From the discipline of the battlefield to the demands of the backstretch - Mark Simms Jr. in profile

Article by Alicia Hughes 

There is a level of ease that radiates off individuals fortunate enough to exist entirely within their element, an enviable calm that never waivers even when honing their craft in an industry designed to be a 365/24/7 grind. 

Theirs is the kind of vibe that hangs like pollen in thick summer air and drapes itself all over those who enter their orbit, which explains why the far end of Barn E at Churchill Downs’ Trackside Training Center in Louisville is as much a sanctuary for its occupants as it is a hub for aspirations. Through every pass down the shedrow, every forelock that gets rubbed, every conversation had with a visitor, friend, or colleague, it becomes as obvious as the black and red sign with the white diamond out front.

Mark Simms, Jr. is exactly where he should be – the byproduct of having spent the brunt of his adult life forging a path toward what he believed was his inherent destination.

“For sure, this is definitely my passion,” the 36-year-old trainer said through a widening grin. “I was telling my wife the other day how relaxing it is to come to the barn. No matter what’s going on elsewhere, coming to the barn and being around the horses, it’s just super tranquil.”

Technically, there is little in the way of tranquility in the life of a Thoroughbred racehorse trainer. There is no off season, or real days off for that matter, and one’s entire livelihood hinges on the ability of 1,000-pound athletes supported by sinewy limbs as fragile as they are powerful. 

Yet, from the time he took his first steps while trying to follow his grandfather to the barn to serving his country in the Army during tours of duty in Korea and Afghanistan, the demands of a life that revolves around equine athletes is what Simms sought the most. It was an ambition he chased even when the world presented him with chance after chance to settle into an illustrious career path he had already proven he could excel at. 

Hence, as he goes about his morning routine in the barn with his name on it filled with horses owned by some of the most storied clients in the sport, the appreciation for his most challenging and rewarding journey to date is almost tangible. 

There is a plethora of metrics used to measure success amongst trainers - win percentages, stakes victories, purse money, graded triumphs. While attaining lofty marks in those categories is as much as goal for Simms as it is for any of his comrades, the fact he found a pathway into an industry that doesn’t easily open doors for those who don’t descend from a certain ilk is as much an achievement as any piece of hardware from a Grade 1 test. 

While he comes from a long line of horsemen, including his grandfather who was a trainer himself, Simms’ arrival at his current reality is one even Hollywood’s most creative screenwriters would be hard pressed to conjure. Born in Texas, he grew up on the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indian Reservation in North Dakota near Chippewa Downs racetrack, the product of a military family. Even as he followed in his parent’s footsteps - being in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) while enrolled in Virginia State University, becoming an Intelligence Officer and eventually rising to the rank of captain in the Army - fate always kept him close enough to horses to where he could never quell the zeal that had manifested since he took those first wobbly strides toward his grandfather’s stable. 

To sign up for such a vocation requires an uncommon passion, discipline, faith, and work ethic lest one get devoured by the unyielding highs and lows that are the sport’s hallmarks. To keep chasing a dream that promised to do nothing but test those intangibles at every point of call demanded something as unique from Simms as his backstory itself.

“I always wanted to train horses; I knew that. Training horses, being around horses is really all I ever wanted to do…but I really didn’t think it was feasible there for a while,” Simms said. “Even throughout my time in the Army, I was always trying to get close to the horses, but I just didn’t have a path to get in. Horse racing, especially in Kentucky, it’s super inbred to where people’s dads were trainers, their moms were trainers, or they were tied to a farm. Really, my way in was being in the military.”

During his freshman year at Virginia State University, as he began studying toward the degree in Criminal Justice and minor in Animal Science he would ultimately graduate with, Simms worked at a nearby horse farm in his free time to try and satiate his lifelong calling, a move most of his acquaintances dismissed as a pipedream. 

He did have a certain individual in his corner, however, encouraging him not to let his passion project become just that.

“I met my wife in college our freshman year and I was working at a farm just to be close to the horses,” Simms said of his wife, Shayla who works as a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit nurse. “I would tell people ‘I want to train horses’ and everyone was like ‘You’re crazy’. But she was really the first person to really be like ‘You can do this’. That’s how I knew she was the one.

“She would buy me books about horse racing and just horses in general just to show her support. That’s when the gears started turning a bit. But I did ROTC, so I knew after college I was going to be an officer in the Army.”

As a result of being in the top 2% of cadets in the nation, Simms got to choose which branch of the Army he wanted to go into. He settled on Korea first in 2011 and while there, would find his way to the racetracks on the weekends all while keeping tabs on the major goings on with the sport back home. When the time came for him to pick a new duty station, he chose an infantry brigade in Fort Knox, Kentucky that was getting set to deploy to Afghanistan. 

Once the papers came through saying he was officially being assigned to the Bluegrass State, putting him less than an hour’s drive from Churchill Downs, Simms leaned into the opportunity and began reaching out to trainers about the possibility of gaining the experience necessary to advance his dream while simultaneously advancing his career.

“I tell people all the time, the Army made the mistake of sending me to Fort Knox,” Simms laughed. “I got close to racehorses again.”

While Thoroughbred racing is littered with those who think they want to delve into the industry only to get a rude awakening when ensconced in the unyielding nature of the business, the discipline embedded in Simms as a result of his background caught the attention of one of the sport’s more heralded barns. Louisville native Dale Romans, who earned the Eclipse Award in 2012 as the nation’s outstanding trainer, had a member of his staff at the time in Tari Hendrickson who herself had family in the military. 

She responded to Simms’ email by telling him he was free to report to Romans' training center in Goshen once he reported for duty. 

“On the weekends and even sometimes during the week, because I didn’t have to be in the office until like 9 a.m., I would get up at 4 a.m. drive up there to Goshen, train horses in the morning, take a shower, throw on my uniform, and go to work,” Simms recalled. “And when I got back from Afghanistan (in 2014), I started thinking ‘I can do this.’”

Over the course of the next four years, Simms would establish himself as an assistant to Romans while also holding down a job at GE (General Electric), heading to the barn before work and helping to hone the likes of such proteges as Travers Stakes winner Keen Ice, fellow Grade 1 winners Brody’s Cause and Free Drop Billy, and future top sire Not This Time. Though horsemanship had long been a part of his DNA, getting to be around top-level runners and learning how to develop them into such was an invaluable piece of the puzzle Simms couldn’t get enough of. 

“He’s got the work ethic of a military man. He got to see a lot of things, a lot of good horses and figure out what he needed to do,” Romans said of Simms. “The horse stuff isn’t brain surgery and a smart guy like Mark can learn all of that pretty quick. It’s all the stuff around it that can be difficult, but he seems to have a good knack for that. A lot of people show up thinking they love horses when what they really like is horse racing, and those can be two different things. And Mark obviously has a love for the horse. It really seems like it has enriched his life.”

Days before the 2017 Preakness Stakes, Simms’s grandfather Michael Nelson – the one who told him he needed to walk on his own if he wanted to join him in the barn - passed away. Soon after, Simms decided the time had come for him to take his most definitive solo steps yet.

“When he passed, I was like, man I have to at least give it a shot,” Simms said. 

Despite the fact the foundations of the sport were built on the backs of the African-American community, many of the racist ideologies that drove Black horsemen out during the Jim Crow era still resonate to this day. Where Black jockeys and trainers once reigned over the sport’s greatest prizes – with Black reinsmen winning 15 of the Kentucky Derby's first 28 runnings and Hall of Famers like Ed Brown among the most accomplished horsemen of his time – the opportunity to have an opportunity is something that remains scarce for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color individuals in Thoroughbred racing.

It is something Simms doesn’t like to dwell on but also can’t help but be aware of ever since he took the leap and began training on his own in 2017, becoming one of few Black trainers currently in the sport. About three years ago, he gained the support of historic Calumet Farm as his main client, a relationship that has been fruitful ever since Simms claimed a son of Candy Ride (ARG) by the name of Kaziranga off them in 2019 and went on to earn his first Churchill Downs win with the gelding two starts later. 

Surreal as it is that he is on the same Calumet email list as the Todd Pletchers and Chad Browns of the world, Simms knows he shoulders a different kind of burden every time he walks into a paddock to saddle one of his own.

“Whenever I have someone new or a buddy come to town, I always show them the (Kentucky Derby) mural at Churchill Downs and how it started as all Black trainers and all Black jockeys and how we transitioned away from it,” Simms said. “It does weigh on me. I’m always thinking about maybe I can open a door for someone else and show people that we can still do it.

“I’m a firm believer that I’m an opportunity or a horse away from things taking off. But with young people in the sport in general, unless someone knows your name or you’re intertwined, you don’t get as many opportunities as some of the other folks,” Simms continued. “Another thing is a lot of people are comfortable with folks who look like them and unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of Black owners. It’s hard, it’s a challenge. But I do see a glimmer in some of these older Black grooms. They see me and say, ‘Oh you’re a trainer?’ I can see a light in their eyes. I can see the hope.”

They also see genuine potential. In 2023, Simms saddled 78 starters who earned more than $400,000, both career highs. His current equine roster numbers at a dozen and, if he could get the stars to align just so, he would like to pick up a couple more claiming outfits, get his number of trainees up to the 30-40 range, and start making some real noise with the 2-year-olds in his care. 

“I don’t think I would want to be like those guys who have 200-300 horses,” he said. “Those guys do a phenomenal job, but I would prefer quality over quantity just because I want to be hands on.”

“His history with horses is equal to his passion for them. We are certain he will be a major player in American horse racing going forward,” Calumet Farm added in a statement. 

With added time and chances will come more positive numbers. Regardless of the statistics, however, it is evident Simms is flourishing.

When his wife went into labor with their second child, the timing was such that they both agreed to swing by his barn on the way to the hospital to make sure the other youngsters dependent on him were well situated. 

“And then on the way home, we stopped at the barn and brought the baby into the barn and made sure everything was good,” Simms said.

For the better part of the last decade, things couldn’t be much better for Simms. He has manifested the position in life he always dreamt for himself.

And he couldn’t be more at ease.

“I've had several opportunities to do other things, but the horses have been my passion, and I wake up every day and thank the good Lord that I get to pursue my passion,” he said. “I think there are a lot of really good horse trainers out here that just don't have the athletes. I’m just hoping some of us can get some more opportunities.”