Breeders' Cup Connections

When Alvin Haynes passed away in 2014, his son Mitch wasn't exactly sure what to do with the handful of mares and foals his family had inherited. While Haynes had accompanied his father to the races over the years, he had never taken a real interest in the sport. But as he began to oversee the family's equine holdings, a genuine curiosity took hold. By the following year, he was at Keeneland purchasing a mare of his own. That single acquisition has elevated Haynes to the rank of Grade I-winning...

At the Breeders' Cup World Championship, fractions of a second and tiny strokes of luck define legacies. Flipping through the past performances, it's easy to see only the numbers: the morning-line odds, post positions and speed figures that quantify each race. But for the people who know these athletes best—the grooms who understand their quirks and habits, the riders who have their stride memorized, the assistants who have thought through every nuance of their daily routine--these horses represent something else entirely. "Horses are like your family," said Tony Gutierrez, who...

It's rare for a racehorse to have the same exercise rider for his entire career. It's almost unheard of for one rider to have been with a horse since the first time a saddle was on his back. But such is the case for Breeders' Cup hopeful Nakatomi (Firing Line). Jose Hernandez was the first person to ride the Grade I winner when he was just a yearling at Wesley Ward's farm, and five years later, he's still the one galloping him each morning at Keeneland. From the first time...

Katey Caddel always knew she'd build a life around horses, but it was the sense of community within the Thoroughbred industry that made her fall in love with racing. The camaraderie, early mornings and shared passion for the sport drew her to the racetrack and kept her there for good. When trainer Robbie Medina opened his public stable in 2023, Caddel came on board as his assistant trainer and helped build the operation from the ground up. Three years later, the barn is making headlines with Praying (Vekoma), who handed...

Morgane Kervarrec knows she's not exactly known for being the most outgoing person on the backside. But for her, the job has never been about small talk or making appearances. It's about the work, the horses, and the quiet rhythm of morning training at Santa Anita. "People will say sometimes that maybe I'm not really social," Kervarrec admitted. "It's not that I'm tired of being social. I'm just tired of fake connections with people that you don't get with animals. That's why I picked this job. You deal less with...

Breezing a star like Journalism (Curlin) demands an extra level of concentration. It isn't that the colt is headstrong or unfocused. If anything, he does his job almost too well. "You have to be careful about your fractions because you're thinking that you're going really slowly, but really you're going quick with him," said Tony Gutierrez. "You don't feel when he's touching the ground. He floats." While Marc Witkowski is Journalism's regular exercise rider, Gutierrez has been aboard the talented colt for the majority of his breezes since he was...

It's easy to see why She Feels Pretty (Karakontie {Jpn}) has become a fan favorite. She's remarkably consistent, never out of the money in 12 career starts. She's gutsy, having fought to claim her latest of five Grade I wins by a narrow head. And she's got personality. Her friendship with an ornery goat named Mickey has a growing following on social media. Enrique Miranda, an assistant trainer for Cherie DeVaux, is the star filly's main exercise rider and can attest: to know She Feels Pretty is to love her....

In the paddock for the GI Forego Stakes, nearly every other horse was flanked by handlers. A few pranced or eyed the crowd warily, as their teams worked to keep them focused on the task at hand. Meanwhile Book'em Danno (Bucchero) ambled placidly in front of the saddling stalls. His lone handler gave him an occasional pat, but otherwise the pair seemed impervious to the commotion around them. That steady demeanor has been one of Book'em Danno's trademarks, and it's one of the reasons why bringing the multiple Grade I...

Jamie Linwood was cheering as the horses rounded the final turn in the GI Sword Dancer Stakes, but it wasn't for the mount he had come to America to ride. It was the other Charlie Appleby trainee, Nations Pride (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}), who looked like the stronger pick at the top of the stretch, but then El Cordobes (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) weaved through one gap and slipped through another, surging past his more-accomplished stablemate to snatch a dramatic victory. "I saw Nations Pride was going well and obviously we're the...

Miguel Clement has many memories of the conversations he had with his father about Deterministic (Liam's Map). In Christophe's book, a good horse could perform well across different surfaces and distances, and he always believed Deterministic fit that description. Over the past two years, Deterministic has proven him right, checking both those boxes for the Clement racing stable and serving as a steady presence through a poignant period of change following Christophe's passing in May. "My dad and I both loved him from the get-go and he has been a...

The gates are scheduled to open at 9:30 a.m. on Friday. Post time for the first race is 11:35 and the first Breeders' Cup race goes off at 2:45. But long before those bright-eyed Breeders' Cup attendees begin filling the grandstands of Del Mar, the backside will have been awake for hours. For those back in the barns as Breeders' Cup morning dawns, in many ways it's just like any other day. It is the same routine of raking barn aisles, topping off water buckets, checking temps, preparing feed, wrapping...

There are people that work with horses and there are people that love horses. In the case of Katie Tolbert, there is no better example of a person that works with horses because of how much she loves them. You see the devotion on a quiet morning on the backside of Churchill Downs as she sits in the saddle, stroking the neck of the horse she is astride or is ponying alongside her. You hear it in the echo of a nicker from an excited trainee, eager for her company,...