Mark A. Hennig (born April 10, 1965, in Mansfield, Ohio) is an American Thoroughbred horse racing trainer.
Born into a horse racing family, his father, John Hennig, was also a trainer. After working with his father, Mark was encouraged to work for other outfits in the industry. Mark Hennig became an assistant to Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas before going out on his own in 1993. [1] The launch of Hennig's training stable was a racing rarity with its immediate impact in major races. At the young of twenty-eight, Hennig went on to finish in the Nation's top ten Trainers with earnings over $4,000,000. He was fortunate to train not only Star of Cozzene, winner of The GI Arlington Million, but also Personal Hope, winner of the GI Santa Anita Derby. In total, Mark's horses won 19 stakes that year and placed in 35 more. In 1995 Mark went on to form a public stable, largely due to the support of Edward P. Evans, for whom he won 45 graded stakes in his career.
Since starting his stable 26 years ago, Mark has posted 26 straight years of over $1 million in purses. Hennig trained horses have won over 100 graded stakes and over $70 million in earnings. Hennig has recently teamed up with several ownership groups, most notably the prestigious owners Donald and Donna Adam and their Courtlandt Farm Outfit. The pairing has seen success with multiple stakes winners.
Gary Lynn Stevens is an American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey, actor, and sports analyst. He became a professional jockey in 1979 and rode his first of three Kentucky Derby winners in 1988. He had nine wins in Triple Crown races, winning the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes three times each, as well as ten Breeders' Cup races. He was also a nine-time winner of the Santa Anita Derby. He entered the United States Racing Hall of Fame in 1997. Combining his U.S. and international wins, Stevens had over 5,000 race wins by 2005, and reached his 5,000th North American win on February 15, 2015.
Sam-Son Farm is a Thoroughbred horse racing stable with farms located in Milton, Ontario (Canada) and Ocala, Florida (U.S.). Established in the 1960s by Ernest L. "Ernie" Samuel, it began as a home for competition hunter/jumper horses. One Sam-Son horse won the 1967 Pan-American Games Individual Jumping Gold Medal and was a member of the 1968 Team Gold Medal for Canada at the Mexico Olympics.
Showing Up is an American thoroughbred race horse. Foaled near Wilmore, Kentucky, in 2003 at Peter Taafe's Taafe Farm, he was bred by Nellie M. Cox of Rose Retreat Farm. Showing Up spent the first year of his life on Cox's Goochland, Virginia, farm. The chestnut colt was sold as a yearling for $85,000 at the Keeneland September sale in 2004 and was later acquired as a two-year-old in training by trainer Barclay Tagg for the owners of the 2006 Kentucky Derby winner, Barbaro, for $60,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Midatlantic sale in May 2005.
Todd Pletcher is an American thoroughbred horse trainer. He won the Eclipse Award eight times as Trainer of the Year, four of these in consecutive years. His horses Super Saver (2010) and Always Dreaming (2017) won the Kentucky Derby. He also won the Belmont Stakes with Rags to Riches (2007), Palace Malice (2013), Tapwrit (2017) and Mo Donegal (2022). He also trained Malathaat who won the 2021 Kentucky Oaks.
Lil E. Tee was an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who in 1992 scored one of the biggest upsets in the history of the Kentucky Derby.
Sea Hero was an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1993 Kentucky Derby and Travers Stakes. Beginning in 2011, Sea Hero was the oldest living winner of the Kentucky Derby until his death in 2019.
Steven Mark Asmussen is an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer. The leading trainer in North America by wins, he is a two-time winner of the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer and was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2016. His horses have won the Breeders' Cup Classic, Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes, Travers Stakes, Breeders' Cup Distaff, Kentucky Oaks and Dubai World Cup.
Kenneth G. McPeek is an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer and bloodstock agent. McPeek gained prominence in 2024 by winning the 150th Kentucky Derby in a three-horse photo finish with the 18:1 underdog Mystik Dan and the Kentucky Oaks with Thorpedo Anna. This achievement marked the first time since 1952 that a trainer swept both prestigious races in the same year, making McPeek the third trainer in history to achieve this feat. McPeek expressed that his proudest accomplishment is achieving this success with what he calls "working class horses." The 2024 Derby win also made McPeek one of only five living trainers who have won all three Triple Crown races.
Somebeachsomewhere (2005–2018) was a Standardbred Race Horse who, as a three-year-old, tied the world record for a mile at The Red Mile with a time of 1:46.4 and earned $3,221,299. In 2008, he had the highest earnings by a pacer in a single season of $2,448,003.
Dale L. Romans is an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer, best known for winning the 2011 Preakness Stakes with Shackleford and the Breeders' Cup Turf with Little Mike. He also upset American Pharoah in the 2015 Travers Stakes with Keen Ice. He won the 2012 Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer.
Chad C. Brown is an American racehorse trainer. Brown is widely regarded as one of the elite trainers in the world, having won four consecutive Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer in the United States 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. In 2019, he also achieved the highest position in the World Training Standings according to the Thoroughbred Racing Commentary (TRC) Global Rankings, becoming the first and only American trainer to be recognized as the World's Number One Trainer. Brown has secured two Preakness Stakes victories with Cloud Computing in 2017 and Early Voting in 2022, and narrowly missing a Kentucky Derby victory in 2024 with Sierra Leone. Early in his career, many sought to pigeonhole him as a "turf trainer" who specialized in fillies and mares. However, Brown's success has become so diversified that he has demonstrated the ability to win at any distance, with any sex, and on any surface. Brown has trained 18 Breeders' Cup winners, further showcasing his dominance across the sport. Over his career, he has also trained thirteen Eclipse Award winners, including, Big Blue Kitten, Lady Eli, Flintshire, Goodnight Olive, and Horse of the Year Bricks and Mortar.
Jerry Hollendorfer is an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer whose notable horses include Eclipse Award winners Blind Luck, Shared Belief and Songbird. He has the most wins in the history of Northern California race horse trainers. In 2011, he was inducted into the US Racing Hall of Fame.
Eddington is a millionaire American Thoroughbred racehorse and successful sire bred in Kentucky by Carl Rosen and Associates and raced under the Willmott Stables banner. He finished racing with a record of 6-3-6 in 17 starts and career earnings of $1,216,760. Eddington was best known for his wins in the Grade I Pimlico Special and the Grade II Gulfstream Park Handicap as well as his in-the-money showing in the Grade I Preakness Stakes. As a yearling, he was sent to Ocala, Florida, to the master horsemen Art Fisher.
Blame is a retired American champion Thoroughbred racehorse, a winner of nine races in 13 starts including the prestigious Breeders' Cup Classic.
Unusual Heat was a Thoroughbred stallion owned by a syndicate headed by California breeder/owner Madeline Auerbach in conjunction with California trainer Barry Abrams. In 2015, he had a full book and stood for $20,000 (lfg). From 2011 through 2015, he stood at Harris Farms in Coalinga, California.
Mark of Esteem was an Irish-bred thoroughbred racehorse. In his two years of racing, he won four races and placed once from seven runs, with earnings of £365,139.
Mark E. Casse is a Thoroughbred racehorse trainer whose most notable horses include 2015 American champion turf mare Tepin and Canadian Horses of the Year Sealy Hill (2007), Uncaptured (2012), Lexie Lou (2014), Catch A Glimpse (2015) and Wonder Gadot. He has won thirteen Sovereign Awards for outstanding trainer in Canada and has been the leading trainer at Woodbine Racetrack 14 times. In 2019, he won his first American Classic with War of Will in the Preakness Stakes.
Irad Ortiz Jr. is a Puerto Rican jockey who has been a leading rider in the New York Thoroughbred horse racing circuit since 2012. He won his first Breeders' Cup race on Lady Eli in 2014, and his first American Classic on Creator in the 2016 Belmont Stakes. He won the 2022 Belmont Stakes on Mo Donegal.
Sol Kumin is an American business leader, Thoroughbred racehorse owner and philanthropist. In May 2018, he became the first owner since 1952 to have both a Kentucky Oaks and a Kentucky Derby winner in the same weekend. He was a co-owner of Justify; winner of the Triple Crown. In Kumin's first decade of horseracing, through his horses at Madaket Stables, he won 92 Grade One races, 12 Breeders Cups, the Preakness Stakes three times and the Kentucky Derby twice.
Brad H. Cox is a Thoroughbred racehorse trainer whose most notable horses include multiple Eclipse Award winner Monomoy Girl, Knicks Go, Covfefe, Mandaloun, and Essential Quality. He had four winners at the 2020 Breeders' Cup, helping Cox earn the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer that year. In 2021, he won that title again after Essential Quality won the Belmont Stakes and Knicks Go won the Breeders' Cup Classic; Mandaloun would later be awarded that year's Kentucky Derby.