Click on the Read More link below to read about the National Steeplechase Association’s leading trainers at the start of the 2016 racing season.
KATE DALTON
Birthdate: March 24, 1980. Home: Camden, S.C. 2015 record: 14-5-1-2, $162,800. 2014 record: 11-2-2-1, $77,250.Had a breakthrough 2015 season with two new owners. Gary Barber’s African Oil won Saratoga’s Jonathan Kiser and the novice championship. Flying Elvis Stable’s Diplomat won the Ferguson Memorial (Gr. 3) at the International Gold Cup. Maintains a small stable but has achieved consistent success, especially at Saratoga. Her Cat Feathers won the 2012 Mrs. Ogden Phipps and was the year’s Life’s Illusion Filly & Mare champion. Cat Feathers scored a repeat victory in the 2014 Mrs. Phipps. Is past president of the Steeplechase Owners and Trainers Association and serves asa member of the National Steeplechase Association’s Steeplechase Safety Committee. Former exercise rider for trainer Jonathan Sheppard. Husband Bernie Dalton usually is aboard her starters. Scored her first victory as a trainer with Miss Crown at Aiken Fall in 2008.
JIMMY DAY
Birthdate: January 17, 1959. Home: White Post, Va. 2015 record: 44-8-11-8, $319,400. 2014 record: 27-4-3-9,$112,250. Had a career season in 2015 with three Saratoga victories, including back-to-back wins by Bonded and Plated. Made a strong start in the 2015 season and nearly tripled his 2014 earnings. His Daybreak Stables owned Diplomat, the Carolina Cup winner who won at Saratoga and was claimed. Native of Ireland came to United States as a jockey in 1980s. Won 2012 A. P. Smithwick Memorial (Gr. 1), 2009 New York Turf Writers Cup (Gr. 1), and 2010Carolina Cup (Gr. 2) with Spy in the Sky. Two children with wife, Emily. Won first race with Limaton at Fair Hill,Md., in 1988.
JACK FISHER
Birthdate: June 18, 1963. Home: Monkton, Md. Champion trainer 2003-2004, 2007-2009, 2012-2015.Earnings leader: 2004, 2008, 2014, 2015. 2015 record: 126-28-20-13, $1,047,600. 2014 record: 136-23-27-24, $757,550. Won his ninth trainer title in 2015 and also topped the standings by earnings for fourth time.Broke $1 million in purse earnings for the second time, after record $1,156,907 in 2008. Trained 2015champion filly/mare Ivy Mills and 3-year-old Ice It. Had two 2015 Saratoga wins, including long shot Choral Society in A.P. Smithwick Memorial (Gr. 1). Second on all-time earnings list with $12.4-million. Trained two-time Eclipse Award winner Good Night Shirt. Trained and rode Saluter, who won a record 21 timber races. Married to Sheila, whose parents, Sheila and Rufus Williams, have horses with Fisher. Won first race with Call Louis at Middleburg, Va., in 1989.
CYRIL MURPHY
Birthdate: March 25, 1972. Home: Glen Rock, Pa. 2015 record: 50-6-9-7, $561,650. 2014 record: 53-14-7-6,$410,170. For leading owner Irv Naylor, trained Dawalan to two 2015 Grade 1 victories and the Eclipse Award. Had three wins on the Far Hills program, including Dawalan in the Grand National (Gr. 1). One Lucky Lady won Far Hills’ Peapack Stakes, and Ebanour won the New Jersey Hunt Cup. Contributed majority of purse money for Naylor’s record season. In first full season as principal trainer for Naylor in 2014, scored 14 wins and had a 26.4-percent strike rate. Trained Decoy Daddy to three stakes victories that season. Won his first race NSA victory with Inti at 2011 International Gold Cup. Rode in U.S. from 2000-2007, and won 13 races each in 2002 and 2003.Father of one with his wife Becky.
JONATHAN SHEPPARD
Birthdate: Dec. 2, 1940. Home: West Grove, Pa. 2015 record: 58-9-8-7, $321,000. 2014 record: 81-15-9-11,$714,500. Hall of Fame trainer kept alive his 47-year record of winning at least one Saratoga race each season when Lune de Caro won an optional allowance hurdle Aug. 19, 2015. Sent out 2013 Eclipse Award winner Divine Fortune for two Grade 1 victories in 2014, in the Calvin Houghland Iroquois and Marion du Pont Scott Colonial Cup. Also trained 2014 novice champion All the Way Jose, winner of the Foxbrook Champion Hurdle at Far Hills, N.J.Trained two Hall of Fame members, Cafe Prince and Flatterer, and is steeplechasing’s leading trainer by victories and earnings. Recipient of prestigious F. Ambrose Clark Award, for contributions to American steeplechasing, in 2013. English native is married to former jockey Cathy Montgomery Sheppard. Won his first race with Haffaday in 1966.
RICHARD VALENTINE
Birthdate: May 1, 1968. Home: The Plains, Va. 2015 record: 68-7-10-14, $357,800. 2014 record: 91-14-15-15,$743,425. Had a stellar 2014 season with Eclipse Award champion Demonstrative, winner of three consecutive Grade 1 races. Demonstrative won the 2015 Calvin Houghland Iroquois (Gr. 1). Had three 2014 victories at Saratoga, including Demonstrative’s second win in the New York Turf Writers Cup (Gr. 1). Kisser N Run, the 2013 filly-mare champion, won the 2015 Margaret Currey Henley at Iroquois. Collected his second Maryland Hunt Cup victory in 2013, with Jacqueline Ohrstrom’s Professor Maxwell. Trustee of the National Steeplechase Foundation and member of the NSA’s Steeplechase Safety Committee. Spent time in Ireland with prominent trainer Mouse Morris. Won first race with Fassfern at Willowdale, Pa., in 1997.
ELIZABETH VOSS
Birthdate: June 2, 1980. Home: Monkton, Md. 2015 record: 30-7-2-1, $315,400. 2014 record: 29-3-5-2,$164,450. Won Saratoga’s 2015 New York Turf Writers Cup (Gr. 1) and Belmont Park’s Lonesome Glory Handicap (Gr. 1) with Bob Le Beau for The Fields Stable. Scored her first graded stakes victory with Makari in Saratoga’s A.P. Smithwick Memorial (Gr. 1). Won three races on 2015 Radnor program, including Bob Le Beau’s victory in the National Hunt Cup (Gr. 3). Took over the stable of her late father, popular Maryland trainer Tom Voss, after his death in January 2014. Husband is bloodstock agent Gary Murray, and they have two children. Secured her first victory with Wildcatter in the maiden timber race at the 2014 Foxfield Spring Races.
LESLIE YOUNG
Birthdate: Sept. 4, 1972. Home: Unionville, Pa. 2015 record: 30-10-7-7, $214,900. 2014 record: 24-6-7-3, $190,100. High-percentage trainer won 10 races in 2015, a 30-percent strike rate, and ranked second on the trainers’ list by victories. Sent out Irv Naylor’s Bittersweetheart for victories in the Margaret Currey Henley and Peapack Stakes to claim the 2014 Life’s Illusion Filly and Mare championship. Had the best season of her career by earnings in 2013with $244,750. Worked for Jonathan Sheppard before and after graduating from Lynchburg College. Won with her first hurdle starter, Silverton Hill’s More Fascination, at Saratoga Open House July 22, 2007, with husband Paddy Young (they have two children together) in the saddle. Won her first stakes race with Silverton Hill’s Torlundy in the Budweiser Imperial Cup at Aiken Spring in 2010.