Turfway's Leading Jockeys and Trainers

Bill Connelly grew up among racehorses, learning the business from his father, trainer Robert Connelly. When Bill was 13, the family moved to Kentucky from Texas to focus on the Kentucky circuit.

Connelly worked primarily for his father before opening his own stable in 1980. He hit the 1,000-win milestone on July 17, 2009, at Ellis Park, a total that includes 27 career blacktype scores. Through August 2010, his trainees had earned more than $13.3 million.

Consistent with his longtime success at Turfway, Connelly finished fourth in both the 2009 Fall and 2010 Winter/Spring meets and fifth in the 2009 Holiday Meet. Among his wins at Turfway are the 1994 My Charmer Stakes, 1995 Likely Exchange Stakes, and 2010 Turfway Prevue Stakes. Notable among his recent trainees are Patchen Prince and The White Fox, both bred and raced by Patchen Wilkes Farm and registered as white Thoroughbreds by The Jockey Club.

Dale Romans grew up at Churchill Downs working for his father, the late trainer Jerry Romans. He took out his first trainer's license at age 18, a decade after he chose training as a career. Romans also worked briefly for Hall of Fame trainer Woody Stephens.

Romans' first win came at Turfway in 1987 with Miss Mindy, a filly he bought for $1,500. He also scored his first blacktype at Turfway, saddling Morning Punch in the 1991 Florence Stakes. He earned his first graded stakes in 1996 Fall Highweight Handicap (G2) at Aqueduct with Victor Avenue.

Romans has 18 stakes wins at Turfway, including the Kentucky Cup Classic (G2) with Roses in May in 2004. After finishing second in that year's Breeders' Cup Classic behind Horse of the Year Ghostzapper, Roses in May won the 2005 Dubai World Cup (G1). Romans also trained 2004 Eclipse Award turf champion Kitten's Joy, who that year piled up six stakes wins including two G1 races before running second to Better Talk Now in the Breeders' Cup Turf (G1).

In addition to Roses in May, Romans' other Turfway stakes winners include Half Heaven, who won four Turfway stakes in one year, December 2006 to December 2007, and Vow to Wager, winner of the 2010 John Battaglia Memorial.

Romans owns one Turfway training title, a three-way tie with Bernie Flint and Greg Foley in the 2003 Holiday Meet. He also holds titles from Keeneland and Churchill Downs; at the latter he was second behind Steve Asmussen for the 2009 fall meet and the 2010 spring meet.

Among Romans' current or recent standout trainees are G1 winners Paddy O'Prado, Swift Temper, and Thorn Song; multiple G1-placed First Dude; multiple graded winners Quiet Temper and Sassy Image; and 2009 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Tapitsfly. Paddy O'Prado and First Dude are on target to contend in the 2010 Breeders' Cup.

Through mid-October 2010, Romans had nearly 1,400 wins, among them 137 stakes including 54 graded events, and purse earnings of $60.5 million.

Romans, who trained 2006 Kentucky Derby (G1) contender Sharp Humor, was one of six trainers whose paths to that year's Derby were chronicled in the documentary The First Saturday in May.

The son of Kentucky trainer Thomas Drury Sr., Tom Drury Jr. grew up around racing. He wanted to be a jockey but when he realized he would grow too big, he set his sights on becoming a trainer instead. In addition to the knowledge he gained from his father, the younger Drury galloped horses for Frank Brothers and worked on Brothers's farm.

Drury took out his trainer’s license in Kentucky at age 18, and at the time was the youngest licensed trainer in the state. He keeps 30 to 40 horses in training and is based at Skylight Training Center in Goshen, Kentucky. Drury trains primarily for clients, though he does own a small part of a few horses. He generally stays close to the Kentucky circuit, with forays to River Downs in Ohio and the Indiana tracks, and ships elsewhere for stakes. He particularly credits clients Dr. David Richardson and Betsy Lavin as major influences as he has built his career. "I'm glad to have reached a point in my career where people are interested in what I'm doing," he said.

Among memorable horses Drury has worked with are Grade 1 winner and millionaire Madcap Escapade, trained by Brothers; Drury's own trainee Junior College, a multiple stakes winner; and his current star Timeless Fashion, who has five stakes wins for clients R-Cher Family Farms and Judy Miller, including three at Turfway: the 2009 Dust Commander and Prairie Bayou and the 2010 Tejano Run.

Drury tied for third among Turfway trainers during the 2009 Holiday Meet with 6 wins from 15 starters, a 40 percent win percentage and seventh among trainers during the 2010 Winter/Spring Meet with 8 wins, 4 seconds, and 3 thirds from just 29 starters.

Larry Holt grew up riding horses, including some his uncle raced on the fair circuit. He had ambitions to become a jockey—Eddie Arcaro and Willie Shoemaker were his heroes—but he literally outgrew that dream and in 1972 took out his trainer's license. He never worked for anyone else but instead added a horse here and there on his own, starting with his uncle's string. His first win came in 1973 with a horse owned by his father-in-law. He earned his first stakes with Cattle Kate in the 1976 Banquet Bell Stakes at Thistledown. Among Holt's top horses have been Lackadaisical Lady, a filly that earned more than $100,000 "the hard way," and the stakes-winning filly Demitryst.

Today Holt maintains a mostly public stable and races primarily in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, and West Virginia. He operates his own training center, Holt Stables in Russell County, Kentucky, where he also breaks his own and clients' yearlings.

As proud as he is of his horses, Holt is equally proud of his assistants who have gone on to successful careers of their own, including Joe Cain, Vince White, and Kevin Fletcher.

Through August 2010, Holt counts $5.3 million in purse earnings and more than 660 wins, including three stakes.

Mike Maker first learned the art and science of training from his father, George Maker, who trained at Detroit Race Course and Hazel Park in Michigan. He bought his first horse at age 13 with money he earned walking hots for his dad and delivering newspapers, and the horse won the first time he raced. The younger Maker eventually was his dad's assistant before going out on his own in 1991.

In 1993 Maker landed a job with trainer D. Wayne Lukas, working with the stable's string at Churchill Downs under Dallas Stewart, then an assistant to Lukas. When Stewart went out on his own in 1997, Maker took over as head of the Louisville operation. He left the Lukas stable in 2003 to again open his own stable. Maker's first "big horse" was Freefourinternet, who won the Hawthorne Gold Cup (G2) in 2004 to give the trainer his first graded win and his first Breeders' Cup Classic competitor.

After a few more solid years, Maker found breakout success beginning in 2008. From September 2008 to April 2009, he swept all three meets that comprise Turfway's racing year, giving him four consecutive leading trainer titles at the track. In the fall of 2008 he earned his first Keeneland title and amassed 31 wins at Churchill Downs to not only earn his first title there but also break the fall meet record, crushing the previous mark of 20. His success has been powered in large measure by the prolific stable of Ken and Sarah Ramsey, his primary clients.

In 2009, Maker won the Kentucky Cup Classic (G2) at Turfway with the Ramseys' Furthest Land, who went on that year to give trainer and owners their first Breeders' Cup win, the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) at Santa Anita.

Maker's success continued in 2010, with his second Lane's End Stakes (G2) at Turfway with Dean's Kitten, the G1 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland with Stately Victor, the Claiming Crown Jewel with Headache, and the Claiming Crown Emerald with Inca King.

Maker finished second in Turfway's trainer standings in the 2009 Fall and Holiday meets and the 2010 Winter/Spring Meet, posting respective win ratios of 48 percent, 25 percent, and 31 percent. Through September 2010, he counted more than 600 wins, including 37 stakes, and purse earnings of $15.8 million. Counting the aforementioned 2009 Kentucky Cup Classic and 2010 Lane's End, Maker has 11 stakes wins at Turfway, including the 2006 Lane’s End with With a City.

Website: Mike Maker Racing Stables

Dawn Martin got her start in racing in 1980 when she rode Quarter Horse races in Brazoria, Texas. She took out her Thoroughbred trainer's license in 2000 after learning the game from trainers Don Kerrone and Gerry Hammond. Martin is based at Fairmount Park, where she keeps 50 horses in training on average, about 75 percent of them her own. Martin's son, Chase Carter, is her assistant trainer. Major clients include Dennis Behrmann.

Among memorable horses she had a hand in training are multiple Grade 1 winner Benny the Bull and multiple stakes winner Cobra Lady.

Martin enters her runners primarily at Turfway, Ellis, Hawthorne, Fairmount, and the Indiana tracks. She tied for fourth among Turfway trainers in the 2010 Winter/Spring Meet and was among the meet's leading owners, campaigning alone and in partnership with Behrman.

Martin's career path veered from racing for about 15 years, when she worked in construction engineering and project management.

Kenny McPeek grew up in Lexington, where he played football for Tates Creek High School and in 1984 earned a B.A. in business finance from the University of Kentucky. But racing was his first love, and although he interviewed for a position as a stockbroker after graduation, he decided on a different job—hotwalker for trainer Claude "Shug" McGaughey. McPeek opened a public stable in 1985, with his father, owner/breeder Ron McPeek, as his main client.

A later client, Roy Monroe, father of a Tates Creek teammate, changed the game for McPeek. McPeek has always demonstrated an eye for bloodstock, and Monroe gave him his first chance to upgrade his stable. His first "big horse" was Tejano Run, a $20,000 purchase for Monroe who earned more than $1.1 million on the track. In 1994, Tejano Run won Turfway's Kentucky Cup Juvenile (G3) and ran third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) before finishing second in the 1995 Kentucky Derby (G1). In 1997 he won the Turfway Park Fall Championship (G3) and today is honored by a Turfway stakes bearing his name.

Other astute selections include Repent, Take Charge Lady, and She's A Devil Due. Bought for $230,000, Repent earned $1.2 million in two years of racing, winning four graded stakes including the 2001 Kentucky Cup Juvenile (G3). Take Charge Lady, purchased for $175,000, was a multiple G1 winner who earned more than $2.4 million on the track. G2 winner She's A Devil Due, a $30,000 purchase, earned $533,820 in her two-year career.

In June 2005 McPeek began turning over his 160-horse stable to his assistants to concentrate on work as a bloodstock agent. During that nearly year-long sabbatical, he signed the $57,000 ticket for Midnight Cry Stable's Curlin, then a yearling. Racing at ages 3 and 4, Curlin now holds the record for most career earnings—more than $10.5 million—and was twice Horse of the Year.

McPeek returned to training in mid-2006 with 70 horses. He and his wife, Sue, purchased the 115-acre Pillar Stud in Lexington, renaming it Magdalena, and began training from the farm, an idea sparked when he took Brazilian-bred Hard Buck to Ascot in 2004 and saw the advantage of having European-style gallops and turnout paddocks available for daily use.

Through August 2010 McPeek counted more than 1,100 career wins, among them 107 stakes including 45 graded events, and purse earnings of nearly $45 million. McPeek earned his first graded win in the 1994 G2 Beaumont with Her Temper and his first G1 win in the 2002 Florida Derby with Harlan's Holiday. He also earned his first Classic win in 2002, the Belmont Stakes with 70-1 Sarava. More recent stakes winners include G1 winners Noble's Promise and Dream Empress and graded winners Orchestrator, Striking Dancer, Bridgetown, Bold Start, and War Kill. He has seven stakes wins at Turfway, most recently the Bourbonette Oaks (G3) with Orchestrator and the Fairway Fun with My Baby Baby, both in 2010.

David Pate earned his insights into training from a lifetime of working with horses, from workhorses on his family’s 36,000-acre Georgia farm to racehorses he rode as a jockey.

Pate left the family farm at 19 to join his older brother at Ocala Stud in Florida, when the now-thriving racing center had just a few operations. He started as a hotwalker but had his eye on riding, and in 1968 at age 25 made his debut as a jockey.

Difficulty maintaining weight limited his career to three or four years but the experience opened the next door. "Once I started riding, I knew I wanted to train," he said. "I learned something from every trainer I ever rode for." Pate credits that time with giving him insight into what can happen to horses during a race. "I'm not so quick to blame the jockey when things don't go right," he said.

In 1972 Pate opened a small training stable at Tampa and later moved to Latonia, now Turfway. He closed the stable after about six years and signed on as assistant to Marvin Moncrief in Maryland. The time with Moncrief's 50-horse stable and the chance to make industry connections gave Pate the foundation he needed, and in 1988 he returned to Florida to open a stable with about 25 horses. Looking for options for the varying talents in his barn, he moved to the Ohio/Kentucky circuits, where he was leading trainer at River Downs in his first meet and a regular at Churchill Downs and Latonia.

Based year-round at Turfway, Pate selects horses and trains primarily for James Skaggs's Spade Stable. He also trains horses he buys for his wife, Peggy, whose horsemanship he calls equal to his own. Pate's operation is family-run and he proudly notes that three of his employees have been with him for 20 years.

Among Pate's memorable horses is his first stakes winner, Lawful Beat, a filly he bought with a partner for $4,700 and later sold for $125,000. His eight stakes wins include three at Turfway, mostly recently the 2010 Cincinnati Trophy with Cactus Cadillac, and he has one graded win, the 2005 Bashford Manor (G3). Through August 2010, Pate counted 540 career wins and $5.3 million in purse earnings.

Phil Sims grew up on a Kentucky farm and was always around horses, and he has never looked for any other career. He took out his trainer's license in 1980 and still has a farm in Scott County, Kentucky, where he raises cattle and hay.

Based at Keeneland, Sims keeps about 25 horses in training, some his own and some for clients. He races primarily in the Midwest and occasionally ships to East Coast tracks. His son, Matthew, is his assistant.


In 2009, the outstanding filly Hot Cha Cha gave Sims his first graded win, the G3 Bourbonette Oaks at Turfway, and his first G1 win, the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland. The filly also won the 2009 Pucker Up at Arlington and the 2010 Mint Julep at Churchill Downs, both G3. Through mid-October 2010 Hot Cha Cha scored 6 wins from 18 starts, has missed the board only four times, earned $938,552 in two years of racing, and is on target for the 2010 Breeders' Cup.

Through August 2010, Sims had more than 300 wins, including 15 stakes, and purse earnings of $6.4 million. In addition to Hot Cha Cha's Bourbonette Oaks victory, his stakes wins at Turfway include the 1990 Wintergreen and My Charmer (Anitas Surprise), the 1999 Valdale (Blarin Speed), and the 2007 WEBN (Joe Got Even).

Eric Reed grew up on the Keeneland backside knowing he would train racehorses. The son of trainer Herbert Reed, he took summer and night classes to graduate from high school a year early. At 16 and 17 he worked summers and after school for his dad and trainers Mac Miller and Ray Lawrence. The first available testing day after his 18th birthday, Reed took out his trainer's license. He immediately opened his own stable with six horses, four from clients and two he bought himself.

Though Reed easily recalls his first winner, she does not appear in his record. Eager to get started, he was still three months too young to be licensed when Natural Split won a maiden special at River Downs. The mare ran in another trainer's name.

Reed is known for his work with juveniles, insight gained from his dad. While the elder Reed trained eight or 10 horses to race for local owners, he usually had three times as many for his main business, breaking yearlings and preparing two-year-olds.

Through August 1010, Reed's trainees have earned nearly $10.4 million. He counts 17 stakes wins, including his first graded event, the 2009 Raven Run (G2) at Keeneland with Satans Quick Chick. The tally also includes seven at Turfway, including his first, the 1986 Forego, when the track was called Latonia. Reed's most recent Turfway stakes came in the 2010 Wintergreen with Rinterval. The excellent Irish-bred mare subsequently finished second to 2009 champion female sprinter Informed Decision, beaten a head, in the 2010 Chicago Handicap (G3) and second to 2009 Breeders' Cup Classic winner Zenyatta, beaten a neck, in the 2010 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes (G1) at Del Mar.

When he was in the seventh grade, Nick Rennekamp watched the Kentucky Derby on television and decided he wanted to work with racehorses when he grew up. He took out a trainer's license when he was 19, but instead of training horses to race, he trained horses to play polo. His work in racing started about the same time, when he worked at Rosalie Plantation in Louisiana to break yearlings and prepare horses for the two-year-old sales.

Rennekamp began entering horses to race in 2001, generally following the Kentucky circuit but also now competing for the higher purses offered in Indiana, Ohio, and West Virginia. He and his wife keep about 15 horses to race, some their own and some for clients, training off their farm in LaGrange, Kentucky, and at High Point Training Center.

Rennekamp also keeps 30 to 40 horses in training for polo. He plays the game himself, and his first winner at the racetrack, Christmas Verse, became one of his polo ponies. "I think people underestimate what horses can do after their racing careers are over. I think I've turned around horses that were really in trouble," he said, citing his ability to identify horses that have a high aptitude for learning to play polo.

Rennekamp ranked among the top 10 trainers at Turfway during the 2009 Fall and Holiday meets, and during the Holiday Meet was also among the track's leading owners.

Joe Woodard grew up in Louisville and started his career in racing walking hots at Churchill Downs while still in high school. After graduation he studied Criminal Justice at the University of Louisville, and together he and a few friends purchased some claiming horses. In 1992 he took out his trainer's license, training during the day while working in law enforcement at night. In 1993 he began training for other clients as well.

Woodard's career expanded in 1997 when he was hired as the private trainer for Louisville auto dealer Billy Hays, whose interest lay in claiming horses with room for improvement. The highly successful relationship continues, although in 2004 Woodard opened his stable to horses from other owners. In 2005, Woodard won a record 10 consecutive races at Churchill Downs, shattering the old track mark of six. Most of the winners were owned by Hays.

Woodard swept the Turfway Park trainer standings the past racing year, winning the 2009 Fall and Holiday meets and the 2010 Winter/Spring Meet. He also won the 2010 Beulah Park meet and has seven leading trainer titles from River Downs, most recently both 2010 meets.

Among recent Woodard standouts is the Hays-owned gelding Blue Cherries Spin, who won seven of 12 starts in 2009 and posted an 83 percent in-the-money performance for the year.

Racing primarily in the Midwest, through August 2010 Woodard had nearly 800 wins and more than $7.8 million in purse earnings. Of his six stakes wins, three have come at Turfway: the 2001 Marfa, 2002 Cincinnati Trophy, and 2010 Forego, all for Hays.

Website: Woodard Racing Stables