Romans’ life has revolved around racing. His father, Jerry, was a trainer based at Churchill Downs and Dale spent his youth in the barn area playing, working and absorbing the business. His racing education included a four-month stint with Hall of Fame trainer Woody Stephens.

Romans took out his first training license at the age of 18 and won his first race in 1987 with a horse he bought for $1,500. His career moved to a new level in 2004 when he trained Kitten’s Joy, winner of the Secretariat Stakes and the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, who was voted the Eclipse Award as outstanding male turf horse. Roses in May was the runner-up to Ghostzapper in the 2004 Breeders’ Cup Classic and returned in 2005 to win the Donn Handicap and the Dubai World Cup.

Romans won his first Breeders’ Cup race with Tapitsfly in the 2009 Juvenile Fillies Turf. In a Triple Crown training trifecta, Paddy O’Prado was third in the 2010 Kentucky Derby and stablemate First Dude was second in the Preakness and third in the Belmont Stakes. Romans won his first Triple Crown race in May 2011 with Shackleford in the Preakness and in November saddled long shot Court Vision for his stunning victory in the Breeders’ Cup Mile. 

In 2012 Romans won the Breeders’ Cup Turf and a pair of other Grade 1 races with Little Mike, the Met Mile with Shackleford and the Blue Grass Stakes and Pacific Classic with Dullahan to win the Eclipse Award for top trainer that year. Other recent Grade 1 winners include Molly Morgan, Birdatthewire, Travers winner Keen Ice and 2016 Kentucky Derby hopeful Brody’s Cause.

Going back-and-forth between New York and Pennsylvania, Ilkay Kantarmaci is our lead trainer at Parx and assistant trainer for Mertkan in New York. Ilkay came to America alongside his brother Mertkan in 2016 from Turkey. Working together, the brothers have been very successful in their first 5 years in the States.

John Kimmel secured his first win as a trainer in 1987, and for several years afterward was one of the leading trainers on the New York circuit, saddling Grade 1 winner Hidden Lake and Grade 2 winner Successful Appeal among many other stakes winners.

During the 2000s, he was represented by such elite horses as 2004 Florida Derby winner Friends Lake and 2006 two-time Grade 1 winner Premium Tap, who ran third in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Kimmel’s graded stakes winners were less plentiful during the 2010s, but he picked up his first Breeders’ Cup win in 2017 when Bar of Gold took the Filly and Mare Sprint in a 66.70-1 upset.

Kimmel is a 1980 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School.

The son of Michigan-based trainer George Maker has been around the racing business his entire life. He bought his first horse when he was 13 with money he earned from working for his father and delivering newspapers. The horse won his first start. Maker spent 10 years working for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas before opening his own stable in 2003.

During his time with Lukas, he handled a number of standouts, including Cat Thief, Cash Run, Spain, Orientate, Surfside and the 1999 Horse of the Year Charismatic, winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness.

Based in Louisville, Ky., Maker has been the leading trainer at Keeneland, Churchill Downs and Turfway Park. He was the trainer of 2011 champion 2-year-old Hansen and has a long list of stakes winners that features Blue Grass winner Stately Victor, Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Furthest Land, Coolmore Lexington Stakes winner Derby Kitten, Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup winner Kitten’s Dumplings, and Secretariat Stakes winner Admiral Kitten.

Maker picked up his third victory in the Breeders’ Cup in 2020 when Fire at Will closed with a rush to pass Outadore late and post a 30-1 upset in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf presented by Coolmore America Nov. 6 at Keeneland. He paid $62.40 for a $2 win bet and joined Hansen (2011 Juvenile) and Furthest Land (2009 Dirt Mile) among Maker’s victors at the World Championships.

A native of Texas, DePaz got his first racetrack job at Louisiana Downs for trainer Eddie Reese. He also worked for trainers John Servis and Ralph Nicks before he spent a year in Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas’ operation.

In 2006 DePaz joined trainer Todd Pletcher as a foreman and exercise rider before he was hired as an assistant to Ignacio Correas, Sagamore’s previous private trainer, in 2011. When Correas went out on his own in 2015, Sagamore handed the reins to DePaz.

Among the notable horses DePaz has trained for Sagamore are multiple graded-stakes placed Recruiting Ready , winner of the 2017 Chick Lang at Pimlico Race Course; Ginger N Rye , who won the 2017 Smart N Fancy at Saratoga; 2017 Tremont Stakes winner He Hate Me ; and 2017 Arlington-Washington Futurity winner Barry Lee , who came in second in the 2017 Futurity (G3) at Belmont Park.

Born and raised in Louisville, Ky., Brad Cox began his career under trainers Burk Kessinger and Jimmy Baker, later earning a job as an assistant to trainer Dallas Stewart. Cox launched his solo training career in 2005 and has since trained multiple graded stakes Chocolate Ride and Call Pat as well as top-tier runners Spelling Again, Almasty, and Carve. In 2018, Cox was the leading trainer at the Fsir Grounds meet that ended March 31 with 54 winners.

Cox had three runners for the Longines Kentucky Oaks, including Monomoy Girl, who gave Cox his first career Grade 1 win in the Central Bank Ashland Stakes at Keeneland in April.  Monomoy Girl gamely dug in to fend off Wonder Gadot in a thrilling stretch drive to win the Kentucky Oaks, giving Cox another Grade 1 on his resume. After added a pair of Grade 1 wins over the summer, Monomoy Girl gave Cox his first Breeders’ Cup victory when she held off fast-closing Wow Cat to win the Longines Distaff on Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs.

In 2019 he trained speedy 3-year-old filly Covfefe to a track-record victory in the Adena Springs Miss Preakness Stakes, completing six furlongs in 1:07.70 and later that fall captured the Grade 1 Darley Alcibiades Stakes with British Idiom, who went on to win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Nov. 1. Cox’s memorable Breeders’ Cup continued on Nov. 2 when Covfefe took the 2019 Filly and Mare Sprint as the 3-2 favorite.

In 2020, Cox enjoyed the return of Monomoy Girl, who won her first three races of the year through September, including two graded stakes. He also picked up his second win in the Longines Kentucky Oaks with longshot Shedaresthedevil. His sustained success through October was only a prelude to a breakthrough November weekend at the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, however.

At Keeneland, Cox tallied his fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh wins in the Breeders’ Cup World Championships with Juvenile Fillies Turf victress Aunt Pearl, TVG Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance winner Essential Quality, Big Ass Fans Dirt Mile winner Knicks Go, and the sensational Monomoy Girl in the Distaff. Monomoy Girl captured her second Distaff for Cox and in all likelihood punched her ticket to the Racing Hall of Fame.

That memorable weekend at the 2020 Breeders’ Cup helped Cox win his first Eclipse Award as Outstanding Trainer. He finished 2020 ranked second by purse earnings among North American trainers with $18,983,832 and also second with 30 graded stakes winners.

In 2021, Cox raced in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve for the first time. He entered Mandaloun and Essential Quality, the favorite. Both raced well, finishing second and fourth, respectively. Five weeks later, Essential Quality returned to win the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets, giving Cox his first win in a Triple Crown race.

Cox added a Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic win to his credentials in 2021, when he saddled Knicks Go to victory. The 4-year-old colt took the field gate-to-wire for his third Grade 1 win of the year.

Cox finished 2021 by establishing a single-season North American earnings record for a trainer with over $31.8 million, and he received his second consecutive Eclipse Award as Outstanding Trainer.

Less than two weeks later, on Feb. 21, 2022 the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission issued a ruling disqualifying Medina Spirit from first place in the 2021 Kentucky Derby based on the horse testing positive for betamethasone on raceday, elevating Mandaloun as the winner. Louisville native Cox thus added a Kentucky Derby victory to his list of accomplishments.

Cox was well-represented at the 2022 Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland and scored a victory in the two-day event with perhaps the unlikeliest of his starters when 42-1 longshot Caravel went wire-to-wire to win the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.

Brendan Walsh, a former assistant to Eddie Kenneally, picked up his first win as a trainer in 2012. The Ireland native notched his first graded stakes win in 2014 and in 2017 was present on the Triple Crown trail with Illinois Derby winner Multiplier. Walsh’s other top runners include multiple graded stakes winners Scuba, Proctor’s Ledge, and Honorable Duty.

In 2019 Walsh sent Derby hopeful Plus Que Parfait to Dubai to compete in the UAE Derby, and the ridgling responded willingly to win the $2.5 million race and earn a place in the Kentucky Derby starting gate.

One of several trainers for the global powerhouse Godolphin Stable, Walsh earned his first Grade 1 win when Godolphin homebred Maxfield won the 2019 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity. Maxfield added a second Grade 1 win in 2021, when Walsh set new career highs for wins with 81. The following year, Walsh set a new personal best in purse earnings with more than $8.6 million while winning three Grade 1 races in 2022. 

Walsh added a marquee win in May 2023 when he sent out Godolphin’s Pretty Mischievous to a victory in the $1.25-million Longines Kentucky Oaks, his first win in the most important U.S. race for 3-year-old fillies.

Richard Baltas ranked 35th among all North American trainers by purse earnings in 2015 with $3,769,101. His top runners include Grade 1 winners Big Macher and Spanish Queen,  2016 graded stakes winner Forever Darling, and 2017 turf graded stakes winners Madam Dancealot and Goodyearforroses.

Jorge Abreu is a native of the Dominican Republic. He came to the United States in 1984 when he was nine years old and has steadily worked his way up the ladder to where he could finally commandeer his own outfit in 2016.

His first job in racing was with Murray Garren. Abreu then went on to gallop for Billy Badgett. His first assistant trainer job was with John Terranova, where he galloped for him too. Then, from Terranova, Abreu switched to Nick Zito when he had graded stakes winners including Bellamy Road and Sun King. After six years with Nick, he went over to Chad Brown’s barn and was an assistant for nine years.

Born in Hagerstown, Maryland, Dutrow is the son of the late Dick Dutrow, a long time Mid-Atlantic trainer, who had 3,665 career victories at the time of his death in Feb. 2000. His brothers Tony and Chip also are trainers. The Dutrow brothers went to the barns with their father as young children and Rick began working as an assistant to his father at the age of 16.

Dutrow went out on his own in the late 1990s when his father left New York to return to Maryland. Things were not easy at first; he had no money and was living in a tack room at Aqueduct. His stable consisted of one horse, Churkin, whom he had claimed for $16,000. Dutrow’s career began to take off in 2000. His lone stakes winner that year was Stalwart Member, who was owned by commodities trader Sanford Goldfarb. Goldfarb, leading owner by wins in New York in 2001, 02 and 03, was the main force in propelling Dutrow’s numbers skyward.

Dutrow’s career reached a pinnacle in 2008 with two champions, Big Brown, the year’s best 3-year-old male, and Benny The Bull, the year’s best sprinter. Big Brown’s dominance of his division featured wins in the Kentucky Derby, despite drawing post 20, and Preakness. Unfortunately, he failed to fire in the Belmont and was pulled up by jockey Kent Desormeaux. Following the debacle in the Belmont Stakes, Big Brown returned to the winner’s circle with a victory in the G1 Haskell Invitational and the Monmouth Stakes on turf, but was retired in early October, prior to the Breeders Cup Classic. Anyone who gets to live through anything as exciting as I have with Big Brown is living a very good life, Dutrow said.

New York-based Robert Falcone Jr. started training racehorses in 2014 at the age of 20. His lifelong love of horses led him to the track, where he worked under trainer Dominick Schettino in high school before taking over the training of horses belonging to his father, Robert Falcone Sr.

Falcone Jr. earned his first win in 2014 and tallied his first graded stakes win in 2016 when Mind Your Biscuits won the Grade 2 Amsterdam Stakes at Saratoga. He captured his first Grade 1 win later that year when the same horse won the Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita Park.

Kantarmaci Racing is one of the hottest training stables on the East Coast.  The Kantarmaci Family had made their name in their native Turkey, where Mertkan and his brother Illkay learned the business from their dad, highly regarded trainer Tuncay Kantarmaci. Coming to America in 2016, the Kantarmaci’s are winning at high percentages on the NYRA circuit and building their name and their stable. They won the NYRA Under 20 Claiming Title 5 consecutive times (2018-19 Aqueduct winter, 2019 Belmont spring/summer, co-winning the 2019-20 Aqueduct winter, 2020-21 Aqueduct winter, 2021 Belmont spring/summer). Known to be some of the hardest working guys on the grounds, America’s Pastime Stables are thrilled to be partnered with these future stars in the industry.

Chris Progno has been a mainstay at Finger Lakes Racetrack, continuing his family’s success on the circuit where his father, John, was a trainer for 30 years.

Located in Farmington, New York, Finger Lakes is located about 200 miles west of Saratoga Race Course. It’s also the home base of Progno, who was credited with his first wins as a trainer in 2003, though he did not start training full time until 2008.

While larger circuits mean bigger purse money and more prestige, Progno said the benefits of operating at smaller track can be more flexibility for his starters to ship into NYRA-run tracks.

“The way they write the condition books at Finger Lakes is that, because our purses are so much less, it allows us to win more races and still be eligible for certain restricted New York-bred races in Saratoga, Aqueduct and Belmont,” Progno said.

Tim Kreiser is a multiple stakes-winning trainer based at Penn National Race Course in Grantville, PA. Tim’s training career started in 1993 with just a few horses and has since expanded to saddling over 500 starters per year. He’s currently the leading trainer in both wins and purse money earned at Penn National. In his free time, Tim enjoys spending time with his children, hunting, and golfing.