David Ingordo
The day was one David Ingordo will never forget for inexplicable reasons. There was wisdom in what an old man told him, but it was the old man himself that made it have an impact, an old man who saw something in him and in his future. “I was a little boy, and I was sitting on a tack trunk at the racetrack,” recalled Ingordo. The old man was Charlie Whittingham, offering not so much advice as instruction.
“‘Let me tell you something’…and he said it matter of factly and almost like a military order, and it stuck with me: ‘If you're around these horses, you learn something every day.’”
Sunday Silence and Pat Valenzuela winning the 1989 Kentucky Derby.
The value of the moment enhances the poignancy. Not every little boy gets to sit at the proverbial feet of a racing giant. Whittingham today would marvel at what the little boy would achieve as a bloodstock professional, but maybe it wouldn’t surprise him.
Many things have gone into what has made Ingordo, age 50, already a legend himself. Principal among them is being around people like Charlie Whittingham, Bobby Frankel, Brian and Jeanne Mayberry, and Johnny T.L. Jones.
Mornings for David Ingordo as a kid meant going out to the racetrack with his father, jockey agent Jerry Ingordo. “Afterward, if you were at Santa Anita, you went to this place called Coco’s, or if you were at Del Mar, you went to Bully’s.
“It would be Mel Stute with his brother Warren, Henry Moreno, Charlie Whittingham, and Wayne Hughes. On occasion Bobby Frankel might show up. I'd sit there and wouldn't say anything. That was back in the day you were taught to be seen and not heard. And I’m still a bit that way.”
That didn’t preclude listening.
Elliott Walden
The thing about those whose career aspirations hinge upon developing athletes in the Thoroughbred industry is they rarely pause while building paths of success to take in the scenery cultivated along the way. Stop too long to admire one’s work and one will inevitably be passed by ambitious colleagues carving out a fresh route to sport’s highest echelons. Such is the byproduct of a vocation that pins its identity largely upon end results – wins, losses, economic viability.
Having spent the better part of the last quarter century as an architect of one of the most successful avenues in Thoroughbred racing, Elliott Walden is confronted by the end results of his impact on a near daily basis. It’s in the trophy cases and framed images that line the walls of the WinStar Farm office, celebrating a leading sire here, a Triple Crown winner there. It’s in the parade of bloodstock who traced their familial roots back to the Versailles, Ky nursery, sauntering into winner’s circles across the country. It is most plainly evident in the fact that, 26 years after its founding, WinStar Farm boasts perpetual residency among the industry elite.
Like many of his ilk, however, Walden doesn’t allot much time for self-admiration, although moments of self-reflection have been on the table of late as one of the more accomplished chapters of the sport over the last three decades inched towards its conclusion. Shortly after the calendar flipped to January 2026, word came that Walden, who had served as president and CEO of WinStar since 2010, would be stepping down from his longtime roles with Gerry Duffy succeeding him as the farm’s president on April 1 before taking over as both CEO and president effective October 1.
Life of Riley: Mott Defining His Path to the Top with Foundation, Family on His Side
Riley Mott decided to enter Incredibolt, whom he saddled to a sixth-place finish in the 152nd Kentucky Derby, in this year’s Preakness while eating an Uncrustable at his kitchen table. His first call was to the racing office to see if entries for the second Triple Crown classic were still being accepted. Then he rang the man who had provided this young trainer with an enviable foundation in horsemanship, his father, Bill Mott.
Kenny McPeek - BUYING WINNERS, BUILDING CHAMPIONS
Twenty years ago trainer Kenny McPeek had a ho-hum year, relatively speaking. His horses earned $1.3 million and he earned for himself a cover photo and story in a brand new horse racing magazine, Trainer. That year, 2006, might have been a turning point for him; it was the last year his earnings would be below $2 million. It also marked the beginning of a trajectory leading to $16.2 million in 2024 when Thorpedo Anna won the Kentucky Oaks and Mystik Dan, the next day, won the Kentucky Derby, a feat only two other trainers had accomplished. Over the next 20 years after 2006, his earnings have averaged $5.7 million and he has never been out of the top 100 in annual purses.
Future success was still a question mark for McPeek back in 2006. In that first issue of Trainer was this quote from McPeek. Referring to his 14 years of training prior to 2006 he said, “I’ve tried just about everything over the years to win races.” He went on to say he was “trying something entirely new…and in the process of reinventing his training methods.” Changes apparently not only helped him win races but also go from a middling trainer to a contender and winner in Triple Crown races.
Cherie DeVaux - a classic winning trainer in the making
Cherie DeVaux - trainer of Kentucky Derby runner - Golden Tempo
Few races inspire the pageantry and glory that the Triple Crown classics do. For anyone involved in American horse racing, a win in any of the three puts you in an exclusive club, your name forever etched in the history of the sport.
"These big races are the ones you dream of when you look at these young horses that are being born right now, and you say, 'We might have a chance.' That's why every single person on every single level loves the sport," said Daisy Phipps Pulito, whose Phipps Stable won the Derby with Orb in 2013.
ADRIANNE DEVAUX FORGES HER OWN PATH TO SUCCESS
On a rainy late September afternoon in 2024, Adrianne DeVaux sent out her first starter and got her first winner at the same time, a confluence of events that left the now-27-year-old in tears. With husband Rodrigo Ubillo by her side, the youngest daughter of Janet and Adrian "Butch" DeVaux entered the training game with a bang as Shoot the Nickel earned his first win. The neck victory at six furlongs was a hint at things to come for his rookie conditioner.
BROOK T. SMITH - OWNERSHIP WITH PURPOSE - HIS MISSION BEYOND THE WINNER’S CIRCLE
WORDS: ALICIA HUGHES
The words come easily and in uninterrupted batches, forming detail-laden sentences delivered with a genuine timbre. They go on for minutes at a time, not because the orator is indulging in a stream of consciousness but rather, when Brook T. Smith is asked to speak on topics that have hit the marrow of his soul, he isn’t going to skimp on the breadth and depth of their context.
Don’t ask the Louisville, KY native and serial entrepreneur how he got into Thoroughbred racing if you don’t have, at minimum, a 15-minute chunk of time at the ready, lest you miss the key intangibles of how he went from cheering on whatever Kentucky Derby (Gr.1) contender’s name he picked from a bowl during his family’s annual rite, to being enthralled after a horse part-owned by his roommate’s father won a graded stakes at Churchill Downs, to taking every half bottle of champagne he could find in his hotel’s minibar into the hot tub after the colt who ignited his current fantastical reality triumphed in the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic (Gr.1).
JONATHAN THOMAS - THE ART OF WINNING SMALL
HOW FEWER HORSES & SHARPER FOCUS PLACE HIM AMONG RACING'S ELITE
It is said that numbers tell a story. And when it comes to the yarns weaved in competitive landscapes, the Thoroughbred industry relies as heavily as any sporting realm on metrics and percentages when it comes to anointing their most successful participants.
As with most narratives, though, context is a key part of interpreting raw data. In the case of trainer Jonathan Thomas, the framing of said figures is a necessity to appreciate the full scope of his professional standing.