trainer

With 10 entries on Saturday's Saratoga card, Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher needed just one of them to cross the wire first to give him 6,000 wins on what has been nothing short of an illustrious career. The milestone came in the last race, a turf optional claimer going 1 3/8ths, when Versailles Road (Quality Road) rallied from off the pace to get his picture taken. "It's a hard business to reflect in much, but it's weird how when you get to these milestones that you start thinking about...

Trainer Todd Pletcher joined this week's TDN Writers' Room to celebrate a five-win day at Saratoga and look ahead to Whitney weekend. The team also took an in-depth look at the current situation with the Triple Crown after the news of the New York Racing Association and Churchill Downs announcing the creation of a new series for 3-year-olds and the changing of the date of the Preakness.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - It was around 5:20 a.m. one Sunday morning on the Saratoga backstretch and 17-year-old Will Walden was nursing a hangover after an ill-advised night on the town. The young man was doing his best to hotwalk his first horse of the day for Bill Mott. Walden took the job that summer with the Hall of Fame trainer after his father Elliott Walden told him it was time to start earning his keep. Riley Mott--Bill's son--was in worse shape than his friend and in no condition to...

Four years into his training career, Will Walden has established a pattern of sharp, sustained growth. Starting with a nine-win campaign in 2022, his operation has doubled its purse earnings each season since, crossing the $4 million mark last year after scoring a first Grade I victory with Rhetorical(Not This Time) in the 2025 GI Coolmore Turf Mile Stakes. "We owe a lot of it to Rhetorical," said Walden. "What we have now, from the number of horses to the class of horses we have, is really due to him....

Fresh off her first Grade I victory in this weekend's Haskell Stakes, trainer Lindsay Schultz joined the TDN Writers' Room, presented by Keeneland. As this week's Gainesway of the Week, she discussed her milestone win with 28-1 longshot Baby Vino (Vino Rosso) and the rapid growth of her stable. Not only did the Haskell mark Schultz's first Grade I attempt, it was also the first Grade I victory for jockey Jorge Vargas Jr. and owners Cosmo Stables and Delta Squad Racing. When asked about the stewards' inquiry following Baby Vino's...

Lindsay Schultz had a lot to celebrate on this week's TDN Writers' Room. The trainer discussed her breakout victory in the GI Haskell Stakes with Baby Vino. Elsewhere on the show, the Writers' Room team recapped graded stakes racing at Monmouth, Saratoga and Del Mar, and looked ahead to this coming weekend.

Trainer Chad Summers joins this week's Writers' Room ahead of his Preakness winner Napoleon Solo's bid in the GI Haskell Stakes. The team also discussed the latest Paco Lopez suspension and news of a new horse racing league.

By any standard of measure, 2025 was a career-defining year for Francis Graffard; in fact, over entire careers, many top trainers won't accomplish what Graffard did in that one year alone. He set a record for Group 1 wins by a French-based trainer with 14. He finished on top of the French trainers' list for wins and money earned. He won nine Group 1s in France, including the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe with Daryz (Sea The Stars), and also won Group 1s in England and Germany as well as...

Trainer Howard Wolfendale, a top trainer in Maryland for decades, passed away on Thursday at age 69. He died from complications from a stroke he suffered the previous week. His death was first reported by the Daily Racing Form. "The best horseman I've ever known. We will all love and miss you forever," his daughter Maggie, an analyst at the NYRA tracks, posted on X. Born in Pittsburgh, Wolfendale started his career in 1977 and won his first race that year with a horse named Red Lace. Wolfendale was a...

Steve Asmussen isn't necessarily the most exuberant trainer in the sport, but he couldn't contain his emotions after Magnitude (Not This Time) won Saturday's loaded GI Stephen Foster Stakes at Churchill Downs. Three days later, little had changed as he appeared on the Thoroughbred Daily New Writers' Podcast presented by Keeneland. Asmussen, the Gainesway Guest of the Week, couldn't hide his pride or passion. When asked if Magnitude is edging closer to becoming one of the best horses the Hall of Famer has ever trained, he replied: "I've thought about...

Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen was enthusiastic in his praise for GI Stephen Foster winner Magnitude this week on the TDN Writers' Room. The team also recapped the races at Churchill Downs and looked ahead to opening weekend of Saratoga.

Minutes after Ethical Diamond (Awtaad) shattered the Del Mar clock in the 2025 GI Breeders' Cup Turf, on-site analysts declared it to be one of the most remarkable wins in the World Championship's 42-year history. The 5-year-old gelding had not just defied his 27-1 odds; he had completely rewritten a cross-disciplinary rulebook. Seven months later, National Hunt legend Willie Mullins is still wearing the quiet smile of a man who pulled off the ultimate heist in transitioning a maiden hurdle winner at Punchestown in February into a Breeders' Cup champion...