Hough on a Training Roll After Extended Hiatus

A six-year hiatus was not enough to keep a trainer with more than 2,000 wins like Stanley Hough from success with Thoroughbreds. In the time after entering his first horse since 2012 a month ago, the veteran conditioner has won three out of his first 15 races, with 11 in-the-money finishes as of Oct. 28. Two of those wins were at Keeneland.

Hough trains for Kevin Plank's Sagamore Farm and has been their racing manager since 2015.

This past summer, near the end of the Saratoga meet, Sagamore split its stable between young Maryland-based trainer Horacio DePaz and Hough, with Hough scheduled to run 15 horses in Kentucky before heading to Palm Meadows to prepare for racing at Gulfstream Park.

Hough has been backed by Sagamore president Hunter Rankin, whose father is Churchill Downs board chairman R. Alex Rankin and for whom Hough trained multiple Grade II winner Tar Heel Mom (Flatter). “He's like my fourth son,” Hough said of the younger Rankin.

“We've gone through trying to restructure,” Hough said about Sagamore's operation. “This year, we decided to go in two outfits. Horatio went public and decided to stay in Maryland. Hunter and I decided I might as well come back and do it.”

Hough said he is excited about a number of prospects, including Global Campaign (Curlin), a 2-year-old half brother to Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro) whom Hough helped pick out for Sagamore at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale last year for $250,000.

“I think a lot of that horse,” Hough said, adding that he is expected to begin training at Churchill Downs in the next few weeks after being sidelined for a few months.

Hough co-owned the stakes winner Barry Lee (Violence) in partnership with Sagamore until losing that horse via a $100,000 claim at Keeneland Oct. 10.

His instant success off such a layoff may surprise, but Hough has kept close tabs on the team's operations.

“I was at Saratoga every morning this summer. I've been around these horses,” he said, crediting the help of assistant Laz Cruz, who was with him in New York before he retired.

“It's not a big career move for me,” Hough said about his return to training. He plans to only take on new clients if they partner with Sagamore. His return to training has more to do with ensuring that Sagamore's horses fulfill their promise.

“I wanted to see it through,” he said. “We've got some nice horses we really believe in.”

Counted among those nice horses is 'TDN Rising Star' Recruiting Ready (Algorithms), a multiple stakes winner who is nearing return after running fifth behind Imperial Hint (Imperialism) in the GII True North S. in June.

Hough's career goes back 50 years to his early days at River Downs and Detroit Race Course and includes scores of stakes wins against the toughest competition around the world.

He campaigned Bertram Firestone's Half Iced to victory over Hall of Famers John Henry and All Along in the 1982 Japan Cup, led Proud Appeal to wins in the 1981 GI Blue Grass S. and three other graded stakes, and led Request for Parole to a score in the 2004 GI United Nations S.

He grew up outside of Chicago and was involved with horses from a young age. His dad was a barber who built a farm, where he bred and broke in Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses. Hough got married at 16 and left home as a teenager in a two-horse trailer to River Downs to learn the training game. He was mentored by trainer and family friend William Tompkins.

He built up his stock by claiming horses in the early 1970s at tracks like Tampa Bay Downs and Detroit's Hazel Park, which was a bridge for trainers between Oaklawn Park and the Chicago circuit. He jokes with trainer Bill Mott that when the South Dakota native went to work for the late Jack Van Berg in Detroit, he claimed Mott's first horse.

In 1976, Hough started a streak of five straight years as leading trainer at Calder Race Course in South Florida. By owning many of his horses, he built up the funds that allowed him to purchase Proud Appeal at the 1980 Florida Breeders Sales Company Select 2-year-olds in Training sale for $37,000. The next year, Proud Appeal reeled off four consecutive stakes wins before romping in the Blue Grass. Hough sold the horse ahead of the Kentucky Derby, becoming a millionaire while in his early 30's.

His favorite horses to this day are Irish Tower and Proud Appeal.

“They made me,” he said.

Irish Tower did his best damage during that same memorable 1981 campaign, winning a trio of graded stakes at Aqueduct and placing second in the GI Met Mile at Belmont.

Hough said he believes one of his strengths was developing young horses and selling them, as he did with Irish Tower and other graded stakes winners like You and I, Discreet Cat and Caller I.D. Nevertheless, Hough acknowledged that there is a lot of luck–both good and bad–in the game.

“Some of the best horses I ever had, never made it to the races,” he said.

Hough has impacted the game in other ways. He trained Bertram R. Firestone's Ruby Slippers, who went on to produce champion sprinter Rubiano, as well as Tap Your Heels–better known as the dam of Tapit.

Hough has also left his mark on the game by mentoring trainers such as Gary Contessa, Steve Margolis, Guadalupe Preciado and Dale Romans.

For now, the 70-year-old horseman is enjoying winning again. “We haven't accomplished what we set out to do,” Hough said.

Based on his recent results, he is on his way to taking care of that.