Menu

Stay in Touch
Sign up for ENews
Subscribe Now

Unlimited access >

Menu

Finding a Trainer

Racing
#1

So, I’m looking at getting into racing and I have a few connections here and there, but I’m not sure how to find a trainer other than to contact a few and pray. I know one owner, and I don’t think I want to use his trainer.

I’ve ridden OTTBs (jumpers, foxhunting, occasional schooling eventing) for some time and I own a 20 acre/19 stall farm, and recently found enough cash to fund a racehorse habit…maybe 2-3. I live nearest to Prairie Meadows, but the season is well over and travel is expected. I have a few connections here and there, but the advice I get is mostly to use whomever is currently employing them, or tight-lipped politeness that isn’t super helpful. I’ve had one young trainer approach me with a mountain of advice and offers of help and what seems like some solid knowledge, but his win/ITM percentages are abysmal.

I’d like to stay out of claimers, and although I don’t need daily updates, I do need someone who will throw me an update once in awhile and guide me a bit through whatever paperwork and decisions I need to make it happen. I don’t want a trainer coughbrobergcough with a very, very poor reputation for concern for the horses. I do know that sh*t happens and racing can be risky for so many reasons, but the welfare of horses is important to me and I’m not above puling one for a second career if racing isn’t working out. I can’t afford, like, G1 horses and the trainers that are consistently there, no…but my budget has some wiggle room.

I’m excited to get into racing…and I’d really like to have something on the track by 2019. Should I be looking for a trainer first and finding out whether they attend the sales and can help me navigate the mess? I know there’s a huge bucket of worms in acquiring a horse (or 2, or 3) that can be complicated, but where do I start? I read the TOBA site, sure…but it’s not super helpful in the real world of making contacts/arrangements. I don’t mind hanging on to yearlings - the yearling sales are coming up - but finding breaking training for racing adds to the list of things I don’t know how to do yet, where a 2yo in training might be a better fit to send directly to a trainer for my first one or two? I know I could contact an agent to attend a sale with/for me, but I’d really like to be there and have eyes on the horses in person as well before someone bids on my behalf (probably the arrangement I’d go with). Using an agent vs attending with a trainer?

Ugh. I just know this sounds terribly naive, but I figured I’d throw it out there. Help me figure out step one?

ETA: I should probably also mention that, yes, I’m quite familiar with Equibase/fairly resourceful in finding stats and contact info for trainers, agents, sales, etc. I’m just overwhelmed by the number of choices and I’m not sure how to narrow down what to do next.

#2

It’s not easy when you do not personally “know” the individuals from whom you have to choose. The trainer with the highest win average may not be the fella you want to deal with, or have care of your horse, if you care about your horse. It’s hard to get that personal knowledge of how each trainer works with his horses, what he does TO his horses to keep them sound enough to run, and win, and whether or not you are OK with some of this stuff. Because you may not be OK with some of it, or all of it. There will be things you don’t understand, and have not experienced before. Your trainer needs to be someone who can explain things for you about the differences in horse care, medications that are commonplace at the track and may not be seen elsewhere in the equine industry.

In a “big barn”, your horse may just be a number, and there is less “hands on” care from the trainer you have selected. In a small barn, there may be a reason why it is a small barn (no one wants a trainer who doesn’t have a clue how to win a race). The best option IMO is a small barn with big barn results. If you want to “preserve the horse at all costs”, you need a trainer who is not afraid to pull the plug (literally), who will return the horse to you BEFORE it is worn out, broken, dog meat on wheels. Some trainers won’t do this, they will grind out the last nickel out of your horse and hand you back the empty shell of a horse. Some owners WANT this in their trainer. So who suits you is something personal to you, and your desires.

You WILL like claimers, and you WILL own claimers. Claimers are the major part of racing, they are respectable, and can be profitable too. Don’t have a pre-conception about claimers. Claimers HAPPEN. It is important to enter a horse where he can win, be successful, and be happy in his career. And that may well be in claiming races, and there is no shame in this fact. Claimers love to win, just like the fancier horses do. The “claiming game” is a new one for you to explore, and you will be involved with it. Everyone is if they own racehorses. You may claim horses, and horses may be claimed from you. Get used to it. Learn from it.

The easiest way to enter the racing industry is to claim a horse who is in a claiming race. It is also the cheapest way. You approach the trainer you think you may want to try, introduce yourself, and tell them that you might be interested in claiming your first racehorse. They will ask you how much money you want to spend on that horse. You answer this question. Then the trainer will scout out what is available in that claiming bracket, what horse they think looks like a good deal. It may or may not be profitable for you, but it is a way to get your feet wet, experience a relationship with a trainer, see what you think of their methods of horse care, and owner care. See if you “click” with that trainer. See if you think they are honest. If not, you move on to another trainer, and try them out instead, until you find someone you are happy with. The more you “hang out” at the track and get to know people, listen to people talking and watching what goes on, the more you can direct your choices in trainers, in riders, and goals for your horses. You may make mistakes, and you will lose money. The money you lose is “tuition” at the school of racing. Once you have a trainer you think is right for you, it may be time to go and buy a yearling, or purchase a 2 yr old in training. Your trainer will guide you on purchase, care and breaking of a young horse. If you respect your trainer, listen to them. If you don’t respect your trainer, get another trainer.

8 Likes
#3

I think it’s great that you want to get involved, and think it sounds like you are considering many of the things that matter.

My advice would be to think about joining a partnership that runs horses at the tracks you want to frequent for your first foray into ownership. This way, you can get to know the trainer(s) they use, and decide what you like (and maybe what you don’t) about them. It will also get you exposed to other trainers your group competes against a lot, and just generally gather knowledge. The amount of your investment and risk will be less this way also, so it’s a safer way to learn. I’ve been involved in a partnership for two years now, and I LOVE it! Would I love to own my own horses someday? Probably. But, being in this partnership has been the best learning experience, and is also a heck of a lot of fun.

Re: Claimers. I completely agree with NancyM. Horses need to run where they can succeed, and not all of them are allowance or stakes horses. There are many very nice claiming horses who love their jobs and make money for their owners and trainers. We use a very high level trainer, and occasionally we have a horse that he wants to run for a tag. As a matter of fact, we debuted one in a maiden claiming race two days ago at Saratoga. It’s not a knock on the horse, it’s just realistic. No one wants to send a horse out in company they can’t compete with over and over. It wastes the horse, wastes the owner’s money and wastes a stall for the trainer.

I hope you dive into the game somewhere and have a blast!

5 Likes
#4

It’s not naive. You have to start somewhere. I echo the advice about hanging out around the track. The easiest way to do that besides just attending races is see if there is a program to allow the public to attend early morning training and do that for awhile. Some tracks put on new owner clinics or conformation seminars. Other states have breeding and bloodstock seminars. There are also horse sales specific to Thoroughbreds. They are good places to meet people to start to assemble information about local trainers.

But seriously, go to the paddock and look at the horses and see which ones stand out. Watch the staff. When you have narrowed down possibilities, look at their records, particularly with the type of horse you want or can afford. Check the stewards minutes for infractions, suspensions etc. Don’t be put off because someone isn’t fancy. Fancy does not always work out well with new owners.

Take the money you think you can lose and triple it. So much can happen, it will blow your mind. But the horse always comes first.

BTW everyone has claiming horses. It took me years to win a race without a price tag attached to it and I had a barrel of fun doing it. Winning a race–any race–is hard but so amazing.

Good luck.

3 Likes
#5

^^This. OP is looking to spend (not invest) $250,000+ and it will most likely all go poof without a bit of homework. Put some money into a partnership and consider it an educational opportunity. There are way way way more people out there who are looking to take your money and not very many who are willing to mentor a new owner. Once you’ve been in racing a couple years and experienced the ups and downs you’ll have a better feel for the level of risk, both emotional and financial, you are willing to take.

It all sounds wonderful that you are willing to find a home for a horse that does not seem to be cut out to race, but when you spent mid 5 figures to acquire the horse and then thousands a month on training for a bit of time, it can be a hard decision to make. Especially if that comes after another horse that failed to make money. You can only lose money so many times and then - you are out of money.

1 Like
#6

ownerview.com is a good resource to help find a trainer. Helped me at least.

#7

You do realize that the profiles are self written?

#8

Yes, but the stats are not. It was helpful to see what trainers were active in the area I was looking, in the fee range I was comfortable with, and with percentages I liked.

#9

It was more helpful to me then maybe others because I’m not located close to a track and had no contacts within the industry. Frequenting a track and making contacts with those trainers wasn’t an option for me, it was a good starting out point. Gave me names I wouldn’t have found otherwise and I could do my own research from there.

#10

I have 3 in training now. Our 1st trainer was an older VERY well respected gentleman with a long time assistant and a had 10 - 20 head at the time. He had won many big races and has forgotten more than most know. He was good but man did he ever have the vet out A LOT. He retired as did his assistant and we went with a 2nd trainer (not my choice) who had 40 horses and I supplied my horses with alfalfa and supplements as he didn’t believe in extras, he lived out of town and was only around 3-4 days a week and his barn just wasn’t up to my standards. This didn’t last very long and like i said not my choice. Our 3rd and current trainer regularly rides each horse in the barn (8-10) to evaluate where they are at in training, takes immaculate care of them and places them where they need to run (IF THE RACE GOES) and even though his numbers my not reflect how good he is we are pleased and have been with him for many years. It may be trial and error at first. A good reference can come from the vets office if you know one that does track or training farm work but we have found the smaller size stable hands on type trainer suits our needs better than a larger stable. Good luck and there is no greater excitement than your first win (what ever level) as an owner.

1 Like
#11

The stats always reflect how good a trainer is because they measure what he or she is being asked to do. If the trainer is doing a good job and running the horses where they belong he is winning at 15% or better and in the money at 50% or better.

There are many many many good horsemen who can feed a horse good and condition it and take fabulous care of it. But being a good race horse trainer is another story. It is not as easy as it looks.

2 Likes
#12

Even if you think you won’t own claimers, you probably will. Eventually you’ll be praying some get the tag after the wire just to get them off the bills.

If you don’t know anyone and don’t know the business, get in a partnership, send the checks, and let the professionals handle it. I would strongly suggest starting with someone like Little Red Feather who are expensive but established. Doing it yourself is going to be thousands of dollars for training and that’s before you need to lay one up. Voice of experience, even a do-it-yourself partnership gets expensive quick and you need people who know what they’re doing legally speaking and who can be on the ground at the track.

2 Likes
#13

Lots of good advice here. What track are you looking to race at? I also agree with the information regarding joining a partnership as a good learning experience. You can lose quite a bit of money quickly if you don’t do your research. Yearling and 2 year olds purchased at sale are a much higher risk/reward equation. You will spend (and lose) a lot more money this way. Claimers aren’t always a bad thing. Especially the higher level 40-62.5 level claimers are really nice horses and often can run in the lower level stakes races. One strategy if you are worried about after the track career, is shopping for fillies/mares with nice pedigree and racing them, then retiring for breeding purposes.
I have had race horses for about 4 years now. It took me over 1 year to get a win. It is a lot of fun. I have been lucky to be in a partnership with a friend who has done it for over 20 years and to be with a trainer that is very honest and takes wonderful care of his horses. I now am in partnerships on about 7 horses. Good luck!

2 Likes
#14

One warning about partnerships. Even if you’re treated well, given lots of attention, and the horse it great - if they require your signature, but fail to return a copy to you with something they’re supposed to sign, move on. That, and other sloppy bookkeeping, inconsistent updates, excuses, and, I found - management who doesn’t know a forelock from a fetlock - are warning signs. My experience in NY.

1 Like
#15

There’s a lot of good advice here.

If I had to do it over again, I would start by claiming a horse. Then you (hopefully) have a horse who’s ready to run. Let someone else do the work of raising and starting them. You have an idea of its form instead of taking a total gamble with a yearling.

Talk to other owners about trainers they’ve used.

Partnerships are a great way in for some but if you want to be more hands on it’s less appealing.

1 Like
#16

Agree on the claim. You can find nice horses in the claiming ranks, not all of them are bottom of the barrel. So much risk in buying a yearling at sales. Depending on how much you have to spend and how crazy you want to get on a vet report and pedigree; you could always find something at the 2 year old sales that might be ready to run within 4-9 months after purchase.

If you want to claim find a respected trainer who will meet your needs and claim under the guidance of he/she. Agree on finding a trainer who cares for their horses in the barns very well and runs them where they need to be run, not run them into the ground

have fun. That’s the most important part.

1 Like
#17

Just another sucker thread. OP has not been back…

#18

Yikes, lets all try to move away from this mindset. Stopping on a horse that has no ability or is declining physically, and finding it a home is not going to cost you that much more money than keeping it in training and dropping it lower til someone claims it, or taking it to auction. Anyway, most owners are in this business because they are financially comfortable and have disposable income to play in an expensive hobby-they are not depending on the horses to put food on their table (unlike most trainers, jockeys, grooms, etc).

Back over 20 years ago when I was considering becoming a trainer, my husband and my friend and I took groom jobs at our little local track. It was great fun, a lot of work, and you definitely got to know the trainers, good and bad. we also had a lot of opportunity to buy horses (most claimers were $1500) and lots of horses brought in that were filtered down from better tracks offered up for sale on their way to auction :frowning: My friend did get a horse and got her license but I decided not to. But anyway, it was a good way to get in the ground floor (but more of a thing that would be appealing to young people!)

2 Likes
#19

Often it’s going to be “Sell to another barn on the track for something close to the minimum claim tag” versus “Sit around paying through the nose for the stall and anything else it needs or finding somewhere off the track to put them because the trainer can’t waste a stall on a non-runner without losing stalls until if you’re really lucky someone comes along who’s willing to pay pocket change for the horse.” I’ve been lucky in I’ve never been in on one who was worth less than the claim and the one who was sold straight away from the track was in California where they at least usually pay something fair but I’m 100% okay with the other two getting sold on the backside. I mean, I get it from the non-racing buyer end, cheap is nice–I paid $600 for my riding horse off Finger Lakes. But $6000 is a lot nicer.

And I think based on HIS papers and our horses, backside sales are more common than claims anyway. He ran in claimers and allowances and was sold at least three times, but never claimed. Of the horses our LLC has owned, I think only one was claimed, all the others were retired (in one case; he stands at stud in California) or sold privately.

1 Like
#20

Even people who are financially well off get upset when they’ve “invested” tens of thousands of dollars in a horse (or more) and the horse either doesn’t make it to the races or can’t outrun a fat man. They get angry at the trainer, or the vet that gives them bad news. Pretty much everyone but themselves.

Get your Digital Subscription here - only $21.95 / year

Subscribe here
See gift options

Sign up to our monthly newsletter!

By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.

Copyright © 2023 The Chronicle of the Horse