count,” he said.

Here is to Saratoga in July!