It Schoor Makes Horse Sense

Thirty years ago, a cash-strapped client offered engineer Howard Schoor a 50% interest in a race horse named “Farm Nibble” to settle a bill of a couple of thousand dollars owed to his engineering firm. At the time Schoor had never even ridden a horse, but he accepted nonetheless.

What started as a chance foray turned into a passion that later made good business sense, too. Today, Schoor owns one of the largest training farms on the East Coast for harness horses, which has its own race track and a dozen horses. Showplace Farms, his 140-acre facility in Millstone, has a capacity of 450 horses, an all-weather track, a heated indoor swimming and therapy pool for horses, and blacksmith and tack shops.

Schoor, 64, is better known as the founder and chairman emeritus of Schoor DePalma of Manalapan, one of the state’s largest design and engineering firms. Over the 35 years since its founding, it has grown to 13 offices in three states, 650 employees and $76 million in revenues last year.