1999 Record - 182 -45 - 33 - 27
Win Percentage - 45%
Within Top Three - 58%
In The Money - 77%
Money Earned - $5,254,579.00
Money/Start - $28,871
Stakes Won - 32 including 8 Graded (3 - G1, 1 - GII, 4 - GIII)
Highest Purse - $1,200,000 (One Attack - Breeder's Bowl Distaff)

By- Roys Mansur


The Eclipse award for trainer of the year goes to that individual which has clearly achieved a height that few others have reached. Voted for by their peers, the nominees, this year, have all demonstrated their ability to find and buy promising horses, to develop and guide them through their careers, and to place them in the right spots to win races. Lots of races! These trainers have been rewarded for their outstanding abilities by receiving a nomination for the highest award offered - The Eclipse.

From a stellar field, this year the award goes to Theatrical. Two years ago when he arrived from Australia, he was an unknown, one of many new trainers starting a new career. Now he has a stable full of heavy artillery including three Eclipse nominees and one Eclipse winner. This soft spoken man, known on the backside as simply TA, is recognized by his peers as not only an excellent trainer but even more importantly, as a horseman. In this very short time span TA has gone from just a trainer from Australia to receiving the highest award a trainer can be given. The Eclipse!

I found TA in a stall doing up legs. "You have to spend a lot of time underneath one, if you want them to perform for you" he told me. He came out of the stall and we sat down on a hay bale to visit. Always modest, when told he had won the Eclipse award for Trainer of the Year, TA grinned and said, "Wow, it wasn't me though, it was the horses. They should get all the credit. I have had an incredible run of luck since I started here. I have been real lucky in finding some nice horses and they have performed well for me. I have paid my dues and I guess I have my background to thank for that."

I wanted to hear his story but also wanted to ask a few questions first. Maybe I could find out what it was that sent him on his meteoric ride to the top. What would be your ideally bred horse, I asked him? There was no hesitation. " Nijinsky II x Lyphard x Seattle Slew - what a horse that would be…. good on both surfaces. All three of those horses are so versatile, throwing main track runners as well as turf. The ultimate horse.

Hmmmm, I said writing furiously. You have also made some really good claims as well as purchases through the sale ring. What do you look for? "I look for a horse with good breeding, who may not have had a start on dirt or turf. Owners give up on horses to quick without experimenting a little. And some horses get better with age. So age isn't that important."

Ok…Who is your favorite horse in the barn? "That’s a tough one," he said, " they are all great horses and I love them all. But I probably have a slight leaning towards School Kris, mainly because he is now only a four year old. He is very adaptable having won stakes races on both surfaces. Beautiful breeding. His races last year where just incredible.... facing the older horses he was far from disgraced...having just been beaten by the best Turf horses in the game, Foggy A.P and Enough Knock. His versatility with distance having been place 2nd over 5F in a graded race to having won over 9F. But I will also have a special place in my heart for One Attack, who recently won the BB for F&M. I really didn't think she could win that race, but boy how wrong I was. I thought after running on turf for a while she might be able to spring a big one on the dirt, but wow, it was just a special moment for me."

And now for his story. "Well," he said, "I grew up in Australia. My dad ran a sale barn and I have been around horses all my life. I can't really remember when I started riding, but the first horse my dad gave me was a horrid old mare I called Wombat. My parents thought she was the perfect babysitter because you couldn't make her go fast, although I sure tried. I rode that mare from sunup to sunset, except for school and she must have been tough as a boot to take what I gave her. I loved life at the sale barn and that is where I learned to really look at horses. I followed my dad everywhere and by the time I was 10 I could spot unsoundness and conformation defects as well as anyone. My dad always kept a few racehorses around for a few of his friends and I learned to gallop them before I was in my teens. Pretty soon Dad trusted me enough not only to start buying and selling a few for him, but also to let me start conditioning the racehorses that he had. As soon as I was old enough to drive I started taking them to all the race meets I could get to and I had a lot of success. I admit, I was a pretty cocky kid in those days, but the horses were doing really well for me. I, of course was sure it was my training, but it was mostly just that I lucked out and entered some right and they won some races.

I remember signing my first claim slip, it was on a washy looking, skinny, chestnut filly. She had never won a race, but she caught my eye because she was so correct in her conformation. Most people were just looking at her as 'thin', but my background at the sales barn had taught me to visualize a horse with weight, and this filly would work. I also saw how she was reacting to the noise from the crowd when she turned for home - she would hear that roar and stop. I knew I could fix her. It's a good thing I had such confidence in myself because while she did turn out to be a nice one, there were many times she had me second-guessing myself. To make a long story short, I sent her back to Dad's, got her fat and sassy and couldn't ride her. Man, that thing could buck! No wonder they kept her so thin. We did get her broke and back in training and people couldn't believe she was the same horse. She started training like a big horse, I entered her, put cotton in her ears and she romped. Won a lot of races with her," he said with a faraway look in his eyes.

"Because of her I started picking up clients and soon had a pretty nice stable, but I wanted to go where the money was and that meant the States and Europe. I got in a little trouble trying too hard to win a race and had to take a vacation. I figured if I was going to go, now was the time, so I dispersed my stable and moved north. I got my license, looked around for horses and hit the racing scene with five maidens.

Of my original five horses, only Skilled Sum is left. What a horse, he has given me a lot of pleasure over the past couple of years; he has reached the top and the bottom. He was at one time, the top ranked horse in the Sim and has been racing in great heart of late even being nominated for an Eclipse. I have also been really lucky in finding what I considered bargains through the claim box and I love to go to the sales where my background has certainly come in handy.

You want to know how I got some of my horses? Well, I first saw One Attack in the morning. She just blew me away, this big red mare was doing everything so effortlessly. I heard she had some problems but that is sort of my forte' so I dropped the claim and got her for $50,000. What a buy she has been. Won over $2 million in prize money thus far and she is still racing strongly. When she won the BB Distaff that was $50,000 well spent. School Kris, I bought for, I think, $265,000 in a sale. These days the way the sales are, you would probably have to pay $2.65 million for him, so he was a bargain as well. He has won over $1.2 million and only just turned 4, I hope his best days are yet to come. He was runner up in the BB Turf and is training well - look out for him this year. I bought Nine Niner at the auction as well, for around $800,000. Quite a high price but so far it's paying off. He has raced very well against his own age and I am hoping he matures with age. Alyrob, I bought through the auction as well for around $450,000. A bargain, I think. He has raced spectacularly in the last couple of weeks and I think I have his preferred distance now. He is eight but seems to be getting better with age. I will probably retire him soon, as I would like him to go out on a high note. Tom AP came from the auction as well. I can't remember what I paid for him and he can be a bit up and down. But he has stakes ability and has only just turned five, so we'll see. Mister TC, I claimed for $10,000. A bargain price as he has won close to $100,000, so it is money well spent. King North is my only three year old and he races well on the turf, but is certainly no super star, but a nice one never the less."

I think that Theatrical's star will continue to rise. He has the kind of horses in his stable that can carry him forward and has certainly shown the ability to read a condition book. When he drops that entry, you know the horse belongs in the race and it is 'trainer beware'. He is definitely a worthy recipient of the Eclipse Trainer of the Year - Congratulations Theatrical!