Print Article

Linda Rice - a racehorse trainer making her mark on the big stage

By Kathleen Donovan
First Published: 21 July 2010 - Issue Number: 17

 If you win the training title at Saratoga, people will notice you. Linda Rice, catapulted into national recognition when she became the first woman to achieve this coveted honor in 2009, has been turning the heads of those in the know for many years now.

When you get tired of getting beat by her every day, then you call her up!,” affirms longtime New York-based owner Chester Broman, who has sent horses to Rice for about four years.

New Yorkers, in particular, have been aware of her since she took City Zip through a sweep of all of Saratoga’s graded stakes for juveniles, topped off by the Hopeful Stakes (G1), in 2000. As the leading trainer of New York-breds, she supports racing in the state year-round. 

“I enjoy racing in New York,” Rice says. “It’s my favorite place to race, and New York is home. I’m a fan of dirt racing. Frankly, for winter racing, I think New York is maintained as good as any I’ve seen. I might try to move more of my turf horses to synthetics in the future, but I don’t want to race on synthetic year-round.”

She has 36 stalls at Belmont, which is the limit, and 35 at Saratoga – mostly two-year-olds – and divides her time between the two tracks. The second division is stabled at Palm Meadows and moves to Saratoga after racing at Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs. She rarely ships, so when she does, bettors take notice. 

“I ship for stakes,” she says, and will travel often to Keeneland, where she won the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes with Tenski in 1998, but is loyal to what the Northeast offers. 

Saratoga is where she really shines. Six-time Saratoga champion Todd Pletcher respectfully acknowledged her defeat of him in the close race for the 2009 title, saying, “She did a good job. She deserves it.”

Rice adds her own mark to the historic Saratoga venue with regularity. She trained the first four finishers in the 2008 Mechanicville Stakes, and won six races in a row in 2007. 

Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who grew up with her father, Clyde Rice, has been familiar with her family and with Rice’s ability her whole life.

 “They are excellent horse people and excellent family people, and they are underestimated,” he said emphatically. 

Growing up in Hershey, Pennsylvania, where her father was leading trainer wi...

Read the full article online...
Subscribe today! From just $20 per annum and read our articles online and in the magazine delivered to your door.