For some, it starts with a love of racing—perhaps a parent who imparts their passion for the game onto their child from an early age. For others, it might start with a job on the backstretch, working as a hot walker or a groom—if you work long enough, you can usually find a mentor willing to detail the finer points of the sport.

But for trainers like Rodney Jenkins, the desire to race is an expression of a larger career trajectory that began in the show ring and ends at the racetrack.

“I always liked racing when I was younger but since I rode show horses, I was just a little too heavy to ride a racehorse,” joked Jenkins. “But I love racehorses, they're beautiful animals and to be honest, that's why I went back to training.”

As modestly as he mentions his show jumping career, Jenkins was anything but the typical rider on the competitive circuit. Born in Middleburg, Va., Jenkins first began riding with his father, Enis, an avid huntsman and active with several fox hunting groups.

Jenkins' first professional foray into show jumping came when he was 17. While showing remained his central focus, he dabbled in racehorse training on the side.

Beginning in the late 1960s, Jenkins established himself as a force to be reckoned with in the show ring. His most famous mount was Idle Dice, a former Thoroughbred racehorse whose second career would more than eclipse his modest record on the track.

Together, the pair would win the Grands Prix at New York, Devon, Detroit, and Cleveland; the President's Cup in 1971 and 1972; and the Grand Prix Horse of the Year in 1977, among many other accolades. Idle Dice was the first horse inducted into the Show Jumping Hall of Fame in 1987.

The most decorated rider in the history of U.S. show jumping, Jenkins himself was inducted into the Show Jumping Hall of Fame in 1999. In total, he won a record 70 Grand Prix-level competitions before retiring in 1989.

When he show jumping career came to an end, Jenkins decided it was time to pivot his career back to racing. In 1991, he struck out on his own, training primarily in the Mid-Atlantic area where he remains today.

“I started training steeplechasers first and the only reason I really did that was because they were jumpers,” said Jenkins. “I really enjoyed it but as far as the business goes, I knew that racing on the flat was where the business was. There is so much more opportunity to do that.

“While I was doing steeplechase, I was running a few horses on the flat at the same time. After a while, I got a couple more horses running on the track, so I just began to gravitate away and do only that.”

For Jenkins, the challenge of training racehorses comes in the observation. While he admires their natural speed and athleticism, he admits that working with show jumpers was an easier transition for his skills as a horseman.

“For me it was a little bit different moving only to racing because show horses, when you ride, they will show you what kind of ability they have,” said Jenkins. “With racehorses, you have to go a lot by breeding and really pay attention to the way they move. Show horses were always easier because I could jump them myself, and I felt like I knew what it took for a horse to be a good show horse.”

Thirty years after he made the decision to train Thoroughbreds full time, 77-year-old Jenkins remains as enamored with the horses and the game as ever. Based out of Laurel Park, he has logged 927 victories from 4,573 starts to date with just over $24 million in purse earnings.

Currently, Jenkins has 17 horses in training in his barn, but continues to shop the sales for his clients each year, buying yearlings and breaking 2-year-olds—many of them Maryland-breds—ahead of starting them on the track.

Among his current contingent is his most successful trainee, Cordmaker, who most recently captured the Richard W. Small Stakes on Nov. 27 at Laurel Park. With $734,640 in purses and an 11-4-7 record from 33 starts, the 6-year-old son of Curlin has more than proven himself to Jenkins.

“It's been a thrill to see him do well,” said Jenkins. “He was a slow comer, but he's really turned it around and turned into a really nice horse. We haven't thought about what he'll do in 2022 yet. We have a race (Robert T. Manfuso Stakes) coming up next Sunday at Laurel Park, so we will run him there and then see what happens after that. We have quite a bit to look forward to.”

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At 15, the New Orleans, La., native first stepped onto the Fair Grounds racetrack and into the barn of Hall of Famer Jack Van Berg. At 18, he began riding and eventually became a jockey, a job he'd hold for almost 10 years winning 1,792 races.

At 27, plagued by knee issues, he struck out on his own and began training and 38 years later he's still at it. From the countless horses that have passed through his hands he can claim three Eclipse Award-winning champions in Dreaming of Anna, Stephanie's Kitten, and She Be Wild.

“I did not grow up around horses. I was never one of those guys that tell you how they were sat on a horse when they were two and grew up that way,” said Catalano. “I grew up in New Orleans, so I came really late to the game but I had a great opportunity because I started with Jack Van Berg. He was one of the greatest trainers and greatest teachers in the business. He taught horsemanship and hard work and those two ingredients will get you a long way in this business.”

Having banked more than $72 million in career purse earnings, Catalano has no intentions of ramping down. The number that would mean the most to him now would be 3,000—the number of victories he needs to join a class of trainers to have risen to the challenge.

“I have 2,937 wins at the moment,” said Catalano. “We're not too far away considering that there are only maybe 36 trainers in the country who have 3,000-plus wins. We're not slowing down yet; we've still got a lot of life left in us.”

Sixty-three wins, while daunting, seem within the horseman's grasp. Now 65, he's been on a bit of roll in 2021, hitting the board in 95 of his 223 starts to date, 42 of those being wins. For the first time in 10 years, Catalano returned to the winner's circle on the biggest stage in Thoroughbred racing when his 4-year-old colt Aloha West claimed the title in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint Nov. 6 at Del Mar. While the Hard Spun colt only began racing in February, he's proved himself to be a credible runner with plenty of potential to keep the momentum going as an older horse.

“It was really, really nice,” said Catalano of the Breeders' Cup win. “He (Aloha West) is a playful little boy but he's a good boy. He's a nice little horse. He gets a little excited sometimes but he's started to settle down. He's maturing and he's become a good racehorse.”

“We won the trainer's title at Churchill Downs and Kentucky Downs,” said Catalano. “I think we hold the record at Kentucky Downs of 15 wins in five days. We won over 100 races at Churchill, so we have done well.”

These days Aloha West is one of only about 20 horses in Catalano's barn, 12 or so of which are actively racing. He supplements his barn with horses he breeds and races from his own program in Illinois, raising small crops from a band of four mares with the help of his wife Renee.

“We've won a bunch of races with homebreds. They might not have been big races but just to breed a winner is hard enough,” said Catalano. “For more than 30 years we've been living on our farm. We've had a lot of winners and a lot of fun. My wife loves it and she gets to raise the babies in the backyard. It's great. We have three or four mares and we breed to small stallions. We enjoy it and to raise babies and then watch them win is the most incredible feeling.”

Lately, things have been in an ever-changing state for the Illinois resident. After nearly a century, Arlington Park has been closed to the public. The last race on the historic track was run in late September of 2021, and the Chicago Bears signed an agree to purchase the track the same month. Catalano said the general upheaval that the closure has caused in the industry is yet another sign of change in the industry, one that makes life a little bit harder on the horsemen.

“The game is not the same. It's just not the same as it used to be,” said Catalano. “A lot of racetracks are closing. If you're not established, it's even harder. In Chicago when we were there we had the horses and the clientele and it went well. Then they took that away and I got relocated to Kentucky.

“The foal crop and the horses are also light. The crops are so much smaller. There used to be 40,000 or 50,000 horses and now I think it's closer to 20,000. You can see that all the fields are light no matter the money they're giving away. It's also a deal that now the way the industry is today, it's taken a lot of fun out of the game. We used to have a lot of fun. We would gather up before and after the races and have fun. Of course, that being said, when you win the Breeders' Cup, it's always fun. Those are the moments you're there for and you hang on for.”

While his barn might have a smaller roster than his competitors, Catalano is not wanting for talent in his quest for 3,000 wins. At the moment, his most recent Breeders' Cup star Aloha West is taking time off ahead of 2022 campaign that is being mapped out by his owner, Aron Wellman of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners.

“He [Aloha West] will take a couple months off, get ready for another campaign and we'll try to win the Breeders' Cup again,” said Catalano.

Also conditioned by Catalano is Manny Wah, a stakes-winning son of Will Take Charge who ran fifth in last year's Breeder's Cup Sprint.

“Manny Wah probably should have won the Breeders' Cup last year, but we're hoping he can win it this year,” said Catalano. “We can't wait to get him back on the turf. We also have a couple young ones coming.”

A personal triumph for Catalano is the up-and-coming Big Dreaming (by Declaration of War), who holds spot in the trainer's hear as the last foal out of Dreaming of Anna.

“He's a big, good-looking, good-running horse,” said Catalano. “She [Dreaming of Anna] passed away so he's the last baby and he's a good one. [Owner/breeder] Frank Calabrese was very nice to let me have the last baby out of her because we don't really train for him at the moment. He promised me the baby and we've done very well so far. He's a good horse and we're looking at big races going forward.

With a new year on the horizon and plenty of days on the racing calendar ahead, Catalano remains hopeful he'll add the elusive 3,000^th win to his résumé. Numbers aside, the lifelong horseman knows the real joy lies in just enjoying the ride.

“It'll be a little bit but we'll get there,” said Catalano. “We have been on a little run there. We've won seven races out of the last 19 and one was a Breeders' Cup. So I hope that roll continues.

“We've developed a lot of horses. I've been very fortunate to have had opportunities that I took advantage of and been able to race some really nice horses.”

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Standing railside at Keeneland on a balmy fall afternoon, Leonard could hardly believe his luck when 2-year-old trainee California Angel edged her competition by a head in the final strides of the Grade 2 Jessamine Stakes. The hard-fought victory was the first graded stakes and a long-awaited moment for the lifelong horseman, coming a full 30 years after he took out his training license.

“The race was awesome,” said Leonard. “It was the race of a lifetime. I played that race over 1,000 times in my mind and it came out just the way I wrote it up. I was leaning and leaning and leaning yelling, 'Hurry, hurry, hurry!' while she was running, but it was so exciting. The last part was just unbelievable to see her get there in time. It was a lot of relief. I was extremely happy, and things just turned out great. I couldn't ask for any better.”

With the Jessamine win, Leonard will have to reconsider any fall travel plans on his calendar. The final domestic race for the Breeders' Cup “Win and You're In” Challenge Series, the Jessamine provides California Angel with an automatic berth in the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf Nov. 5 at Del Mar.

A trip to the World Championships has, until now, seemed more of a pipe dream than a realistic prospect for Leonard, who began his career under his father, trainer George Leonard, Jr., in his home state of Louisiana.

“I've been in horses my whole life, my father was also a trainer, but he had a job, so we just had weekends,” said Leonard. “I went to school and before and after I would help with horses. We would race on the weekend at Delta Downs and in area tracks in Louisiana.”

For a large portion of his solo career, Leonard has been based out of Indiana, where he now keeps a 19-horse stable. While he has won several minor stakes races, he tends to keep his horses close to home, running primarily in Indiana and at Keeneland, Kentucky Downs, Churchill Downs, and other local venues.

But with her hard-running style and overall class, California Angel is a different beast from the other horses in Leonard's barn.

A striking chestnut — like her sire and Horse of the Year, California Chrome — California Angel first appeared on Leonard's radar in June when he attended the Ocala Breeders' Sales June 2-Year-Olds in Training and Horses of Racing Age Sale. On this particular trip to Central Florida, Leonard was looking to buy a horse for owner and friend Chris Walsh and was immediately taken with California Angel's demeanor and workman-like attitude.

California Angel (California Chrome) wins the Jessamine Stakes (G2) at Keeneland on 10.13.21. Rafael Bejarano up, George Leonard III trainer, Chris Walsh owner.

“I liked her athleticism and the way she walked and how she was made,” said Leonard. “She looked like she had a lot of potential. She's a sleek, muscular filly, not overweight but with really strong muscle and a good way of moving. I just really liked her. I also liked her eye. She had a very smart eye and she just impressed me. I was glad to get her, I just had no idea that she would be as good as she turned out to be.”

Bred in Kentucky by Irish National Stud out of the winning Tiz Wonderful mare Sea Mona, Leonard purchased the filly at OBS for $5,500 from the Little Farm Equine consignment.

Sent out for her debut Sept. 8 at Kentucky Downs, California Angel broke her maiden by 2 3/4 lengths going one mile on the turf. And it was that performance that planted the Jessamine Stakes seed in Leonard's brain that maybe this new filly had a bit more in the tank than his previous trainees.

“After she broke her maiden at Kentucky Downs, I knew she had done it with problems — a bad start. But for her to circle that field and do what she did I thought she was special,” said Leonard. “Looking forward I saw the Jessamine so I decided that we would aim for that. I gave her a race at Churchill Downs [a Sept. 30 allowance optional claiming race where she finished third] to give her a little experience and get some good work. From that I wanted to come back and put her in the Jessamine if everything went according to plan. We got lucky that it all worked out.

“Before the race even comes up there are so many factors that can happen that will get you beat. Everything has to go right for you to win. Then to win the Jessamine, it was a surreal feeling. But that's been the thing with her from the time we bought her. Everything has gone according to plan. We haven't had any bumps in the road which is why it has been so special. It's so unusual for that to happen. Two-year-olds usually come down with a cold or other issues, but she's just been a dream.”

With less than a month to go before the World Championships, a trip to the West Coast for California Angel, Leonard, and Walsh looms ahead. But while Leonard may have butterflies at the very idea of running Nov. 5, he's more than confident that his filly can handle the trip across the country and around the California track.

“We talked about it before thinking, 'Well, if we go to California …' and now it's here,” said Leonard. “It's really happening. It's all come to fruition. It's all in front of us so we have to make a lot of things happen. But [California Angel] is all business. I've never had a 2-year-old as professional as she is. I can haul her anywhere. She very seldom does anything strange. She has a very good personality. What you look for in a horse, she has it. You would think she's five or six. I have older horses that when I haul them, they're so nervous, but once you put in her the trailer she's as comfortable as she would be in her own stall.”

After more than three decades watching the Breeders' Cup from the sidelines, Leonard is more than ready to fly West with California Angel— grateful for the filly who has blessed her connections with new opportunities and the chance to compete on the world stage.

“It's hard to believe that I have a horse in the Breeders' Cup,” said Leonard. “I watch the Breeders' Cup every year, but I don't have that caliber of horse. I don't have four or five babies aimed at the Breeders' Cup like others do. It's unreal for me, but it's such a good place to be in.”

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Opening weekend at Keeneland delivered results that may have Lobo saddling three Breeders' Cup contenders this year, as Brazilian-bred In Love powered to an authoritative lead in the stretch of the Grade 1 Keeneland Turf Mile while accomplished stablemate Ivar, another Brazilian-bred, finished fourth. The victory earned In Love a spot in the G1 Breeders' Cup Mile at Del Mar on Nov. 6, and Lobo said Ivar (who won Keeneland's Shadwell Turf Mile last year) may go to the Mile as well if he can get a spot. Ivar finished fourth in last year's Breeders' Cup Mile. In September, Argentine-bred Imperador held off a late bid from Arklow to win the G2 Calumet Turf Cup at Kentucky Downs, earning a spot in the G1 Breeders' Cup Turf.

All three runners are co-owned by Bonne Chance Farm and Stud R.D.I. LLC.

“It's my first year to try to take three horses,” Lobo said. “I'm very happy. You need to enjoy the moment. It's not easy to have three good horses in the barn at the same time.”

Although it will be Lobo's first time taking multiple shooters to a Breeders' Cup, it won't be his first appearance there.

Lobo is a fourth-generation horseman who grew up going to the racetrack with his father in his native Brazil. He has a brother who is an auctioneer and an uncle who is a veterinarian. Training horses was a foregone conclusion for him, and he's happy about that. Lobo began as an assistant to his father in 1987 and hung out his own shingle eight years later, quickly becoming the youngest trainer in Brazil to win a race at the age of 26.

But for Lobo, the dream was always to train in the United States.

Trainer Paulo Lobo

“Since I started, way back in '87, I always wanted to try here in America,” he said. “Following the good horses, the good trainers, the good jockeys. I don't know, something inside me, I always wanted to try it here.”

He came to this country at the start of 2001. At the time, he was the American outpost for a Brazilian owner who had bought five yearlings out of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale in fall 2000. One of the five was a filly Lobo said he knew was special from the start.

“She was an exceptional filly,” he said. “Since the beginning, since when I started to breeze them, she was very precocious. She won first time out at Del Mar at a mile, very impressively. The first half-mile, when she worked for me, I was very pleased with her.”

That bay filly turned out to be Farda Amiga, would win the 2002 G1 Kentucky Oaks and G1 Alabama before finishing second in the Breeders' Cup Distaff that year. She won the 2002 Eclipse Award for Champion 3-Year-Old Filly, giving Lobo a red-hot start to his American career. The next year, he had graded stakes winner Quero Quero in his barn, who brought him a win in the G2 Honeymoon Breeders' Cup Handicap and seconds in the G1 Milady Breeders' Cup Handicap, G3 Wilshire, and G3 Las Cienegas. Another year later, he brought Pico Central (BRZ) over from South America and developed one of the most dominant sprinters of the 2004 season, recording G1 victories in the Carter and Metropolitan Handicaps and Vosburgh Stakes in New York and G2 San Carlos Handicap in California.

A trainer simply couldn't hope for better advertising at the start of their career than three horses competing in the graded stakes levels so convincingly.

“Even in my best dream, no [I couldn't have imagined that start]” he said.

Lobo trained in California and in New York before transitioning to his current base in Kentucky. Since many of his clients still have ties to South America's racing and breeding industry, he's accustomed to taking horses like In Love who start their careers south of the equator and are asked to transition to America. He said there's no real pattern to finding out which South American imports will succeed in the States and which won't, and there isn't a particular track or circuit that seems inherently better at helping them make the transition.

Most of the time, Lobo said the trainer or manager in Brazil will tell him which horses on a plane load they think is the most talented on their home turf, but Lobo has found it could easily reverse once they step onto American soil. The lesser of two competitors could thrive while the other may struggle with the tighter turns and fizzle. It takes Lobo four or five months to really know what he's got.

“The transition is not easy,” he said. “Some really good horses, sometimes they don't ever show up. It happens.”

In Love, Lobo said, was one who came to him with a respectable, if not dazzling resume at home, and then took some time to settle in. He was from the same crop as Imperador and Ivar, and they were all turned out together when they were young. The trainer who sent Lobo the horse had the highest hopes for In Love, but it took him some time to validate that faith.

Although he won an allowance at Keeneland impressively last year, In Love ran relatively disappointing races in the next three starts. Lobo took him to Arlington Park in search of friendlier competition and noticed the horse dawdled on the lead, focusing on his competitors to his inside instead of the wire. Lobo added blinkers and saw a big improvement with a victory in the TVG Stakes at Kentucky Downs one month prior to the Turf Mile.

True to the horse's name, Lobo said In Love is a kind soul around the barn, making his job easier. He feels good about the horse's chances in the Breeders' Cup Mile. If anything, he thinks In Love could be just as happy running farther – someday.

“He's bred for more distance, this horse,” he said of the son of the Sunday Silence stallion Agnes Gold. “No doubt about it – he can go a mile and a quarter, even a mile and a half. But he's working well this way, let's keep it this way.”

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“He (Hickman) was a trainer for years and he had a house in Indiana so when my mom moved to Indiana with him, I would go visit,” he said. “He kept all his racehorses in his barn and when I saw the first one, I was hooked. I just knew, 'I have to have one of these.' And the rest is history.”

More than 20 years later and Wente is on the precipice of one of the best seasons of his life as a breeder. His farm, St. Simon Place, recently produced stakes winner Hidden Connection (by Connect), who took the Grade 3 Pocahontas Stakes on Sept. 18 at Churchill Downs. The filly, along with several others already making an impression on the track, could send Wente and his partners to the Breeders' Cup World Championships with a roster that many Thoroughbred breeders never achieve.

But back in 1999 when Wente made his first foray into racing, the idea of the World Championships — or any graded stakes race for that matter — seemed a world away from his reality.

“My stepdad was a trainer and he got me my first horse,” said Wente. “I actually ended up losing that horse in a fire at a Quarter Horse track in Henderson, Ky. So that didn't go very well. But I stayed in the business, and I started off in the Indiana-bred program because that's where I'm from. I started at the bottom with no money, and we were foaling a lot of junk, but I thought it was the best thing in the world.”

Working and breeding in Indiana, Wente spent several years in the Hoosier State building up his program and his contacts. When the day-to-day operations began to stagnate, and with the allure of bigger prizes just over the state line, he decided it was time to make a change and shift the center of his operations south of the Mason-Dixon.

“It got to the point where I wasn't getting anywhere. I felt like I was in a rut,” said Wente. “So, I had a buddy of mine in Kentucky that had a farm, and I had a chance to move in on that deal. I just made the switch and came down. I have two partners now, they're sod famers — Calvin Crain and Shane Crain — So they do sod and I do horses.”

The trio now owns and operates St. Simon Place, a nearly 400-acre farm in Lexington, Ky. While the Crains focus on their sod business, the Kentucky Turf Company, Wente keeps his priority on the horses. In addition to breeding and foaling, the farm also offers yearling prep, lay-up, and boarding.

With the move to Kentucky came the opportunity for more frequent visits to the sales grounds and Wente wasted little time in buying. His strategy from the start was to suss out the diamonds in the rough: mares with minimal price tags that hold the prospect of future returns.

Hidden Connection wins the G3 Pocahontas Stakes at Churchill Downs.

“I bought a few mares and one of those that I bought was C J's Gal, who is the dam of Hidden Connection,” he said. “She was only about $9,500. Then the other mare we bought was Jazz Tune, she was $20,000. Actually, she just had a winner the other day by Connect, a maiden special weight winner.

“Our 2-year-old crop this year is unbelievable. I sold and Indiana-bred for $130,000 in October last year. Donato Lanni bought her for Quarter Pole, and she (Electric Ride) ended up getting a TDN Rising Star mention on his first time out. I also bought a mare out of a sale named Spanish Star for $1,500 and I bred her to Trappe Shot. After that baby was born, Sir Winston won the Belmont Stakes (G1) and he is Spanish Star's half-brother, so I ended up selling her for $150,000 privately. That baby, One Timer, is entered in the Speakeasy Stakes at Santa Anita.

“Then we have the 2-year-old out of Jazz Tune, Rattle N Roll, broke his maiden at Churchill and he's nominated for the Claiborne Breeders' Futurity (G1) at Keeneland. I don't know if it will work out, but it's just so exciting because that's a “Win and You're In” race for the Breeders' Cup. And of course, Hidden Connection looks like the real deal and we're all so excited to see what she does.

“I think I spent like $300,000 at Keeneland last year in November and I got a lot of babies out of those mares. All of those will go straight into the sale this November. I thought last year was a buyer's market so that's why I bought, and it really looks like it'll pay off because I got some fantastic foals.”

Today, Wente's broodmare band is comprised of close to 45 mares, several of which he owns with another partner, Scott Stevens. That being said, he does have plans to pare down in the coming months. Both C J's Gal and Why Oh You — the dam of Electric Ride — are entered in The November Sale, Fasig-Tipton's premier breeding stock sale, with the understanding that if their foals don't jump up to hit the board in their next races, they could remain with Wente on the farm.

“I'm getting to the point though where I don't want to get much bigger,” said Wente. “I'm working on trying to get some numbers down because I get more happiness out of buying cheap mares, watching them hit, and then reselling them for more money. I love that part of the game. We're getting hefty offers on C J's Gal, but I was informed to shut that down. If hers or one of the foals hit, then I'll probably sell. I know those mares are hard to find, but I can't always afford to keep them.”

While he now breeds largely in Kentucky, Wente continues to foal out a handful of mares in Indiana and shares part ownership of the stallion Speightsong, who stands at Swifty Farm in Seymore, Ind. Wente does race some of his stock with trainer Mark Casse, but his priorities lay heavily with breeding and selling. With so much upside in the pipeline — from Hidden Connection to Elective Ride, to One Timer, to Rattle N Roll — Wente finally feels that he, and his horses, have found their stride.

“We had an incredible yearling sale this year,” said Wente. “I think we sold eight horses for $756,000. None were spectacular but they were all good horses, and it was a great sale for everyone. I think I have a pretty good program going and I've gotten to work with some great people like Carrie and Craig Brogden of Machmer Hall, who consign my yearlings. I owe a lot to them, they steered me the right way. I also have friends I count on like Tim and Nancy Hamlin at Wynnstay. They've taught me a lot, too. I'm just blessed that I've met so many people who really help me.

“I'm not afraid to listen and learn things. I don't know it all, I just take it all in. With this game, the highs are the highs, and the lows are the lows. There is not in between. You will have more lows than highs, but you have to keep pushing through. It just seems like everything we did and the money we spent is coming full circle. I don't know the method to my madness, but it seems to work. I'm just very blessed.”

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Chichakly spent several years as an assistant to Gary Contessa, a longtime fixture on the New York circuit. When Contessa announced his retirement from public training in March 2020, he made it clear his departure was not the result of disillusion with the horses, but the headaches of running the business. Recent investigations by the U.S. Department of Labor have put a number of high-profile New York trainers in the crosshairs, adding time-keeping and record-keeping practices on top of the mountain of paperwork it takes to navigate a constricting federal visa program and recruiting skilled help.

“When I had 100 horses, I could absorb this, but when I have 40 horses and 20 of them are so-so, it's not enough to overcome what the Department of Labor is expecting of us,” Contessa said at the time. “There was a time when I was a 'super trainer' and I did very well. When you had the occasional owner who defaulted on you, you had the horses you got stuck with, you had Department of Labor audits, winning would overcome all of that stuff. But when you have a smaller stable — unless you do everything yourself — I don't see how you can do this.”

Into these woes walked Chichakly, who had long pondered putting out her own shingle.

“I pretty much got the choice of, I could take Gary's offer to take things on or be jobless,” she said. “Nobody was hiring anybody at the time. I don't like sitting idle, so I decided I was going full steam into this.”

When Chichakly got the call from Contessa, she had just learned she was pregnant with her daughter, though she wasn't yet sharing that publicly. The timing probably could not have been more challenging, but it also wasn't a good time to suddenly become unemployed. She had decided some time before that she needed at least eight horses to make a profit, and with Contessa's offer to transition previous owners over to her, she had 11.

In her time working for Contessa and Wayne Catalano, she had seen the glories of being a trainer but also the headaches. It seemed there were an awful lot of headaches, but like many people in this business, the lure of the horse made it seem worth it.

“Looking at it I thought, it's not so glorious to be a trainer,” she said. “But I do love figuring out horses, putting the pieces together and figuring out what works for them. I like to be able to find the best parts of the horse and making sure they're happy, too.”

Chichakly multi-tasks in the barn aisle

Chichakly has galloped for many years and still gets on her own string as often as she can, having discovered she can often feel little changes she doesn't always see from the ground. Her dressage training enables her to not only pick up on weaknesses and asymmetry, but also to work in stretching and bending to help correct those issues before they turn into big problems.

In addition to the usual woes of struggling to hire reliable help and get each the day's work done, Chichakly also believes there's a sense of jealousy toward new trainers on the backstretch.

“I think that's true for any young trainer starting out,” she said. “There's always doubters, people who are waiting for someone to fail. I don't think that's specific to me, I see it with other people too. Being a female trainer, too. There are people out there that say we can't do it. Number one word out there is 'crazy.' People love saying that word … I know another female trainer right now who's going through that. She feels like people are actively rooting against her and I don't think she's wrong, because I hear people talking about her or other young trainers. 'Oh they'll never make it,' 'Oh they don't know what they're doing,' or 'They won't last that long.' And it's sad, because we need small trainers for racing to survive. They don't understand their competition is not the person who's got five horses, it's the person who has 500 horses.

“If someone's passionate enough to be here every day, you should be rooting for them. Because there aren't that many left.”

A year and a half later though, things are coming together. Chichakly has saddled 11 winners and is already graded stakes-placed, thanks to Limonite, who picked up third in the Grade 3 Excelsior and second in the Stymie earlier this year. Now, her hopes are high for 2-year-old Our Tiny Dancer, who broke her maiden at Delaware Park Sept. 9 and is entered in the Joseph A. Gimma Stakes at Belmont on Sept. 24. The New York-bred filly was the first winner for sire Union Jackson.

“Because of COVID-19 and being pregnant, then a new mother and a new business owner with little help, I really couldn't get to the sales early on,” Chichakly recalled. “Something I had been so excited for as a trainer, I had to miss. This year, I was getting really frustrated missing OBS and not having 2-year-olds and I knew I had to go to Maryland myself. I'm sure everyone was laughing at the dog and baby in tow but I brought them both to all the under tack shows.

“Right away the Union Jacksons stood out to me, despite not knowing him as a racehorse.”

Chichakly had her eye on several, but found herself either priced out or outbid. Contessa was also at the sale and tipped her off to the chestnut filly, ultimately acting as agent for the purchase as Chichakly signed her first sales ticket. Owned by a partnership including John Moirano, Pines Stables, John Irwin and Sallie P Thoroughbred Racing, Chichakly took a few starts to figure out exactly what the filly needed – soft turf wasn't her thing, and she missed her break in her first dirt start. She took a small string to Delaware Park for a week – with no staff – expecting there would be a place for the filly that would be a little friendlier.

“She delivered above and beyond my hopes for that start,” said Chichakly. “She's not magically a Breeders' Cup-type horse, but she packs quite a punch and should be quite capable in New York fields moving forward.”

One of Chichakly's watercolors

Never one to sit idly, Chichakly still does much of the hot walking, stall cleaning, and grooming herself in addition to the usual training responsibilities of setting schedules, reading condition books, dealing with the books. When she isn't doing the job of several people, she also dabbles in the visual arts. She sometimes helps photograph major race days for the New York Racing Association if she's not running horses, and paints watercolors – all while juggling care of her young daughter. On Whitney Day, she was marching up and down the track with a 9-month-old baby in a pack on her back.

“Someone got a picture I think, I had her on my back and one camera on one shoulder and the other camera on the other shoulder,” Chichakly said. “I think when you're a horseman you're a multitasker anyway. When I was assistant trainer for Gary, he'd leave me sometimes with 60 horses at Belmont when they were in Saratoga, and I was on the pony too and sometimes riding. To be able to watch everything and get through the day, to have people not show up you get really used to having one thought here and one thought there, and working it as you're moving. You don't think about how much you actually did until you sit down at the end of the day and realize how tired you are.”

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“You have to train the horses that you have and you try to do the best you can for the owners that you have,” Ryerson said of the in-between years. “Then at times a nice one comes along, I think we have an idea of what to do with them when we get them. But if you should ever think that it's a given to always have nice horses in the barn, you're in the wrong business!”

With the filly now pointing to the Grade 1 Personal Ensign near the end of the Saratoga meet, 68-year-old Ryerson is remembering to savor the experience along the way.

The trainer had to take his time developing Miss Marissa for owner Alfonso Cammarota, to whom Ryerson was recommended by Frank and Patricia Generazio three years ago. A New York-bred daughter of He's Had Enough, Miss Marissa needed four starts to break her maiden as a 2-year-old, then the pandemic last year caused major interruptions in the first half of her 3-year-old season.

Miss Marissa really started to put it all together last July, winning an allowance race at Ryerson's old stomping grounds of Monmouth Park to kick off a three-race win streak that culminated in the G2 Black-Eyed Susan at Pimlico in October.

“That all followed stretching her out to two turns, which really helped her,” Ryerson explained. “She then ran a pretty good second in the Ladies (Handicap) in January, got beat by a filly of Todd (Pletcher's), and I didn't think the track was to her liking at all that day. We had made up our minds to give her a break after that, and she's come back very well.”

After a five-month layoff, Miss Marissa ran second to Dream Marie in the listed Obeah Stakes at Delaware on June 9, then stepped up to capture the G2 Delaware 'Cap a month later by 1 ¼ lengths.

“You like to see a filly progress from three to four – she's gonna have to run faster and all – and I think you can see signs that she's doing that,” said Ryerson. “You have Letruska, Swiss Skydiver, some other fillies that ran a good bit faster than her last year, but she's narrowed the gap. I think she has controlling speed, she's not one-dimensional where she has to have the lead, but she can carry her speed and there aren't a lot out there that have done that.”

Miss Marissa wins the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap at Delaware Park.

He acknowledges that the Personal Ensign will be a big step up in class, but Ryerson thinks Miss Marissa is capable of continuing to progress in what will be her third start off the layoff.

“We're stabled here (at Saratoga) and she won here last year, so that goes into it,” the trainer explained. “I think her effort in the Delaware Handicap puts us there. It's a pretty big jump but I think it's time to try and make it, and we've got about six weeks to get ready for that.”

The Personal Ensign is a “Win and You're In” race which offers the winner an expenses-paid berth to the Breeders' Cup Distaff this fall at Del Mar. 

Should Miss Marissa earn a trip to the West Coast, it won't be Ryerson's first experience at the Breeders' Cup. He saddled the winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile in 1995: Unbridled's Song.

Later a champion sire, Unbridled's Song also won the 1996 Florida Derby and Wood Memorial before a well-publicized foot issue leading up to the Kentucky Derby. The colt wound up finishing fifth in the Run for the Roses.

Ryerson also had multiple graded stakes-winning millionaire Park Avenue Ball run in his hometown's Breeders' Cup World Championships at Monmouth Park. in 2007.

“I haven't had too many opportunities in the Breeders' Cup, but this filly, looking at her going into this year, I think if she can win a couple this year, she can get herself in that discussion,” Ryerson said of Miss Marissa.

No matter how this season pans out, Ryerson has come a long way from the 15-year-old kid who walked onto the Monmouth backstretch looking for a summer job. He became a well-known figure on the New Jersey circuit for several decades, but made the decision to move his stable to New York full time about 10 years ago.

“I was looking for a place that I could continue doing what I love doing; because of the lost dates in New Jersey, there were a lot of opportunities lost in the state,” said Ryerson. “My wife and all my kids still live in Monmouth County, along with all our grandchildren, so it wasn't an easy decision to make. 

“My wife understands, but she stays there while I work in New York because it keeps her happy, and I then try to be the grandfather I want to be. You try to make the time. It's not as much as I would like, of course, because it's hard sometimes, but it's doable.”

With 17 horses at Saratoga and another 13 at Belmont, Ryerson said he definitely still enjoys coming to work every morning.

“I know that I'm not getting any younger, but I love doing it and I think that I can offer clients a good option as a horse trainer. I'm probably as busy now, even though I don't have a huge outfit, compared to five years ago, 10 years ago, so I think it's been a good move (to New York).”

Besides, you just never know when the next good horse will walk into your barn.

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“I'm part of a big, global team, just trying to get the boss in the winner's circle,” Burke said. “It's me that's having the good fortune to work with these guys, the whole team. Any time we get to be associated with a horse that's winning, we enjoy knowing that we played a part in it.”

One of the top older horses in training to have come through the Godolphin rehab and pre-training barn Burke runs at Keeneland is Mystic Guide, a 4-year-old son of Ghostzapper being aimed at the Dubai World Cup. Mystic Guide won the G2 Jim Dandy Stakes and placed second in the G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup last year, and began his 2021 campaign with a striking win in the G3 Razorback Stakes at Oaklawn Park on Feb. 27. 

If he can find success in the UAE, Mystic Guide will be just the second winner Godolphin has sent from North America to the $12 million race, following the success of Street Cry in 2002.

That isn't the only reason the colt's success will have extra meaning for Burke, however. The Irish-born trainer counts himself lucky to have had Mystic Guide's dam in his barn when he first started working for Godolphin, and it would be pretty special to watch her have similar success in the broodmare shed to what she was able to achieve on the racetrack.

“Music Note was one of the charter members here at the Rice Road barn,” said Burke. “She was among the first group of horses I was rehabbing, and she turned out to be one of the better horses in America by the time she retired.”

Music Note, a daughter of A.P. Indy, broke her maiden at Aqueduct in November of her 2-year-old year. She would go on to three Grade 1 races as a 3-year-old, and a further two Grade 1 stakes as a 4-year-old. Music Note also ran third in both the 2008 and 2009 editions of the Breeders' Cup Ladies Classic before retiring to Gainsborough Farm with earnings over $1.6 million.

“I'm so glad for her to show up with this caliber of horse,” Burke said. “We've kind of been waiting on her to produce this kind of horse, so it's great to see her do that. You always want them to take that same performance between the rails and bring it to the paddocks.”

Music Note had found mild success in the breeding shed with her second foal, Ventura Highway (Street Cry), a gelding with no black type but a solid record (12-17-12) over 66 starts to earn $217,925 on the track.

The rest of the millionaire mare's offspring had yet to show the same kind of potential she'd had on the track, but that trend changed when Mystic Guide walked into Burke's barn at Keeneland in 2019.

“Usually the 2-year-olds get dispersed out of Ocala to their assigned trainers after the (Kentucky) Derby,” Burke explained. “Instead, he came from Niall Brennan up to me for a little bit, because he wasn't quite as forward. He was a nice, big, good-looking horse, though, and we just worked him a couple of times over the summer but mostly gave him time to grow.”

Mystic Guide went to trainer Michael Stidham's barn at the Fair Grounds before his first start in February of 2020, and the colt's recent effort in the Razorback has shown once again that Burke still knows a good horse when he sees one.

“For him to run a 108 Beyer off the layoff, that kind of thing always makes you feel good,” Burke said. “We'll be cheering him home in Dubai, for sure.”

Ghostzapper colt Mystic Guide wins the Razorback Handicap by six lengths under Luis Saez

Burke knows good horses, thanks to a lifetime of experience from the ground up. 

The son of a steeplechase trainer who served his apprenticeship with the legendary Vincent O'Brien during his pre-Ballydoyle days, Burke has wanted to work with horses for as long as he can remember. 

His father insisted Burke finish school, and as soon as he hit graduation Burke began riding out in the mornings. Burke attended the Irish National Stud Course in 1979, and spent a couple years in Australia before traveling to Lexington.

He spent seven years galloping horses and traveling for future Hall of Fame trainer Carl Nafzger, and eventually took out his own trainer's license.

“I didn't have anything else I knew how to do,” Burke said, laughing. “I ended up with one horse (in the beginning), and said, 'I'll keep going as long as I can.' I made a living at it, galloping a lot of my own horses, and rented half a barn at Paris Pike for a while.

“It's a tough business but a satisfying business, running a public stable. I have no qualms about the fact that I tried it; I wasn't going out with sky high ambitions. You know, they gave me a lemon and I tried to make lemonade.”

He trained a couple maiden winners for Godolphin over the course of his career, and in 2006, Burke got a call from Jimmy Bell about the organization's desire to open a year-round operation in a barn on Rice Road at Keeneland.

“It was a great phone call to get,” Burke said. “My days of getting on horses galloping were about over, and I said to myself, 'I'll probably never get a call like this again.'

“I do think mid-range horses teach you more about training than the real good horses, which basically train themselves. Good horses don't grow on trees, though.”

Neither do good employees.

“This business, you gotta have a bit of luck, but you gotta put a bit into it, too,” Burke summarized. “Hard work and reputation will carry you a lot further than anything else in life.”

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Her entrant, the 3-year-old gelding Real Grace, had won just one race, the Derby Trial at Assiniboia Downs back in July. He'd not returned to the winner's circle in three subsequent starts, making the running early and fading in the stretch, and was facing the longest race of his career in the 1 1/4-mile Canadian Derby.

The race's post time, nearly 11 p.m. in Winnipeg, meant Brown had to fight through her exhaustion to stay awake if she wanted to watch it live.

Sent to post at 18-1 odds, Real Grace led the field from gate-to-wire for a gutsy neck victory that lifted his trainer's spirits beyond what she'd even considered possible. It was her first graded stakes win, and it was also a win in the biggest race at her home track.

Brown watched via her smartphone as Real Grace entered the winner's enclosure. Track announcer Shannon Doyle said: “Congratulations Shelley, we are all with you.”

Amazing Grace, indeed.

The weeks leading up to the Canadian Derby had been some of the darkest weeks of her life, Brown explained. The 47-year-old was diagnosed on Sept. 3 with cancer, Stage 4, learning that it was in her lungs, bones, stomach, ovaries, breasts, and lymph nodes. Doctors told her that left untreated, she had between three and six months to live.

Considering that Brown had only gone to the hospital that morning for what she'd thought was a torn rotator cuff in her shoulder, the diagnosis was a complete shock.

“For someone to look at you and tell you that, there's a million emotions,” Brown said. “I thought, 'What am I gonna do? I've got horses here, horses in the States, property, horse trailers. … I can't even tell you. I just totally went numb.

“Your brain can be very hard on you. As soon as I got the diagnosis, I didn't want to get out of bed. I felt helpless, overwhelmed, and I just wanted to shut down.”

Brown had 40 horses in training at Assiniboia Downs, and had sent several, including Real Grace, to her friend and former employer, trainer Rod Cone, at Century Mile. She was planning to ship the rest of the string to Century Mile after the Assiniboia meet ended.

Instead, Brown found herself in a downward spiral, researching treatments and treatment centers online, awaiting test results, and trying desperately to understand how the cancer had progressed so quickly without her knowledge.

“As a horse person, we make a lot of excuses,” Brown reasoned. “There's always kind of a way you get banged here and bumped there. I was unbelievably tired, but I kept telling myself there were only three more weeks (until the meet ended at Assiniboia), so I was kind of begging myself to finish off the meet. Of course with COVID there wasn't a ton of help, so I often had to pitch right in. I thought, 'Well, I'm just working really hard and I'm tired from racing three nights a week, it's just the amount of work and racing, and that's why I'm so tired.'”

The days after her diagnosis were a blur. Her longtime assistant kept the barn running, and the news spread around the backside quickly. Just four days later, a friend on the backstretch set up a GoFundMe account to help cover Brown's medical bills.

(https://www.gofundme.com/f/u6f5p-cancer?utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all)

Assiniboia even helped to set up an auction for Brown's tack, equipment, and several horses. She wanted to sell off everything, but other horsemen convinced her to keep a few things, some saddles and bridles and a few of the better horses, as a way of giving herself hope moving forward.

“I guess my whole life I've sort of felt like a lone wolf,” Brown said, her voice heavy with emotion. “It was never going to be easy for a woman to be in a male-dominated sport. I've held my own, but even in my personal life I've never really felt like I fit somewhere or belonged together. But, how the horsemen have come together for me through this, to see that, some of them I think we'll be friends for life through this. They've been so amazing and so helpful and so assuring, and these are people that I never expected. I just realize now that I'm not alone and these people are so important to me.

“If there was any doubt before, the question has been answered. These are my family.”

Since her parents had already passed on after battling cancer, Brown reached out to her brother and sister for help with the day-to-day things, like transportation to her doctor's appointments. Both responded immediately, but there wasn't much to do besides wait.

As a lifelong, hard-working horsewoman, and the first female trainer to ever win a training title at Assiniboia (2017), Brown said sitting back and doing nothing was an especially difficult mental challenge.

“Horses are seven days a week; when you commit to this, you commit to a lifestyle,” Brown said. “I guess if I could change anything, I would have listened to my body sooner.

“Now I look back, and I think, 'Oh my gosh, this started a long time ago.'”

She had seen her family doctor several times over the past few years. Last year, she felt a strange sensitivity on her spine, but he told her it was nothing. She asked to be sent for a mammogram, but he insisted she didn't need one. Earlier this season, she'd gone to see him when she felt short of breath for no real reason, but he told her she was just out of shape after gaining weight over the winter.

Sadly, it's not an unusual story for women's symptoms to be overlooked by their doctors.

“I think had I really listened to my body, I would have seen more signs,” she said.

Fast-forward to the week of the Canadian Derby, and Brown was still struggling with her frustrations. Biopsies had been sent away to labs for testing, but she was still awaiting an appointment with an oncologist since the test results weren't back yet.

Logically, she understood that doctors could not implement a treatment plan without understanding the exact kind of cancer ravaging her body. Emotionally, knowing that she had spent three weeks of what was possibly her final three months just waiting around for results was starting to get to her.

Brown had looked into the options, and knew the finances weren't in her favor. She'd decided that a combination of conventional and holistic medicine was the way she wanted to fight the cancer, and treatment centers in Mexico and the United States were both quite expensive.

Mexico was cheaper, of course, but she'd have to drive herself there and wouldn't have any sort of support system in place if things took a turn for the worse. And what if she got sick on the drive down to Mexico? Then she'd be in a U.S. hospital, and the bills would just keep rolling in.

Another trainer, Hazel Bochinski, happened to see Brown's GoFundMe page and sent her a message on Facebook recommending a local treatment center in Winnipeg. It offered several of the holistic treatments that Brown hoped to try, as well as a pay-as-you-go plan.

Now Brown had part of a plan in place, at least, but she still had to wait for the test results before she could start any treatments.

On Thursday, Cone called to check in on her and ask if she'd be attending the race on Sunday night. Unfortunately, Brown had been admitted to the hospital once again, this time with a partially collapsed lung.

“They tried to drain the lung twice, which is so painful because they cut in between your ribs,” Brown explained. “They couldn't drain it and so they weren't able to get fluid off. The pain was intense.”

Brown insisted she be let out of the hospital over the weekend, and felt better Saturday, well enough to take a drive with her siblings.

“Sunday, I wasn't well,” Brown said. “Of course, the race is so late, 11 p.m. at night local time. I don't have a lot of energy. I told my brother, 'The only way I'm going to stay awake is if I watch all the races, see how the track is playing.' With each race I got more discouraged, because my horse is a frontrunner and the track was not playing speed at all.

“I was actually able to stay awake, and I can't tell you the feeling I had to watch that race, watch that horse go to the front. I saw Synergy coming, the heavy favorite, and I thought he would blow right by us. My horse had to dig deep … Actually, the race was showing on a slight delay, because at the eighth pole my best friend's text popped up on screen, 'OMG you just won a Derby!'”

In fact, Real Grace held on through the wire to win by a neck over Something Natural and Rail Hugger. Cone was beyond thrilled as he led the Mineshaft gelding into the winner's circle, the three-time Canadian Derby-winning trainer calling Brown's victory the best win of his life.

Real Grace digs deep to win the G3 Canadian Derby

“No matter what happened, nothing could have made me happier than that race,” Cone told CBC Radio's Edmonton AM. “We did everything for Shelley and we were just overwhelmed.”

(https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/upset-victory-in-canadian-derby-inspires-horse-trainer-battling-cancer-1.5742728)

“All credit to Rod Cone,” Brown said. “If I would have had it in me, I would have loved to have been there. I bought this horse because I believed in him. We were disappointed (when he finished fifth) in the Manitoba Derby, so to win this one was so meaningful. I was a groom in Alberta growing up, so to be able to go back there and win such a prestigious race, it really just put the wind back in my sails.

“When there's no reason to get up in the morning, it was the one thing that made me go, 'You know what? This horse was 18-1, and he showed me what you can do if you just fight.'

“The next day I was a whole different person. It made me feel like, 'Don't you dare give up.' It was almost like a sign to say, 'This is what you can do.'”

On Monday, Brown finally had her first appointment with the oncologist, and her renewed sense of hope led to a surprising development. There was a drug, Ibrance, developed to treat her type of cancer. It was designed for post-menopausal women, so she'd have to be sent through medically-induced menopause first, but the drug was showing promising results.

“They feel like it can buy me three years,” Brown explained. “I was so happy to hear that. I thought, 'I can tie up loose ends, figure out how I want things done, instead of being in such a rush.' Of course, it isn't a guarantee, but now there's a chance.”

According to Brown, Ibrance is designed as more of a blocker that stops the cancer's progress, rather than killing the cancer outright. She plans to combine it with holistic treatments for the next three months, which the GoFundMe account will help pay for, and she has a backup plan in place to head to Mexico if the current plan doesn't seem to be working.

“When someone virtually hands you a death sentence, I can't imagine how, person to person, that would affect somebody,” Brown said. “Now I have possibly three years to work with, but the thought of the chance, maybe in that three years they can come up with something else, it at least that gives me hope to keep on fighting.”

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In 2000, while employed by Stronach Stables, he sent out Macho Uno to win the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and Perfect Sting to win the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf. Last Saturday, the Orseno-trained Imprimis won the $700,000 Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs, earning an expenses-paid berth in this year's Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint.

“It's a long time between, that's for sure,” Orseno said. “It's just a matter of you have to have the horses; you have to obviously get lucky. I believe you make your own luck in this business with hard work and paying attention. I get the most I can out of my horses, but the ability has to be there.”

Imprimis, a 6-year-old son of Broken Vow, finished sixth in the Turf Sprint in 2019, but Orseno said the gelding is in much better form in 2020. The difference, the trainer explained, can be chalked up to a pair of throat surgeries that have allowed him to breathe in more air during his races.

“I didn't feel like his race in the (2019) Breeders' Cup showed what he was capable of,” explained Orseno. “You know, I was looking at the same horse, his bloodwork was good, he was training the same way he always had. We finally galloped him with an aerodynamic scope because he'd always made a little bit of noise, and we found that he was getting little to no air through his throat. It's just unbelievable what this horse was accomplishing not being able to breathe; he's always trying.”

After the first surgery, Imprimis was better, but he still made a little more noise than Orseno liked when he was training. He decided to scope the horse again and found that one of the structures in Imprimis' throat was still interfering with his breathing.

“We just thought, 'Let's fix it so we have no excuse,'” Orseno said. “The horse didn't owe us anything, but we wanted to give him the best chance for success. The owners (Breeze Easy LLC) are all about the horse, I'm all about the horse, and we weren't trying to make any particular race, so why not fix it.”

It all seems to be going the right way for Imprimis now. The gelding has crossed the wire first in both of his 2020 races thus far, though he was disqualified for interference and placed third in the G3 Troy Stakes at Saratoga last month.

Orseno and daughter at Gulfstream Park (Gulfstream Park photo)

Now, heading into the Breeders' Cup with the potential favorite for the Turf Sprint, Orseno is even more grateful for the horsemanship lessons he learned early on his career; he was taught to always put the horse first, and it's paying off.

A native of Philadelphia, Orseno didn't grow up in a horse racing family. His father enjoyed the racetrack for the gambling opportunities, so Orseno was able to get an up-close look at the horses from an early age, but he didn't start to fall in love with the sport until high school.

“I lived in a town not far from Garden State Park,” he explained. “When I was in high school I had plenty of jobs, and one of them was parking cars across the street from the track. I wound up meeting a lot of owners and trainers and jockeys, just talking to them, and every now and then someone would give me a horse to bet on. I'd put my two dollars on the horse and sometimes it would win, and I just enjoyed seeing the sport from that new angle.”

Orseno's father was a builder who owned his own business, and he'd always imagined they would go into business together when he graduated high school.

“I grew up playing football, basketball, and baseball, so I probably would have gotten into business with Dad,” Orseno said. “But then Dad passed away after high school, so I went to the track full time. I was walking horses on weekends anyway. I did it all on my own, worked hard and learned all I could learn.

“I feel like I came around in a time when the trainer who brought me around, Mickey Crock, was a real horseman. He was a small trainer with about 15 horses from New England, and he went to Garden State in the winter. He was a horseman, he taught me from the ground up what I needed to know.

“There's a lot of trainers in the game now that aren't horsemen. I'm glad I came up the way I did; it allows me to be all about the horses.”

Orseno took out his training license in 1977, and did well during his early years, winning training titles at Atlantic City, Garden State Park and Delaware Park. By 1993, however, he was down to just seven horses at the Meadowlands, and thought he'd have to leave the business.

That's about the time owner Frank Stronach first noticed Orseno and sent him a few horses. By 1998, Stronach had hired Orseno to take over his 40-horse stable entirely.

It was for Stronach that Orseno won those two Breeders' Cup races in 2000. That year, he also saddled upset Preakness Stakes winner Red Bullet, as well as Pimlico Special (then a Grade 1) winner Golden Missile.

In 2002, Orseno reopened his stable to the public. He's sent out at least 30 winners and accumulated over $1 million in earnings almost every year since then, racing mostly out of Florida year-round.

In fact, Imprimis was purchased specifically for that Florida program. The Sunshine State-bred gelding didn't race at all as a 2- or 3-year-old, but won on debut in February of 2018. In his second start, Imprimis won an allowance optional claiming event by 2 3/4 lengths.

Orseno had tried to claim the horse that finished second to Imprimis that day, and took notice of the dark bay's turn of foot. When the chance came up to buy him with Breeze Easy, Orseno was all in. Even he didn't expect the horse to be this good, however.

“When we bought him, we never dreamt he was going to take us to this place and time,” Orseno said. “After his first start for us (a 4 1/4-length allowance win), I told them he might be better than we thought he was.

“He just accelerates at the top of the stretch, just poetry in motion. After that race I sat down with (Breeze Easy owners) Sam Ross and Mike Hall, and I told them, 'He's better than we thought guys, we might have to travel a bit with him.'”

Orseno was right, and Imprimis has taken them on a journey all the way to Royal Ascot: in 2019, the gelding ran a good sixth, beaten just four lengths, in the Group 1 King's Stand Stakes.

“None of us were disappointed, though I think I should have run him in the Diamond Jubilee over six furlongs instead, and we might have been third behind Blue Point,” Orseno said, laughing good-naturedly.

This year, with his breathing fixed and all systems firing toward the Breeders' Cup, Orseno believes he really has a shot to compete with the best of the best at Keeneland.

“He doesn't need his racetrack, and he'll run over just about anything,” the trainer said. “I just have to keep him happy, that's my job now.”

The post Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Both Orseno, Imprimis Breathing Easier Ahead Of 2020 Turf Sprint appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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