Top-notch Assistants Important in Horseracing

Batman had Robin, Michael Jordan had Scottie Pippen and back in the day Shaq had Kobe but today in the world of horseracing, if a trainer does not have top-notch assistants, he is at a distinct disadvantage.

Since the world has shrunk and there are so many places to run horses, especially back East, to have another set of eyes on the horses in one’s barn is tantamount.

The best horse bettors in the game know who is pulling the strings behind the scenes and when that ‘unknown’ trainer sends a horse out on his own, those horse bettors are not fooled into thinking this is just a new trainer on the circuit.

If one thinks that being an assistant is overrated and not important to the horse gambler, consider where some training legends learned the game.

Neil Drysdale learned from Charlie Whittingham as did Joe Manzi, who taught current trainer Bill Spawr. Bill Mott worked for Jack Van Berg. Carl Nafzger and Scotty Schulhofer learned from Dr. Fager’s teacher John Nerud and Eoin Harty, who is popping at 44% at Del Mar this meet, took his lessons from Bob Baffert.

So it doesn’t take a genius to figure out when you hang out with the best, you learn tricks that will make you one of the best.

One of the more well-know assistants back in the day was Eduardo Inda, who was trainer Ron McAnally’s right hand man when John Henry was eating Grade 1s for breakfast.

Inda still runs a small stable, but his ability with horses did not transfer to ability to court owners and there likes the rub.

The old story goes, ‘training horses is easier than training owners’ but that adage is a true as the day is long.

Assistants that West Coast horse bettors should be fully aware of include Leandro Mora, Dan Ward, Ral Ayers and Larry Benavidez.

These guys are no one-hit wonders and some have been around the racetrack their entire lives.

Mora, like so many, started as a hotwalker and there he got a clue as to what made horses tick.

Assistants like Mora must attend to detail since the main boss, in his case Doug O’Neill, is usually cajoling owners or studying condition books for the right spots for his stock.

Mora learned from one of the best guys in the West, Brian Mayberry.

Mayberry died several years back but one season he had 3 horses entered on the undercard Breeders’ Cup day and won with all three.

Jerry Hollendorfer has Dan Ward in his corner and although Dan is relatively new to the Hollendorfer outfit, he learned from one of the best in the world in Bobby Frankel.

Ral Ayers sends out horses in his own name on occasion but he is better known for doing the dirty work for prolific trainer Jeff Mullins.

The horse players that knew who Ayers was didn’t miss a beat a few meetings ago when Mullins was suspended and Ayers saddled winners in bunches.

For Larry Benavidez being on call 24 hours a day is part of his job. He’s the main assistant for John Sadler, who has been on a flat out roll for about 2 years now and is currently popping at 27% at Del Mar.