Taylor Kingsley was in the midst of a smoky drive home from Delaware Park, where the races had been canceled due to poor air quality caused by Canadian wildfires, when her phone rang. “What are you up to on Monday?” her former boss, Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, asked. “Not much,” Kingsley replied. “Probably just breezing some horses at Fair Hill [Training Center in Maryland].”
On opening day of the 1954 Del Mar meet, a young rider named Bill Shoemaker was less than a month from turning 23 years old. Though still in the early chapter of what would become a storied career, the native Texan found himself the engineer of the most dominant run by any jockey that had ever competed at the seaside track.
This is a story about love and passion. Stephanie and Kosta Hronis fell in love and were married in 2013. She had attended one race to that point. Kosta and his brother, Pete, had established their own racing stable in 2010, one that was on its way to national prominence.
