Trainer Will Walden celebrated his first winner at Churchill Downs this month, sending out Ready Made Racing's Dazzlingdominika to a maiden special weight victory.
“I've been in this winner's circle a lot with my dad but to be here today as winning trainer is an unbelievable feeling,” Walden told Churchill Downs' publicity team. “It's truly surreal.”
The running line for that victory in the Equibase chart reads: “fought back, clear, held.” It's a fitting metaphor for Walden's journey through substance abuse and his subsequent recovery.
Hooked on heroin, cocaine, and alcohol, Walden struggled with his addictions throughout most of his 20s. Walden told the Thoroughbred Racing Commentary that he made the choice to become sober on Nov. 23, 2020, thanks to the influence of armed forces veteran Christian Countzler, who worked at Shepherds House, a drug treatment program in Lexington.
During his recovery, Walden met Frank Taylor, who was running a horsemanship program to help Shepherds House's recovering addicts with jobs on his Taylor Made Farm. Walden proposed the Ready Made Racing venture, which purchases inexpensive horses to run in auction races. Two other recovering addicts from Shepherds House, exercise rider Tyler Maxwell and groom Mike Lowrey, neither of whom had previous horse experience, now work with Walden after graduating from the Taylor Made Program.
“The goal is to be the biggest training operation in the United States,” Walden told TRC. “There is no ceiling. We are not here for any participation trophy. We don't want pats on the back because we are group of guys that have rearranged our lives.”
Walden's willingness to talk about his journey to recovery is designed to help other addicts who might not see a way out of that lifestyle.
“The past was the sword they used to stab me, but now I use it to defend,” Walden told TRC. “I don't mind talking about my past, especially in public, because there were people that put themselves out there when I was going through what I went through.
“In a lifestyle where there was absolutely zero hope, there was a beacon of light from those people that were able to get past getting vulnerable and saying what their lives were like now.
“So it's not about me. Do I like telling everybody I was a heroin addict and a crackhead? No, I don't. But on the off-chance that it could help somebody, it's completely worth it.”
Read more at the Thoroughbred Racing Commentary.
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