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Jeff Engler Making The Most Of Move To Gulfstream Park

Jeff Engler has turned an unfortunate situation into a very positive career move to Gulfstream Park, where the veteran trainer is scheduled to saddle Lea Farms LLC's Fighting Force for a start in the $75,000 Not Surprising Stakes.

The Cincinnati, Ohio native, like too many trainers in North America, was faced with a long period of inactivity last year due to the emerging Covid-19 pandemic. Taking the threat very seriously, he chose to be proactive and would eventually find his way to Gulfstream, one of the few racetracks able to conduct racing uninterrupted during the early months of the pandemic.

“We were at Fair Grounds, and we shipped out early, because I didn't want to get stuck there – which everybody did. We shipped into Keeneland; we were actually the last truck allowed into Keeneland. We stayed there, but we didn't have anywhere to run,” Engler recalled. “I started calling [Vice President of Racing Operations] Mike [Lakow] here at Gulfstream and after about a month of begging, he let us come down and quarantine in Ocala before coming here. Once we got here, we loved it. We plan on staying.”

Engler, who saddled his first horse at Gulfstream May 22, 2020 after two months of inactivity, has settled in nicely at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream's satellite training facility in Palm Beach County. He currently trains a 25-horse stable that includes Willy Boi, the March 6 Hutcheson winner who is invited to compete in the $200,000 Smile Sprint Invitational (G3) on the July 3 Summit of Speed card.

“We love it here; we've been accepted. The racing office has been great. Everyone's been great,” said Engler, whose stable had previously raced on the Fair Grounds-Churchill Downs circuit for eight years. “We've done well. The owners are happy, and we plan on staying.”

Fighting Force is slated to face five other 3-year-olds in the Not Surprising [not including an main-track-only entrant]. The mile turf stakes for 3-year-olds is carded as Race 4 on Saturday's 12-race program that will also feature a mandatory payout of the Rainbow 6.

The Kentucky-bred colt, who was privately purchased last winter from the principals of Coolmore, was previously trained by Todd Pletcher, for whom he broke his maiden, finished second in the Dania Beach and finished a close fourth in the Palm Beach during the 2020-2021 Championship Meet.

Fighting Force is winless in his three starts since switching barns after being virtually eliminated at the start of the March 27 Cutler Bay, enduring a five-wide trip to finish fourth in the May 8 English Channel and racing evenly while fourth in a June 4 optional claiming allowance. However, Engler is hopeful that Fighting Force will get a more favorable set-up in the Not Surprising.

“He just hasn't gotten a very good trip the last two or three races. He's been kind of bottled up on the rail. He didn't have anywhere to go [last time out] and when he got loose, he made a run, but it was too late,” Engler said. “I think if he gets a good trip and a good ride, he's going to be right there.”

Samy Camacho is scheduled to ride Fighting Force for the first time Saturday.

Victorias Ranch's King of Dreams, a second son of Air Force Blue in the Not Surprising, has finished ahead of Fighting Force while finishing second in the English Channel and leading from the starting gate to the finish line in the June 4 optional claiming allowance.

Emisael Jaramillo has the return mount aboard the Juan Carlos Avila trainee.

Bell Racing LLC's Fulmini and Gelfenstein Farm LLC's Siglioso enter the Not Surprising after finishing 1-2, respectively, in a June 3 optional claiming allowance for Florida-breds. Registered Florida-breds will be eligible for an additional $25,000 in purse money, with 70 percent going to the winner, 20 percent to the runner-up and 10 percent to the third-place finisher.

Gary Barber and Team Valor International's Bright Devil, a recent optional claiming allowance winner, and Shamrock Highlands Thoroughbreds' Perfect Silent Cat, a maiden, round out the main body of the field. Alex and JoAnn Lieblong's Big Thorn, who won the off-the-turf Juvenile Turf stakes for Florida-breds at Gulfstream Park West last fall, is a main-track-only entrant.

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Kirkpatrick & Co Presents In Their Care: Secretariat And Sweat Taught Reid Everything She Knows

If only she knew then what she knows now. That may be Virginia Reid's only lament as she reflects on her 49 years at the racetrack.

Reid, the wife of veteran Parx-based trainer Robert “Butch” Reid, is widely known as “Ginny.” She was only 19 when friends persuaded her to leave a job as a waitress in upstate New York to seek employment at Belmont Park. She never anticipated the great adventure that awaited in 1972.

Lucien Laurin hired her as a hotwalker, and she soon became acquainted with an exciting 2-year-old named Secretariat. She accompanied the blossoming superstar and his legendary groom, Eddie Sweat, on a memorable van ride from New York to Maryland for the Laurel Futurity. Predictably, Secretariat rewarded their time and toil with an eight-length romp, ensuring a happy, if bumpy, ride home.

Reid quickly came to admire Sweat.

“He was an amazing groom,” she said. “He loved his horses. He always had some kind of treat for his horses.”

She soaked up as much knowledge as she could.

“He taught me so many things about how to groom properly and roll bandages,” Reid said. “He was an amazing guy. They don't make them like him anymore.”

In Secretariat, she observed class and professionalism at a tender age. He would let the world know on the countless days he was feeling good, but his former hotwalker cannot recall seeing him rear or waste energy.

“I don't think I ever saw him do anything that was unnecessary,” Reid said.

Various chores kept her in the Belmont barn when Secretariat and jockey Ron Turcotte completed their assault on the Triple Crown in 1973. Her jaw dropped as she watched on a small television in the tack room.

“I was amazed by how far in front he was. I couldn't believe it,” she said. “No horse had ever won that easily and he wasn't hitting him or anything. He just drew away.”

Reid and Hello Lover on a gallop

Reid was so young at the time, so inexperienced, that she could admits she could not comprehend the magnitude of ”Big Red's” 31-length romp in 2:24 while Turcotte searched in vain for competition. Her appreciation for one of the most magnificent individual performances, human or equine, has grown exponentially with time.

“I didn't have any idea how special it was when he won the Triple Crown. I was sort of green about it,” she said. “I didn't understand how important and special he was.”

She was so young she did not know what she did not know, especially when it came to assessing others. She married a jockey before she was 20. It was the worst mistake of her life.

“He was very abusive. I've still got scars,” she said, pointing to the jagged reminders of the blows to her forehead that she endured.

Nothing could sour her on racing, though. Her desire to form a greater bond with those she cared for led her to become an exercise rider in 1974.

“It's a communication with a horse that you can't explain,” she said.

She went on to work for such prominent trainers as David Whiteley and Jimmy Croll before her meanderings took her to Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., in 1983. She would gallop horses in the morning and work as a waitress in the luxury suites in the afternoon to keep afloat financially.

That is where she met her future husband. After two weeks of riding for him, he invited her to lunch. They have been together ever since. They are immensely proud of their lone child, Whitney, a pediatrician at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Reid and Vequist after the 2020 Breeders' Cup

They treat the approximately 25 horses in their barn, including 2-year-old champion Vequist, as if they are extended family. In taking a cue from Sweat, Reid never allows a day to end without distributing at least one cookie to each horse.

“My cookie bill is bigger than my feed bill, just about,” her husband joked. “No, it's worth every penny and the horses really appreciate the attention they get.”

Reid no longer rides. She required a knee replacement. Worse still, she broke her back in two places in an accident at Parx in 2006, fracturing her eighth and eleventh vertebrae and barely avoiding a catastrophic injury.

“They said I was so fortunate that it broke outward,” she said. “Had it broken inward, I would have been paralyzed.”

Only Butch's protestations have kept her from resuming riding. Beyond that, she is invaluable on the ground. She is incredibly helpful with Vequist, who resented a male groom's handling early in her career.

“She was a high-wire act a little bit, especially as a 2-year-old. She wasn't the easiest horse to get along with. The guy wanted to get a little rough with her and Vequist didn't like that too much,” Butch said.

Ginny took over with her gentle, soft-spoken, endearing manner. She and Vequist got along famously after a week.

“Through tender loving care and some cookies, they ended up making a good pair,” Butch said.

He gives much of the credit to his wife for Vequist's victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. She oversaw the critical final preparations at Keeneland.

“We've been together almost 40 years. We pretty much know each other's thinking,” Butch said. “She certainly knows what I want to get done and we converse many times during the day to make sure that's all being carried out.”

While Vequist gears up for the Aug. 24 Cathryn Sophia at Parx, Ginny also rubs Mainstay, a 2-year-old half-sister to the Eclipse Award winner. They share the same dam, Vero Amore. Mainstay, in a four-and-a-half furlong debut on June 4 at Monmouth, broke her maiden by 7 ¾ lengths.

Mainstay is being pointed toward the Schuylerville (G3) on July 15, Opening Day at Saratoga Race Course. Reid will again provide the advance team, drawing on lessons learned from Sweat so many years ago.

Tom Pedulla wrote for USA Today from 1995-2012 and has been a contributor to the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Blood-Horse, America's Best Racing and other publications.

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Long-Time Assistant Juan Cano Takes Over Late Mentor Angel Montano’s Stable

Juan Cano might not be a familiar name to Ellis Park racing enthusiasts, but he should be a familiar face.

The 31-date RUNHAPPY Meet at Ellis Park begins this Sunday and concludes Saturday Sept. 4. Racing is Friday, Saturday and Sundays, plus Thursday July 1. First post is 12:50 p.m. Central.

Cano, a married father of three (with a fourth on the way), was trainer Angel Montano Sr.'s longtime exercise rider and assistant. With health issues sidelining Montano in recent years, Cano largely ran the Louisville-based stable and was the one making the trip to Ellis Park to run its horses, including for six wins last summer. After Montano died Oct. 1 on his 80th birthday, Cano took over as trainer.

Outside the gaping absence of the Montano patriarch, Cano said not much has changed with the operation.

“I've been at Ellis Park for a lot of years. It's just a new name as the trainer,” he said at Churchill Downs. “I still have horses for Angel's kids. Joey comes out almost every day.”

The barn's trademark colors with the royal blue background and gold angel wings remain. Montano's seven sons and daughters gave Cano their dad's equipment and golf cart, saving the young trainer tens of thousands of dollars. The Montanos, their spouses and friends continue to help populate the barn, including the recent formation of Angel Wings LLC.

“Angel intended for him to take over,” said son Joe, who long has been involved in the stable and has helped Cano navigate the considerable paperwork, payroll and taxes any trainer encounters. “We've been a team together for 10 years anyways, so it just continued on.

“Juan has a couple of clients he picked up; people are interested in what he's doing. He works hard, takes good care of the horses and gives them a lot of attention. He's looking forward to a good summer.”

Cano has doubled the “six or seven” horses with which he started, including several he claimed for himself. The stable has three wins, a second and five thirds out of 19 starts at Churchill Downs' spring meet, with three days remaining. One of those wins came at 44-1 odds with Super Sol in a May 31 allowance race.

“I've had a good meet,” said Cano, who turns 36 on June 24. “Churchill Downs is a little tough to win a race. I got a little lucky this meet. I've got a couple of horses I think will do good at Ellis Park.”

Montano, a four-time meet leader at Ellis Park, paid forward his success in America with his generosity and mentorship of Cano and other young Hispanics at the track. Montano arrived from Mexico at age 17 on a Greyhound bus with a fourth-grade education, $100, six sandwiches and three words of English. He worked his way into becoming one of the very few thoroughbred trainers in Kentucky in the 1950s and '60s whose native language was Spanish, then stamped himself among the state's winningest stables in the 1970s. A trainer for 60 years, Montano was the dean of the Kentucky horsemen at the time of his death. His last wins came at Ellis Park last summer.

“With Juan, given the timing, I think Angel thought he was going to be one who could take the next step,” said Joe, a licensed assistant trainer whose full-time job is with Ford's Material Planning and Logistics team. “He turned a lot of responsibility over to Juan in the last year or so. They thought the same as far as caring and training horses, and Angel taught Juan a lot of things as far as galloping, working, how a horse feels and getting one ready to go long or short.

“Juan took a lot of what Angel taught him and incorporated it with what he learned working for other people. The family felt Juan was going to be the one to take over. It was easy for us to give him all of Angel's equipment. We knew Angel wanted him to have it. He was part of our family and still is.”

Cano grew up riding horses and cows in his native Guatemala before coming to Kentucky. He started out as a hotwalker and then groom for several trainers before pursuing a position as an exercise rider in Ocala, Fla. Upon returning to Kentucky, trainer Rick Hiles suggested Cano speak with Montano about a job. The trainer watched him gallop one horse and gave Cano a salaried job. It was the start of a 12-year relationship during which the elder Montano offered constant encouragement and assistance.

“He helped me a lot,” Cano said, adding in reference to getting the long hair off a horse's body, “One time they needed someone to clip a horse. Angel said, 'Juan, can you clip the horse?' I said, 'I don't know how, but I'll try.' I went out and bought clippers like you use for people. I clipped one. It took all day, and it looked like a cartoon. Wrong kind of clippers. Angel said, 'Juan! What are you doing?' And he went and bought me a pair of clippers for horses. After that, I clipped horses for all kinds of trainers.

“Angel gave me a chance to claim a horse. I claimed one for $5,000 and he won for $7,500. I got really lucky with my first horse. It was a three-horse field. The horse was claimed off me, but I made money off him and claimed another one. I used to always have one horse, then two. While working for Angel, I would groom and gallop my horses and do all my other work.”

In addition to the added training responsibilities, Cano continues to get on most, if not all, of his horses in morning training.

“It's not easy to run a stable, but I'm happy to do it,” he said. “All the Montano kids have helped me. Every time they come to the barn, they say, 'Keep doing what you're doing.' Miguel said, 'My daddy is happy for you.' I'm working hard. On race day, when I run a horse, I basically live with the horse all day in the barn.”

Horse owner Peter Patel, who claimed two fillies for Cano to train, said he likes knowing that the trainer sees and touches his horses every day.

“He's working hard, that's the main thing” Patel said. “I always loved small trainers. I like to help them out. He's doing wonderful, and I hope he does well. He's hands-on.”

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‘I Learned From My Mistake’: Mahmood Al Zarooni Returns To Training After Eight-Year Ban

Former Godolphin trainer Mahmood Al Zarooni is to restart his training career in the UAE with a mission to “clean my name”.

Al Zarooni served an eight-year steroids ban, which he completed in April 2021, and is setting up a public stable at Sharjah racecourse.

“I applied for my licence to the Emirates Racing Authority and they approved it,” he said. “I want to come back and show that Mahmood wasn't cheating. I want to clean my name.

“I made a big mistake and I learned from my mistake. I want to prove that I was clean, I was trying my best to be clean but this mistake happened.”

Al Zarooni, 45, trained three Classic winners during his time in charge of one of Sheikh Mohammed's two Newmarket stables. However, he was cast out of the sport in disgrace when he was disqualified for eight years by a BHA disciplinary panel after 11 horses in his care tested positive for the anabolic steroids ethylestranol and stanozolol.

The ban was reciprocated worldwide but now Al Zarooni is free to work again in horse racing and has formed a partnership with Marwan Abdul Rahman, who has been working as an assistant trainer in Dubai.

“Marwan had talked to me about doing something together,” said Al Zarooni. “When my ban finished and I got my clearance for the BHA we decided to have a public stable and we will be based in the Sharjah Equestrian Club.

“Sheikh Adbullah Bin Majid [chairman of Sharjah Equestrian and Racing Club] is one of the founders of the sport of horse racing here and has always been a grateful supporter to all small trainers and owners. I have been one of them during my early days before joining Godolphin. I would like to thank him for his support and hope my second rising will be from his center.

“Sharjah has everything you need in terms of facilities so I hope we can do good,” he went on. “I hope owners will support us. I would like to have some international owners, especially English owners, because I receive many messages from them asking me to come to Newmarket. I love and miss Newmarket but it's difficult to do that at this time.

Al Zarooni added: “Marwan is a horse guy, he's been an assistant trainer for about four years. I think we can do good.

“The stable is ready and we have around 20 horses there already. I have been visiting every two or three days but from next month I will be full time. We have to start from the bottom and see where we can reach. It won't be easy.”

As a Godolphin trainer, Al Zarooni's major wins included the 1,000 Guineas and Oaks with Blue Bunting in 2011, the Dubai Sheema Classic and Prince of Wales's Stakes with Rewilding the same year, and the Dubai World Cup in 2012 with Monterosso.

He recorded his last Classic victory with Encke, who in landing the 2012 St Leger denied Camelot an historic Triple Crown after the Coolmore colt had won the 2,000 Guineas and Derby.

Al Zarooni has claimed the use of steroids was for therapeutic treatment on horses out of training and not to cheat. In Dubai, the administration of steroids was permitted out of competition until May 2013.

“Eight years was too harsh,” he said. “I am not saying I shouldn't have been punished. I had to be punished, but I think eight years was like a sentence for killing someone. I thought they would ban me for three years, four years maximum. So I am still feeling bitter.

He added: “I am very happy to be back doing what I like. It's been a very tough eight years. Working with horses is like a drug, so to be away from them hurt. I am very happy that I will be with them again.

“I am sure it will be a very difficult time to start with the coronavirus situation as there is a shortage of Asian riders and I am too heavy to ride. We will start from zero again and try our best.”

This story was reprinted with permission by Horse Racing Planet. Find the original piece and more content here.

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