With help from a former trainer, WinStar Farm a major player in 2018 Kentucky Derby
Back in 2005, things were not going the way Kenny Troutt wanted them to at his WinStar Farm in Versailles. So on a mid-summer day, the owner sat down with personal trainer Elliott Walden to discuss options.
"We joke about it now," Walden said Friday morning on the backside at Churchill Downs. "He says I got promoted, I say he fired me."
Actually, Troutt offered Walden a choice. The longtime trainer, who had won the 1998 Belmont Stakes with Victory Gallop, could go back out on his own and re-establish a public stable, or he could accept Troutt's offer to be WinStar's vice president and racing manager. After praying with his wife, Rebecca, and with some trepidation, Walden chose the latter.
"It's just part of what life is all about," he said. "At the time, it can look like it's not the right thing or it's not what you want. ... And it's worked out unbelievably."
Has it ever. Five years later, WinStar won the Kentucky Derby with Super Saver and the Eclipse Award for outstanding owner. In 2016, the farm won the Eclipse Award for leading breeder.
Now in 2018, the farm is a major player in Saturday's Kentucky Derby. WinStar bred and co-owns Louisiana Derby winner Noble Indy. It also owns, along with partners, Florida Derby winner Audible and Santa Anita Derby winner Justify, the probable favorite for the Run for the Roses.
And, oh yeah, WinStar bred and sold at auction Bolt d'Oro, the San Felipe winner and Santa Anita Derby runner-up.
It's all part of a successful strategy implemented by Troutt and Walden for the 2,700-acre showplace that stands 22 sires — including Pioneerof the Nile, sire to Triple Crown winner American Pharoah — and has about 100 horses in training every day.
"So I still get my fix," said Walden when asked if he misses training.
Though Troutt lives in Texas, he is not an absentee owner. He normally comes to the farm three times a month. He's involved in the planning, the sales.
"When Kenny does something, he does it 110 percent," said Walden, whom Troutt promoted to WinStar CEO and president in 2010. "When his kids wanted to play basketball, he built an AAU dynasty called the Texas Titans. He went all-in, hired a college coach to coach them. He wants to focus on stallions and colts, and primarily that's our focus."
The farm also believes in volume. "We want as many chances as possible," said Walden with regard to this year's multiple Derby entries. Of its homebreds, some WinStar will race, some it will sell. And it will buy others.
For example, it opted to race Noble Indy, but accepted Mike Repole's offer to purchase half-interest in the colt after the son of Take Charge Indy won his debut last November. (Repole also is co-owner to Wood Memorial winner Vino Rosso.)
After China Horse Club and Maverick Racing purchased Justify for $500,000 at the 2016 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, the son of the late Scat Daddy now races for WinStar, China Horse Club, Head of Plains Partners and Starlight Racing.
It teamed with China Horse Club to buy New York-bred Audible for $500,000 at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Select Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale. It has since taken on Head of Plains Partners and Starlight Racing as partners.
Justify was sent to California with trainer Bob Baffert, but Audible and Noble Indy were sent to Todd Pletcher, who won the Derby last year with Always Dreaming and who delivered WinStar its 2010 Derby win with Super Saver.
"I fired myself and hired Todd Pletcher as trainer," joked Walden. "That was maybe the whole turnaround right there."
"Elliott and I have known each other a long time, back when he was training and I was an assistant to Wayne (Lukas)," Pletcher said Friday after working Noble Indy and Audible, along with his other two expected Derby entrants, Vino Rosso and Magnum Moon. "I'm fortunate enough to be one of the guys they look for when they're sending out their babies. This year really showcases how successful they are and what a great operation they're running at WinStar."
The key to that success?
"I think the key to anyone's success in this business is quality horses," Pletcher said. "They've obviously figured out how to not only breed but acquire those kind of horses."
And Walden is obviously a huge key to that, as well. A passionate Kentucky basketball fan, the 55-year-old Walden grew up in Central Kentucky as the son of Ben Walden Sr., formerly of Dearborn Farm. He worked for LeRoy Jolley and John Gosden before taking out his trainer's license in 1985. Twenty years later, he found himself shifting roles.
"Rebecca and I were talking last week, what a blessing it's been," he said. "You look back and you say, wow, God had a hand in this."
It would be another blessing to win Saturday, even though Walden's experience has taught him how tough it is to win the Kentucky Derby. As a trainer, he was second with Victory Gallop in 1998 and Menifee in 1999 before being part of the winning team in 2010.
"You can't expect to win," said Walden when asked what he's learned about the race. "The Derby is kind of over on the other side of the fence that you're peeking through the fence at. If it happens, like it did in 2010, it's kind of surreal. It's taught me you can't expect it."
This year, however, there is plenty to like about WinStar's chances.
Kentucky Derby
▪ About 6:34 p.m. Saturday, May 5, at Churchill Downs (NBC-18)
This story was originally published April 28, 2018 at 3:25 PM with the headline "With help from a former trainer, WinStar Farm a major player in 2018 Kentucky Derby."