Delp: Why I’m leaving racing
Thirty-seven years after Spectacular Bid won the Kentucky Derby for Bud Delp, a horse for which Pajeen Delp was the assistant trainer won on Kentucky Derby day. Funny Cide’s Derby-winning connections shared their trophy with Pajeen. Photo courtesy of Pajeen Delp.
Pajeen Delp comes by her love of horses and horse racing honestly. Her father, Grover “Bud” Delp, trained Spectacular Bid, the runner he called “the greatest horse ever to look through a bridle.” Spectacular Bid entered the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1982, and Bud Delp followed 20 years later.
Pajeen started in the business at the tender age of 12, walking hots on the Laurel Park backside for her father, who passed away in 2006. She continued in the business thereafter, training horses with her brother Cleve for a couple of years and also working in numerous other barns.
Now 33, she’s reached what she calls “a pivotal decision.” Dispirited by what she sees happening in racing, she has decided to leave the industry. She explains.
by Pajeen Delp
A while before my Daddy passed away he said, with tears in his eyes, “I would hate to be coming into this industry today.” He was born in 1932, served in the Korean War, and was around for the heyday of racing. He trained the greatest race horse to ever look through a bridle and won well over 3,000 races, many of which were graded stakes.
He built a stable of solid claiming, allowance and stake horses. It was ingrained in me as a youth that you treat a nickel claimer with the same care as a graded winner; just like you treat a hotwalker or groom with the same respect you would an owner.
I had the privilege to come up under a Hall of Fame trainer that ALWAYS put the horse first. I was taught to listen to the horses rather than relying on a vet to diagnose. To adjust the training chart if a horse just didn’t seem right. That this nervous filly went out first set or she would run her stall and that gelding went out first after the break because he didn’t like a cuppy track.
I have had the privilege to work with horsemen that I learned much from, Al Stall and Pam, Wayne Catalano, Tim Hamm. I had my own stable for two years at Delaware and Philly Park, winning at a 24 percent clip with lower level claimers.
I became involved with thoroughbred aftercare and worked with Turning for Home because I was raised that these animals aren’t livestock, they are our livelihood.
But after speaking with many close friends who have known me my entire life, understand my passion for horses, and who have been in the business longer than I, I have come to a pivotal decision.
For the past few years I have worked for people whose standard of horsemanship wasn’t what I was accustomed to, and I became frustrated and disheartened. It became a pattern, and recently I began studying that pattern. In the 21 years I have been working in the racing industry, I have noticed a steady decline, one becoming exponentially worse the past few years.
My forte is soundness, and diagnosing what’s wrong with a horse and how to treat it. I was taught that to train, you have to know how to diagnose. But in recent years, I’ve seen horses run that weren’t sound, that had lung infections – that should not have been in a race but were.
When I started out, when you learned to gallop horses, you had to spend at least a year breaking babies before they let you work a racehorse. Now we see a lot of riders who haven’t properly learned their craft; it’s not about training horses, it’s just about getting the horse around the racetrack.
I’m not singling anyone in particular out. It’s throughout the industry; I’m going up from the hired help all the way to the trainers and owners themselves, even the racing office. People don’t listen to the horses anymore. It’s, “How much can I get out of this horse before he’s done?” instead of taking care of the horse.
As a result I have decided to leave the racing industry and focus instead on a different career path: bartending for now with a four-year plan to open a small restaurant in the future. It is bittersweet; I am sad to leave behind the life I knew but excited for what the future holds. Deep down I hope that if the right client comes along, down the road I can start training again. But I’m not banking on it, and I plan to make the most of every day and aggressively pursue my new career.
Note: A shorter version of this appeared on Facebook.
I have also seen these changes where horses are “trained” by the vet! It takes time and hands on knowledge to properly train young racehorses. More smaller “horsemen” should be in racing… instead the “industrial ” trainers with huge amounts of expensive horses being trained in various farms and tracks…
Maybe limiting how many horses a trainer could have would spread the opportunities for more little trainers. I bet she would do well working on her own… I hate to see a caring trainer quit!!!
Don’t Quit! The horses need you!!
Don’t sell your saddle, you’ll be back!!
“” I had my own stable for two years at Delaware and Philly Park, winning at a 24 percent clip with lower level claimers.””
Under what name did this person “have her own stable for two years” ???
For of course Equibase has no record of a “Pajeen Delp”.
She’s “33” now, and Equibase is 26… so one would suspect that records of her claims (no pun intended) would be visible somewhere.
So c’mon, what name did she use?
As referenced in the intro, she and her brother Cleve had the stable. The horses ran under Cleve’s name – Alexander Delp.
Well said. I feel the same exact way. I wasn’t brought up in this industry but did spend 11 years galloping and assisting. I ended up leaving a year ago and currently run a non profit rehoming of racehorses Straight from the track.
I fully understand her take on this. I didn’t grow up in the industry, but came to work for some great people (Including Hall Of Famer Frank Whiteley-Trainer of Ruffian). I was in my mid 20s when I went to Beulah Race track and asked the guard to find me a Trainer who would feed me and get me a license and I’d work for him (1989). I walked hots for about 5 months, then got the opportunity to break babies at Darby Dan’s Ohio Farm for 2 seasons. I was 10 yrs old when Ruffian broke her leg, and I was Impressed with Whiteley and how much he cared for her. I told my mom I was going to work for him 1 day. I got that shot in early ’91. I worked for other good ppl too, but learned quite a bit from old school Veterinarian, Dr Warren Perez. Once you learn what’s worked for Centries, you can’t unlearn it and do things in a corporate way (as in $$ 1st)
There Is Definitely a difference in training these days! My own health forced me to back off, but I DO miss it!
Great article. Sums up pretty well why I’m not in the business like I used to be (I have 3 and only 1 in training, more like a “hobby.”) It is not fun or satisfying to work for an outfit whose primary goal is to get a baby to run an eighth of a mile in 10 seconds, or to make a quick buck at any cost to the horse. I wish there were more trainers like Ms. Delp.
Don’t leave! Racing needs more people with your attitude to change the industry one horse at a time. Maybe one owner at a time. I have a terrific (if small outfit) trainer with a doctorate, I know another great doctor of equine nutrition, that are too ethical, moral and dedicated to the soundness of their horses to be cheaters (like some “top” trainers), women that are trying to make a difference, and who care first about horses. They take great pains to educate owners to be the same, and they treat hot-walkers and grooms with dignity and respect. The problems? Not all racing secretaries are equal, but surely NYRA could help support the NYTB’s and show some care about horses (not to mention some understanding of the animal) as much as the business side of it — which isn’t so astute either. Hey NYRA, there are more than 4 or 5 trainers in the USA, try to write races for the up and coming trainers who are the future of this industry!! Enforce penalties against cheaters. Owners need to check their egos somewhere else and care (and after-care) about their horses and soundness, and not just about winning. Breeders need to breed more responsibly: there are too many stallions — stop retiring them to stud after they have won one graded stakes (or less) and get injured by three! Stop asking 2-yr olds to do the 10-second furlong for the sales and let their bones mature without that unnecessary stress. It is harder for ethical and smart professionals to stay in business than to cheat and break down and kill horses, but the more good ones leave the more we leave the fate of the industry in the hands of the undesirables.
Maybe you should just relocate! When I became involved in racing (New England) it was a little more “colorful” than I expected. now, though, it has gone through a transformation for the better: Old Friends was conceived by a New England guy; Suffolk was the first track to have an anti-slaughter policy, the testing and vet checks, and the maintenance of vets’ and stewards’ lists, have really put the emphasis where it belongs: on the horse! There are still good solid horsemen out there. New England racing, sadly, is on life–support; but there are some serious horsemen from here training in other places with compassion – and success!
You can start of by thanking Wayne Lucas for this and end with casinos. It is a sad day when the art of horsemanship is lost.
I agree with you
Bring it back or get out.
I feel your pain but you’re doing the right thing , I don’t know very many people that this business has been better to than myself but between the drugs and the claiming game becoming so aggressive which disables small stables from staying alive “if you run them where they belong you don’t own them anymore and your new customer or you just got in the business is out of business ” I tried drafting a letter and getting to the Jockey club about some changes that I thought could really help our industry but I haven’t gotten anybody to call back, I rode races as a young man ,became an assistant trainer for some top trainers in their business and won steak races training my own horses ,invented a shoe, and have shod some of the best horses in recent history but little bit by little bit I was pulled to the show world and I have not looked back occasionally I’m still brought into work on a good horse with a problem but every time I go back reassures me that I made the right decision ,The industry has become a welfare situation the day at casinos pull the plugs The industry will fold , Be one of the first one out the door and be ready to come back in and support it when they finally make some changes ,I know I will be!
My sincerest wishes for a new and successful career go to Pajeen. She may decide to go on a path far removed from racing but, if not, and hasn’t already thought of it, she might be able to open a restaurant close to the track and get a retired jockey (or two) to go into partnership with her. I see a great connection for a restaurant with a racing theme that features low calorie foods that are also very nutritional. What better example of those that had that kind of a diet than jockeys? Plus, it would give her restaurant two things: 1) a way to differentiate itself from its competition as well as 2) a bit of pizzazz. Might even become a destination point for current jockeys and their wives/girlfriends to go to. She is brave to try something new and, at the same time, her decision to leave racing is not unheard of. I’ve had a couple of other former trainers and owners tell me that one of the prime reasons for leaving that sport is the drugging of the horses and the cheating that makes it very hard for legitimate participants a chance to compete in an honest environment.
Bartending is not in the Health and wellness business last I checked. I’m in the Nutrition business. Was a bartender for 10 years and it almost killed me hiding there. Bartending sucks. The backside of the racetrack is the best place in the world I have found, like any place it has its problems. Does immigation play a role in this loss of principles ? Who trained who that trained who that fucked this all up ? Lost in translation ? No. When you loss second and third and fourth generation families, you loss everything. Someone is not listening to her and it is beyond sad. I saw the backside going south and it needs a fixin.
Very well said by Pajeen. I was raised as well, to have the horses and other animal’s well-being paramount. They ate before we did. All of their needs came first and it should always be that way. The decline has come through all facets of racing–both Thoroughbred and Standardbred and in the horse show world as well. Very sad. Growing up, we had to learn everything from the ground up, and that included a lot of cleaning stalls and walking horses before we were ever given the chance to sit atop one and then, only in a walking ring until we were ready to take them into the fields for work. That just doesn’t happen anymore except in the top stables. The little mom and pop operations are slowly fading by the wayside.
Anyone who has a true heart and love of horses, could no longer be a racing fan.