Aidan Green was holding her 4-month-old and pushing a stroller through the grandstand early Thursday afternoon at Oaklawn. Less than an hour later, Green was strolling into the Larry Snyder Winner's Circle following her first career training victory recognized by Equibase, racing's official data gathering organization.
Green achieved her personal milestone with Kristo ($18.20), who won the fifth race, a starter-allowance route, by 3 ¾ lengths under Elvin Gonzalez. Kristo marked the 21st recognized starter for Green, who saddled her first horse in 2020, according to Equibase. Green's husband, Ike, is a former trainer who now assists his wife and Robertino Diodoro, Oaklawn's leading trainer in 2020. Aidan Green said she has seven horses on the track in training.
“Like Ike and I, we've won a lot of races, it's just the first time it's been under my name, so, it doesn't really feel like a first win,” Green said. “But it's cool to have it under my name now. We've always been a team. We've run Cody Autrey's barn in the past and we've run Robertino's in the past.”
Green, 33, grew up in Canada around the Quarter-Horses and draft horses her family owned. A star volleyball player, Green signed with Texas Tech before transferring to Texas-El Paso, where she was a four-year letterman (2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009). Green, also an aspiring photographer, said she met her future husband in 2010 when he was training at Sunland Park in suburban El Paso. They married in 2013 and have three children, 5, 4 and 4 months.
“Team deal, you know,” Aidan Green said. “With three kids and all the horses, Ike and I kind of rotate around, wherever we're both needed. We do it as a team, everything we do. I'm not a full-time photographer. I'd like to be. Full-time mom and then, I guess, second is horse trainer after that.”
Green owns Kristo, a 10-year-old Distorted Humor gelding, with sister-in-law Delinda Green. Ike Green's brother, trainer Greg Green, had claimed Kristo for $8,000 early last year at Sunland Park.
Kristo was exiting a third-place finish in a starter-allowance sprint Jan. 22 at Oaklawn.
“He ran really good his last start,” Green said. “Elvin just gave him a good ride. He kind of picks his certain riders and likes them. He ran really good for Elvin, so we were excited to get in this spot. Thought it was a good one.”
Kristo's victory came roughly seven years after Green said she won a race as an owner/trainer at a weekend fair meet in Fargo, N.D. That victory, Green noted, isn't recognized by Equibase.
“When we were at Canterbury, we shipped over with one that we owned ourselves,” Green said. “They had like tents set up. It was so much fun. This was my first real recognized one, as me as trainer.”
Ike Green unearthed and broke multiple Grade 1 winner and 2018 Triple Crown hopeful Bolt d'Oro when working for former business partner Mick Ruis. Green has 98 career training victories, according to Equibase, the first coming in 2001.
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