Trainer Anthony Granitz was born in Chicago, Illinois on October 25, 1963. He began learning about horses at the age of 13, when he took a summer job looking after his neighbors’ horses.  “I mucked stalls, rode, just took care of them,’ says Granitz. 

He took out his trainer’s license in 1981 at the Illinois race track BalmoralPark. Since then, Granitz’s barn has expanded to include a string of 14 horses at Tampa Bay Downs, 5 at Hawthone Race Course and several in Ocala.  “We enjoy racing at Tampa. It’s our second season and everyone’s really nice,” Granitz says of his time spent at the Oldsmar oval.  He says that his most memorable horse is False Promises, because, “those were the clients that introduced my wife Joy and I to my daughter Eve’s birth parents.” Granitz has two other daughters aside from three-year-old Eve: Tiffanie (18) and Taylor (15).

Anthony Granitz is actively involved in the Tampa Bay Downs division of the Race Track Chaplaincy of America and is President of the Illinois division of the charity. “It meets the spiritual needs of the people of the backside.” On March 17, Granitz was the auctioneer for the Tampa Bay Downs Race Track Chaplaincy of America’s annual Hearts Reaching Out auction.  He says of being an auctioneer, “I thought it was a challenge. The biggest thing is trying to keep an eye on who bid the last bid- you have to make sure that you don’t sell an item to the wrong person!”

After the Tampa Bay Downs meet concludes, Anthony Granitz will return to Chicago over the summer, but says, “I told my dad that I’m not coming back until they cut the grass twice; he hasn’t even seen grass yet, so I’m not packing!”