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. 

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 - 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.

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.

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).

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.