Head Starter

The New York Racing Association (NYRA) and Hector Soler, who worked as the head starter at Aqueduct Racetrack, Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course between 2020 and 2025, have entered into a settlement agreement in which NYRA will pay Soler two separate sums, one which the parties agreed to keep confidential in exchange for Soler dropping an "unlawful discrimination and retaliation" lawsuit he initiated last year in the wake of being fired by NYRA. The "stipulation of final order and dismissal" was posted Mar. 27 on the docket for the...

Caleb Hays, interim starter at Churchill Downs during the Spring Meet, will move into the role of head starter at the Louisville oval as well as at Turfway Park,  while Todd Stephens, after more than 25 years at Golden Gate Fields and Bay Meadows, has been named head starter at Ellis Park. Churchill Downs owns all three Kentucky tracks. Hays has been on the gate crew for 17 years at Churchill after getting his start at River Downs. He is the son of the late former assistant starter Danton "Danny"...

Pending relevant licensing, Scott Jordan will take over the post of head starter at the New York Racing Association (NYRA) tracks beginning May 23, the organization announced Monday afternoon. With more than 20 years of experience in the position and a tenure at Churchill Downs which began in 2006, Jordan has also worked roles at Keeneland, Ellis Park, and Kentucky Downs. In addition to managing NYRA's team of assistant starters and starting gate operations at Aqueduct, Belmont Park, and Saratoga, he will also work with trainers and riders to aide...