trainer

It's rare for things to go exactly according to plan in the Kentucky Derby. Trainer Ethan West learned that lesson about five seconds into his first attempt. In the past, Chunk of Gold (Preservationist) had done his best work coming from off the pace, but in the Derby he broke sharply and, with Jareth Loveberry aboard, found himself just behind the frontrunners heading into the first turn. "That was not on the bingo card," West admitted. "We were hoping to be mid-pack and Jareth would find a nice little hole...

Saffie Joseph Jr. is no stranger to rejection. In the early years of his training career, there were moments when he wondered if chasing his dream had been a big mistake. In what is now a familiar part of Joseph's origin story, his father had warned him against leaving Barbados to launch a stable in America. Joseph came anyway. He arrived at Calder Race Course in 2011 only to be told that there was no stall space available, but he went back to the racing secretary week after week until...

It was another memorable year on the breeze-up circuit for Willie Browne. The 79-year-old broke his own long-standing record at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up by selling an Acclamation colt to Godolphin for 1.4 million gns. Roll on to Arqana and the Mocklershill maestro was at it again when selling a Siyouni colt to Coolmore for €1 million. Such results were welcome, according to Browne, who joked with Brian Sheerin on this month's edition of the TDN Conversations Podcast that 'it will be the first time in a few years where...

Trainer Jamie Osborne joins this week's TDN Writers' Room to discuss his Belmont contender Heart of Honor and share what it means to him to share the Triple Crown experience with his daughter, jockey Saffie Osborne.

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from around the country. The following rulings were reported on HISA's "rulings" portal and through the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit's (HIWU) "pending" and "resolved" cases portals. Resolved ADMC Violations Date: 05/20/2025 Licensee: John Servis, trainer Penalty: Disqualification of Covered Horse's Race results, including forfeiture of all purses and other compensation, prizes, trophies, points, and rankings and repayment or surrender (as applicable); a fine of $500; imposition of 1.5 Penalty Points. Final decision by HIWU. Explainer: Medication violation for...

Knowing when a horse is ready to take a step up and when it's time to take a step back--it's one of the fundamentals of training. Get it right and you get rewarded. Get it wrong and, well, you'll likely know pretty quickly. Some trainers just seem to have a feel for where that line is, a sense of when to ask for more and when the horse might need a little more time and preparation. Cherie DeVaux is learning to hone that intuition. "It is a balance to be...

In a sport built on speed and stamina, the people behind the scenes rarely stop moving. And for the horsewomen who are also mothers, the pace is even demanding—but so is the purpose. They're used to remarks like, "I don't know how you do it all," "Do you ever sleep?" and "You're like superwoman!" "I'm definitely not superwoman," Tessa Walden responded when that last one was posed to her. "Being a stay-at-home mom is probably even harder than being a working mom. But I do think moms are kind of...

In the TDN's new Breeders' Cup Breakthrough series, we catch up with the six trainers who celebrated their first win at the Breeders' Cup in 2024. We discuss the road to securing that victory, what the breakout win meant to them personally and what they hope to accomplish from here. We start with Kenny McPeek, who secured a long-awaited Breeders' Cup victory with a filly that is known to her fans as 'The Grizzly.'     It wasn't that he never had a shot. It's just that the shots weren't...

Top stallion Ghostzapper leads the nominees for the 2025 Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame finalists which were unveiled Tuesday by the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame Standardbred and Thoroughbred Nomination Committees. The Class of 2025 will be comprised of six inductees per breed (thoroughbred and standardbred) and provided the option for a Nomination Committee to use only five categories and induct two individuals in one category to meet the total of six inductees per breed. A 20-person Election Committee for each breed will determine, from the list of...

Trainer Kelsey Danner has traditionally based her stable at Palm Meadows in Florida every winter, but this year she decided to shift her focus to Turfway Park and already, the decision is paying dividends. Following a career-best year in 2024 thanks in part to a lucrative Holiday meet at Turfway in December, Danner is now sitting at the top of the trainer ranks for Turfway's Winter/Spring meet. After going two-for-two on Thursday, Danner has 15 wins from 69 starts and just over $700,000 in earnings ahead of Friday's card, giving...

When Rashmi (Oscar Performance), the latest ingenue to punctuate a dynasty of George Strawbridge-bred starlets, made short thrift of the latest running of the GIII Megahertz Stakes at Santa Anita, her win affirmed the charmed run enjoyed by her trainer, Jonathan Thomas, shows no outward signs of lost momentum. Will Then (War of Will) cruising away with the GIII Jimmy Durante Stakes. Truly Quality (Quality Road) showing rare quality in the GII Hollywood Turf Club Stakes. Mrs. Astor (Lookin At Lucky) doing double Grade III duty in the Red Carpet...

For about a decade and a half, Mike Pender punched well above his weight as a trainer on the ultra-competitive Southern California circuit, winning Grade I races with modestly bred and moderately priced runners like Ultimate Eagle (Mizzen Mast) and Jeranimo (Congaree), each acquired for $70,000 out of the breeze-up sales on behalf of his client B.J. Wright. About a year after saddling Lombo (Graydar) to an 8-1 upset in the 2018 GIII Robert B. Lewis Stakes, Pender switched gears and entered the bloodstock arena, but without the same level...