Did I Read Correctly?

Training at the Kentucky Horse Center in Lexington in 1998 about every three or four days one of Nick Zito's horses would enter the track right in front of the window of my tack room- residence. On board would be a female rider with striking blond hair. This was also the era when James McIngvale(McIngvale Furniture, Houston Tx.) pulled all his expensive horses at the KY Horse Center from Zito and put his sister-secretary in charge, a hilarious scene. Said he was supplying all the time, effort and money, and Zito wanted to tell him how to train. How absurd is that?

So, I would watch the girl work the horse because it was Zito's horse. They always breezed. I never saw them gallop, and, as you'd expect, the girl could ride.

I was reminded of this Monday night when I read that the above pictured horse won the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park and that the trainer was Ms.Jamie Sanders, former exercise rider for Nick Zito. Given Ms. Sanders blond hair in her bio on the NTRA website, she has got to be the one I saw in 1998 or it was her twin sister.

Whether it was her or someone else riding those horses, this appears just a great great story, an inspiration for every small stable in the country. The lady, with a little experience and a fiance-trainer named Danny Kelly in tow go to the sales and come up with apparently some cheap horses including one Teuflesburg purchased for $9000 at Oct. FT Yearling sale--which would be the exact same sale which produced our Art, and also the exact amount of money I had budgeted to spend--see my October posts. All this does warm the RR heart a bit. Nice to see some confirmation here that's it's preparation instead of price that separates the horses.

Nevermind that a Johanesburg out of a Devil's bag mare went for $9000.00. Somebody had a sharp eye, and somebody else including the prior owner was asleep at the switch. Comatose might be an accurate description. Please notice in the above photo: no shadow roll, no blinkers, no flash noseband, no stupid stuff. 13 races for the horse to date.

RR has a prejudice against women coaches, managers, trainers. I was a girls H.S. Basketball coach, and quite successful at that and developed respect for female athletes. But, I find female coaches by and large have yet to rise to the level of their male counterparts. The understanding and intuitive sense of athletics seems missing from the gals. By my experience women trainers more want to groom the horse than send it to the track.

But, this might be different. A former female rider training a Derby prospect. Big challenge ahead. I've tried it and failed miserably. Will they be able to get the horse there uninjured, how many races now to Derby, will they use Zito training or has Ms. Sanders wised up?

I have but little info on this, just what I read, but also that image of the girl rider with the blond hair back in '98 that could ride. The photo of this lady in the NTRA bio supports that sense of Ms. Sanders, and the feeling that something interesting is about to happen. I wish these folks the best of good luck!

Training:
2/18/07: riderless paddock work over puddles. Walked under tack.
2/19/07: Deep mud rest.
2/20/07: Mud less deep, but trying to work on this ground seemed pointless. Rest.