Benson, who grew up doing everything from foaling mares to training horses of racing age on his family's Ocala farm, attended the Equine Industry Program at the University of Louisville. He joined the stallion nominations team at Taylor Made Farm in 2017, while also managing his family's boarding operation in Lexington.

“I'm looking forward to joining the team at Old Colony in a way that I can continue to be around horses, while not having to focus in on a single facet of the industry at all times. It's great to be joining a team with such broad ranging experience,” Benson said.

“I've known Liam since he was at U of L and am thrilled to have him on the team,” said John David Christman, director of Old Colony's Farm & Equine division. “His background on the family farm, the racetrack and at Taylor Made, position him for a successful career in the bloodstock insurance business. He understands and embraces the Old Colony standards of unparalleled customer service and 24/7 accessibility.”

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On Jan. 8, 2022, just over three months after taking out her training license and just over a decade after her graduation from UofL, Schultz found herself exactly where she wanted to be: the winner's circle at Oaklawn Park.

“It was a pretty neat experience,” said Schultz, who saddled her first winner, an 8-year-old Scat Daddy gelding named Capture the Glory, to victory in a one-mile claiming race at the Arkansas track. “He went to the lead and beat the rest of the horses easily. It was great to see. It's nice when horses show you in the afternoon what they show you in the morning.”

Schultz's road to the training ranks has been an indirect, if educational one that began its realization back in Louisville, when she found herself gravitating towards the study and the business of racing. A lifelong horsewoman who had grown up competing hunter/jumpers and eventers, the breadth of opportunities available to young professionals looking to make a start in the industry appealed to Schultz off the bat.

“When I was at Louisville and we went to the Breeders' Cup that first year, I saw that this was an industry where I could have a career,” Schultz said. “I started prepping yearlings at Lane's End, and then I walked for Nick Zito in Saratoga. After I'd worked for Nick I had already been on the backside and I was more comfortable, so I began working before classes while I was still in school helping out his stable.”

Determined to expand her industry experience after graduation, Schultz took her business degree and her passion for racing to the barn of Tom Proctor. She would work for the Breeders' Cup winner only a handful of months in Saratoga before she was selected for the prestigious Darley Flying Start management training program.

For two years Schultz traveled the world with Darley. But when all roads led back home, Schultz returned to Proctor when he called and offered her a job.

“Tom called me when I was finishing and offered me a job. I came and worked for him as an office manager, foreman, and traveling assistant,” said Schultz. “I got my assistant trainer's license quickly so I got to go with some of the stakes horses and saddle them in their races, so that was fun. After a couple of years I had my own string at Arlington, then I was at Fair Hill Training Center for a couple years. It was about that time that Tom and I started talking about me going out on my own.”

But despite her serious mind to start her own string, the industry had other plans. Glen Hill Farm's Craig Bernick, a client of Proctor's, approached Schultz and asked her to move to Ocala, Fla. to manage his farm.

“That wasn't something I had had on my radar, but it was a relationship that I wanted to keep,” said Schultz. “It was a really good job and opportunity so I went. I was down there for about three years.

“It was a lot of breaking and pre-training as well as managing a 250-acre farm. We also set up the sales consignment while I was there, which was neat. We sold some really nice mares that way. But I wanted to get back to the track.”

Schultz's timing proved to be opportune. In the fall of 2020, trainer Shug McGaughey was looking for a new assistant, and Schultz fit the bill. She would spend almost a year with the Hall of Famer before the opportunity to start training on her own finally came back around.

That opportunity came in the form of Ten Strike Racing founding partner, Marshall Gramm. It was a contact Schultz had made and fostered through her former UofL roommate and good friend, Liz Crow.

In addition to being a partner in both the BSW/Crow Bloodstock and ELiTE Sales—both top-tier operations in the Thoroughbred industry—Crow also serves as the racing manager for Ten Strike Racing.

“When Liz went out on her own, Marshall Gramm was someone who really helped her do that, and Liz had introduced me to him maybe 6 years ago when I was at Fair Hill,” said Schultz. “At the time, Tom Proctor told me, 'If you want to train one or two horses by yourself while you're still working for me, feel free.' And Marshall had a horse he wanted to send to me.

“After leaving Tom I kept in touch with Marshall. He was nice enough to let me know that when I wanted to go out on my own that he had horses he wanted to send to me and that he wanted to help me get my start. That was my push to start.”

In addition to Ten Strike, who remains Schultz's primary owner, the budding trainer also runs horses for Allen Schubert and Scott Galloway, clients she met by way of her connection to Proctor.

With Oaklawn Park her base for the duration of the meet, Schultz now has eight horses in her barn including Capture the Glory, who races in the Ten Strike Racing colors.

“Capture the Glory was pretty neat, because the trainer I claimed him from, Will Gallagher, has been a friend since I claimed the horse,” said Schultz. “He's been great and he's helped me out at Churchill Downs and he called me after the horse won to congratulate me, which was so nice. The horse is so sound and he loves to train. He's 8-year-old by Scat Daddy, so it's neat to just have one of those in the barn.”

With her barn still in flux and plenty of time left in the year to make decisions, Schultz is happy to call Oaklawn home for the moment. Her forward-looking plans lie ahead with the 2-year-old sales, where she hopes to source new talent and new clients, building her stable and her business with equal conviction.

“Scott, Allen, and I tried in November to buy a couple horses of racing age and got outbid,” said Schultz. “I also tried this past January to get another one as well, but I was also outbid. So I will go to the 2-year-old sales to shop for them. Liz and I did put together a little syndicate to buy a Midnight Storm yearling in September and Liz picked her out so she will be my first official 2-year-old. That is something that's really fun to look forward to.

“I'll have to see where the best opportunities are for racing this summer. I love being in Kentucky, but I've also been on the East Coast as an assistant so I will see how it goes and then decide.”

As the latest leg of her journey builds on its opening success, Schultz credits much of her success to her friends and colleagues, who act as both support structure and cheerleading squad. But she finds her greatest lesson to be the one she brought with her to the equine industry program at UofL; remain open to the experience and to the people who can teach you all the lessons you need to know.

“I didn't grow up in this industry so I really did try to immerse myself in every aspect of this as much as I could,” said Schultz. “I think a lot of it is learning to pay attention to what the people around you are doing, and how the people you respect especially do things. You have to try and learn from everyone that you think is doing a good job. A lot of it is common sense and keeping it simple, but you have to learn from everyone around you, all the time.”

Capture the Glory winning at Oaklawn for trainer Lindsay Schultz

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The program, an initiative of the Association of Racing Commissioners International, holds tremendous value to not only current investigators but to those who hope to hold the position in the future. The content was produced through the efforts of the late John Wayne who was considered to be one of the foremost authorities on racing regulation in the U.S. Wayne was employed by 20 racetracks over 15 years as an investigator with the Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau (TRPB) and spent almost a decade in management at Atlantic City Race Course in New Jersey and the 21 years as the executive director of the Delaware Thoroughbred Racing Commission.

He was a board member of the Association of Racing Commissioner's International, which honored him in 2003 with the Len Foote Award and the former chairman and a driving force with the Organization of Racing Investigators (ORI).

“The job of a racing investigator is a specialty involving knowledge not only of police procedures concerning interrogation and evidence gathering but also of horseracing, the backstretch, and the horses themselves,” said RCI Chair Tom Sage of Nebraska, a former longtime law enforcement officer and racing investigator and past chair of ORI.

Although this program will be initially conducted online, the ARCI is committed to working with the University of Louisville's Equine Industry Program and the University of Arizona's Racetrack Industry Program to hold future programs in person.

The participants in the program will receive certification upon successfully passing an examination on the material presented. The RCI suggests commissions and racetracks include a requirement for the present Racing Investigator Certificate as essential for employment.

The content for the program will concentrate on basic horsemanship skills, safety procedures in the barn or paddock areas, racing terminology, overview of officials and their duties, constructing a condition book and drawing for races, as well as what is included in preparing a horse to race. Equine care and medications, veterinary records, investigatory tools and techniques are also reviewed. In addition, their will be extensive coverage of interactions with other enforcement entities, evidence gathering and methods those attempting to avoid detection when violating medication testing procedures. The program will also focus on the sensitivity of medication testing and the process of how results are obtained and determined.

RCI President, Ed Martin, who previously served as the New York regulator responsible for some of racing's most notable investigations—Breeders' Cup Pick-6 Wagering Scandal, the NYRA Mutuel Department fraud conspiracy, OTB mismanagement, Yonkers Raceway drug search lockdown—noted that “proactive investigators will develop intelligence networks and not be hesitant to dig deep into any situation where things do not seem as they should.”

“There is a tremendous amount of expertise and experience that is required to do this job properly,” he said, noting the work of the NY Gaming Commission in its effective records audit investigation.

Initially expected to include 30-35 participants, the program already has exceeded expectations with more than three times the number of registrations than anticipated.

“The University of Louisville is excited for its collaborative work with the ARCI to bring this certification program to fruition,” said Sean Beirne, Director of the UofL Equine Industry Program. “It is an important aspect of our mission to educate the professionals in the horse racing industry, to build on their knowledge, and provide resources to enhance and develop the methodology to create standards for the execution of their duties.”

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“Our previous panels have focused mainly on the racetrack, however this year we have added a panel exploring the new dynamic occurring in Kentucky horse sales,” said Sean Beirne, director of the EIP. “The sales companies have shifted the way horse sales are conducted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, completely changing the way horses are purchased and sold. We have a number of students who want to work as bloodstock agents upon graduation and this will give them insight as to how the business landscape is changing.”

The events will be held monthly on Tuesdays from 5:30 – 6:45p.m., broadcast live on the Horse Racing Nation Facebook page.

Sept. 22 – “Racing's Now Reality: Is it Sustainable?”

Is horse racing's new operational model sustainable for the long run?

• Mike Penna (moderator) – Owner, Horse Racing Radio Network
• Chris Kotulak – CEO, Fonner Park
• Andrew Offerman – VP Racing Operations, Canterbury Park
• Terry Finley – Founder, West Point Thoroughbreds
• Jack Jeziorski – EVP, Monarch Content Management (subsidiary of the Stronach Group)

Oct. 13 – “Waiting for the Gavel to Fall: Kentucky Horse Sales Go High Tech”

What does a virtual environment mean for the Thoroughbred sales industry?

• Megan Devine (moderator) – 2014 EIP alumna, TV personality and founder of VidHorse
• Boyd Browning – President/CEO, Fasig Tipton
• Duncan or Mark Taylor – President or VP of Sales, Taylor Made Sales Agency
• David Ingordo – prominent bloodstock agent, Ingordo Bloodstock

Nov. 10 – “An Evening with Hall of Fame Jockey Pat Day”

Pat Day will recount his highs and lows both on and off the track, interviewed by Sean Beirne, EIP director.

For more information on the series, contact Liz Young at liz.young@louisville.edu, (502) 852-4865.

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“He always wanted to do something, was always into something trying to help out,” said his dad, veteran trainer Jeff Barkley. “I'd say he was 5 or 6 when he could start doing a few things, I don't care if it was raking the shedrow or mixing feed.

“Of course he was always small. Well, my feed barrel was kind of tall and he was reaching down in the feed barrel to get the feed out and dump it into the feed tub. One day I was doing some horses up and I hear this 'help! help!' He'd reached into the barrel and fell into it. That's how small he was when he was helping.”

Young Jason remained undaunted and now is barreling along in his lifelong ambition of training horses after starting out with one horse in 2017 at Ellis Park.

The 31-year-old Barkley — who grew up in Evansville and now is based in Louisville at Churchill Downs' Trackside Training Center — has won three of 10 starts, with a second and a third, at the RUNHAPPY Summer Meet at Ellis Park. That puts him in a tie for second with Ron Moquett for the early lead in the trainer standings. Dane Kobiskie tops all trainers with five wins heading into Friday's racing.

Jason Barkley is a fourth-generation horseman from the Tri-State area, graduating from Evansville Central. He clearly was predisposed genetically to become a trainer, not only on his father's side, but through his mother, Sandy. Her mother, Marcella Byers, was the first female trainer to be licensed in Louisiana and married fellow trainer Jack Byers, while Sandy's grandmother Blanche Koring was one of the first women to be licensed as a trainer in Kentucky, Jeff said of his in-laws. Jeff's father, Bill Barkley, owned and trained horses, acquiring his first racehorse when his son was 10.

Jason worked for his dad until enrolling in the University of Louisville's Equine Industry Program in the College of Business, spending his summers working at Churchill Downs for trainers such as Steve Margolis, Paul McGee and Wayne Catalano, along with Nick Zito after graduation. He subsequently worked as an assistant trainer to Wesley Ward and Joe Sharp.

Barkley said wanted to learn from trainers with different styles.

“Wesley was heavily on the babies,” he said. “So I wanted to learn that whole routine. With Joe, it was a little bit of everything. He had the good horses, we had claiming horses, we had babies. You learn how to manage a big stable, not only the horses but the people and everything that goes with it. That was a big benefit to me, from growing up on a smaller track with 10-15 horses.”

Jeff Barkley also was a major influence.

“A lot of the bigger barns, guys will get into a routine. Maybe everything gallops a mile and a half, things like that,” his son said. “But working for Dad, you learned that they are different. If you treat them differently and play to their strengths, in the end it will pan out better for you.”

One thing Jason didn't pick up from his dad was the desire to ultimately have a 100-horse stable.

“He didn't learn that from me,” Jeff said with a laugh. “He's got a whole lot different perspective. I guess the most I ever had at one time was 28. That's what he's at now. More power to him, especially if they're runners. But he's got the 'want to' and the drive to do it.”

Jason last year switched from stabling at Ellis Park in the summer to staying in Louisville. But he enjoys returning home to run horses — all the better when they win.

“Obviously we don't have the fans there, but Dad's there, Mom's there,” he said. “You don't get to go home much in this business; you travel so much. So to go home and see everybody, that's nice. You grow up somewhere, and to be able to go back and win, that's a lot of fun.”

“He's off to a good start,” Jeff said, adding jokingly, “Puts pressure on me to keep up. He's got more horses than I've got, and I can't keep up. Then of course we ran against each other here one day, and he beat me. I'm still hearing about that – not from him but from other people. The other day our buddy Billy Stinson won the first race. Jason won the second. We could have had the Pick 3 but I blew it. I ran second. I've been hearing about that since then, too.”

In another game-changer, Barkley's girlfriend, Shelbi Kurtz, gave birth to their baby girl, Aria Leigh, 11 months ago. Kurtz remains heavily involved in the stable as assistant trainer and exercise rider.

“Everybody seems to make it work,” Barkley said of having a family with horse racing's time-intensive seven-day work week, even on days when the barn doesn't have a horse running. “I get done (training) in the mornings. Before having a family, you'd pour into your condition books and your training chart, getting ready for the next day.

“Now you take time during the day to do other things, then your night's become a lot longer. Because you start pouring into your condition books about 7 at night instead of noon. It adds a little more to your day, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.”

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