TRM Trainer of the Quarter - Rusty Arnold

THERE’S no telling how far a leap of faith can take you. When third-generation 61-year-old trainer George “Rusty” Arnold entered Ashbrook Farm’s lightlyraced three-year-old filly Weep No More in the 79th running of the $500,000 Grade 1 Ashland Stakes April 9th at Keeneland, he knew he was asking a lot of his filly. She was not only facing undefeated Cathryn Sophia, but also Grade 1 stakes winner Rachel’s Valentina. Weep No More’s only victories in three starts were in a maiden race and a $60,000 stakes at Tampa Bay Downs. “A lot had to do with where we were running,” Arnold said on April 18. “If we had to ship, we wouldn’t have done it. After she won the (Tampa) stakes, we said, ‘Let’s give her a shot at the big boys.’ It didn’t matter who was in there. We just wanted to see where she fit.” She fit at the top. Sent off at 30-1 in the field of five in the Ashland, Weep No More, who was 13 lengths back after a half-mile in the mile-and-a-sixteenth race, came flying through Keeneland’s short stretch under Corey Lanerie to win by a neck over Rachel’s Valentina. Weep No More’s next start will be in the mile-and-an-eighth Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks, which suddenly became wide open when undefeated Songbird, champion two-yearold filly of last year, was declared out of the stakes. Stretching out another sixteenth of mile, Weep No More is certainly a contender. Should she add the Oaks to her resume, she will be yet another success story for her quiet but quite accomplished trainer who ranks 36th in all-time career earnings (just under $60 million) with 1,671 winners from 11,091 starters. Arnold is the third leading all-time trainer at Keeneland with 254 victories and has been leading trainer there three meets in 1985, 1986, and 1987. He lives two minutes from the track. Born in Paris, Kentucky, Arnold was bred for a life with horses. His grandfather, James Russell, was the broodmare foreman at Elmendorf Farm. Arnold’s dad, the late George Arnold Sr., was a breeder and also trained a few horses at Keeneland. Arnold’s brother, Terry, manages Dixiana Farm. Arnold worked on his family farm on weekends and summers, then began working for trainer Eugene Euster. He took pre-veterinary classes at the University of Kentucky, all the while continuing to work for Euster. “I went to UK for almost two years,” he said. “I was galloping horses in the morning and going to classes in the afternoon. Then I went to Hialeah for wi break and never came back. I never regretted it. I’ve been very fortunate.” After working as Euster’s assistant trainer, Arnold decided to open his own stable in 1975, winning his first race on July 25 of that year with La Yo Quiero at Delaware Park. His first stakes winner came in the Neptune Stakes a year later at River Downs with Fleeting North. In 1980, Arnold went to New York. Two years later, Wavering Monarch gave Arnold his first Grade 1 victory when he captured the Haskell. Many more stakes have followed. In 1995, trainer Shug McGaughey’s big break turned out to be one for Arnold, too. McGaughey, who had been training John Ed Anthony’s Loblolly Stable, was hired as private trainer for the Phipps family, and Arnold was subsequently named to train a division of Loblolly. Arnold has enjoyed great success for decades with owner G. Watts Humphrey Jr., whose list of graded stakes winners includes Centre Court, Clear Mandate, Likely Exchange, Personal Diary, and Victory Ride. Thanks in part to his success with Arnold, Humphrey was able to achieve a unique double in October, 2011, when he was the leading owner of the Keeneland fall meet and part-owner of baseball’s World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals. n

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This article appeared in North American Trainer - issue 40 (May to July 2016)

TRM AWARDS, TRAININGWebmaster22 April 2016GEORGE “RUSTY” ARNOLD, Trainer of the Quarter, Weep No More, Ashland Stakes, TRM, NAT40