Rubley Seeking Breeders' Cup Ticket North of the Border

2018 has already been a year of achievement for Kelly Rubley, winning her first graded stakes race since she became a full-time trainer four years ago, and she is hoping to add to that with her first Grade I victory and possibly securing her first entry into a Breeders' Cup race. On Saturday Rubley will saddle Gunpowder Farms's Divisidero (Kitten's Joy) in the $1 million GI Ricoh Woodbine Mile–a “Win and You're In” qualifier for the World Championships to be held at Churchill Downs in early November.

Back in July, Divisidero won the GIII Arlington H., his first win since joining Rubley's barn at Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland this year after three seasons under the care of Buff Bradley. Bradley saddled Divisidero to back-to-back wins in the GI Woodford Reserve Turf Classic in 2016 and 2017. When he started to go off form after the latter victory, owners Tom Keithley and Ericka DiVinney, who race as Gunpowder Farms, decided the horse would benefit in a sprawling training center as opposed to the confines of a racetrack. So they moved Divisidero to Fair Hill, where Rubley is based. Keithley and DiVinney live about five miles from Rubley and have most of their horses with her. The relationship began in 2015.

Rubley said it's been exciting to train Divisidero, a horse that has now eclipsed the $1-million mark in earnings.

“It's been exciting to train him,” Rubley said. “He's a very classy horse. I think he'd fit in anywhere. It's been a pleasure to have him in our barn. He's fit into our program very nicely. He loves his turnout time. He gets to gallop in the fields on a regular basis, which he enjoys greatly. Having all of these other options for him I think has been successful in keeping him a happy horse, which is what we need.”

The race at Woodbine will be Divisidero's 20th career start and fifth going a mile-a distance he has yet to win at, although he has notched a runner-up finish, two thirds and a fourth from five tries. Most recently contesting the GI Fourstardave H. over a two-turn mile and soft ground at Saratoga, he finished third beaten 2 1/4 lengths by the front-running Voodoo Song (English Channel).

“His closing fractions were quite impressive in my opinion,” Rubley said of Divisdero's Saratoga effort. “I'm excited to see how he handles the Woodbine course. I think the one-turn mile with the big, long stretch should work in our favor and we're hopeful that comes true. I think he's proven the mile and an eighth is his best distance. I was very happy to see him win at a mile and three-sixteenths at Arlington. It's a question of whether we want to go longer or shorter.”

Because the Woodbine Mile is a “Win and You're In” qualifying race, a victory would give Rubley her first Breeders' Cup horse. Her only experience racing on Breeders' Cup day came on the undercard of the 2015 edition at Keeneland with Argentina-bred Desvelo (Arg) (Sunray Spirit), who ran in the G2 Marathon S. and placed eighth.

“He wasn't successful, but it was definitely an experience to be at the Breeders' Cup and participate,” she said. “It would mean everything to have a horse of Breeders' Cup quality. I try not to think about it. At this point we need to get through this race and see where we're at.”

She said winning her first graded stakes this year meant something special to her.

“I've been trying for years,” she said jokingly. “I've only been training for four years, but I've been trying.”

Much has been written about Rubley's past before she decided to make training a full-time career, having earned a Bachelor's Degree in Biology and Chemistry, a Master's Degree in Secondary Education and Administration. She used those credentials to pursue a career as a teacher/administrator. However, it was her love of riding horses and competing in eventing that ultimately led her to pursue a full-time career training Thoroughbreds. She worked for Barclay Tagg and Jimmy Toner before going out on her own.

Rubley's training record on an annual basis is impressive, resembling a rising stock. In 2014, she won five of 26 races and posted $204,513 in earnings. Last year, she won 35 races in 229 starts and more than $1.2 million in purses. She has 29 wins in 197 starts as of September 11 and more than $1.1 million in earnings.

“We've expanded each year, as you can see by the number of starts, and continued to improve on the horses we have in the barn all the time,” she said. “I have wonderful ownership that are supportive. A lot of them are breeders. Certainly the goal is to continually improve each year and incorporate more stakes horses into the program. I think we're doing that slowly but surely. We have multiple allowance and maiden special weight-level horses and a few stakes horses. I don't know that there is an exact goal (for purse earnings), but certainly improving every start is very important.”

Keithley, who said he met Rubley through a mutual friend, said the annual increase in wins and earnings is a direct result of the way she manages her horses.

“She's very involved with the horses personally,” he said. “She knows where every horse is at every day. We've seen with the big operations, sometimes your horse can get lost. They fall through the cracks and that costs you time and money. She didn't really aspire to have a huge barn. She just wanted to be a trainer and work with horses. It was a good fit philosophically. If she had a lot of experience, she probably would have had a bigger barn and it probably would have been a different situation, but that's what we liked about it. We could be involved because it's close. It's only 10 minutes away. She was very hands on and personally involved with the horses.”

Rubley said that what she has done to date has accelerated what her expectations were when she began.

“I'm a very driven person, so I'd like to think this is what it's meant to be,” she said.

Keithley added it was special to him and his wife when Rubley won her first graded race and underlined their trust in her to train the horse.

“We could have been successful with either path,” Keithley said. “It validated Kelly, I think, a little bit as a trainer capable of getting at top horse to perform. We believed she could and it absolutely affirmed for us that she could win at that level.

“The horse is really in a comeback mode. He's had some nice wins and he's a wonderful horse. He definitely had a string of losses and definitely was not perceived at the top of his form, so we were excited for the horse and obviously for Kelly, too.”