ARCADIA, Calif. – At 6 o’clock every morning here at Santa Anita, Ron McAnally arrives to watch his handful of horses train. He’s kept the same routine for decades, back when he was the nation’s champion trainer three times, before he got into the Hall of Fame. He craves the stability, the familiarity, and, most of all, the horses. They have given him everything. And he came from nothing. On Saturday, McAnally will attempt to add “Kentucky Derby-winning breeder” to his overflowing résumé, and add another chapter to an improbable story that reads as though it was penned by Charles Dickens. He’s rightly proud of what he’s accomplished as a trainer, and now of seeing a fourth-generation mare that he and his wife, Debbie, own produce a top-ranked Derby starter in Rock Your World. “It shows I’ve been living long enough,” McAnally said, chuckling. What a life he’s crammed into his 88 years. McAnally, the second of five children born to Floyd and Kathryn McAnally, was sent to an orphanage at age 5 after his mother died shortly after giving birth to the youngest child. His father, a taxi starter in Cincinnati – across the Ohio River from the family’s home in Latonia, Ky. – could not support the family, and placed his children in the Covington Protestant Children’s Home. McAnally didn’t know his actual birthdate – July 11, 1932 – until he turned 14. He twice ran away from the orphanage, the second time for good, when his aunt – his mother’s sister – agreed to take him to New England with her husband, McAnally’s uncle, trainer Reggie Cornell. He began grooming horses for his uncle as a teenager, moved with him to California, but after serving in the Air Force, got married, moved back to Kentucky, and got away from the track. The pull never left, though, and he returned to California to work for Cornell, best known for training come-from-behind icon Silky Sullivan. “I broke Silky Sullivan at Hollywood Park,” McAnally recalled. “Reggie was in San Francisco. I told him I had one who was working better than all the rest. He told me to give them a head start. Gave them five lengths, then 10 lengths. He kept catching them. I think that’s when he learned to run like that.” After going out on his own, McAnally’s first major horses were King O’Turf who won the 1960 San Fernando, and Donut King, who won the Champagne later that year. Over the years, his list of major race wins, and major horses, grew exponentially. Drama Critic, Pay Tribute, and Super Moment for Elmendorf Farm. South American imports Bayakoa and Paseana, who accounted for three of his four Breeders’ Cup wins. But his best known runner was the legendary John Henry, whose unwanted past made him McAnally’s kindred spirit. John Henry, a former claimer, became a living legend under McAnally’s care. He was a two-time Horse of the Year, including at age 9 in 1984. After his retirement, McAnally would visit John Henry every chance in Kentucky. Their rapport was compelling. Although John Henry was as ornery as a horse could be, when he’d hear McAnally’s voice – “John, John” – he’d race across his paddock at the Kentucky Horse Park, knowing carrots, sugar cubes, and a kind heart awaited. Those visits occurred when McAnally had a runner in the Derby, or when he’d go to the yearling sales. His first Derby starter came in 1980, his last in 1997. He’s outlived most of his long-time owners. He now has just seven horses, cared for by long-time assistant Dan Landers. But he’s kept busy on the breeding end, too, getting big results from a small band of mares. :: DRF's Kenucky Derby Headquarters: Contenders, latest news, past performances, analysis, and more The foundation mare was Like a Charm, a foal of 1985 who never got to the races. McAnally and Debbie – his third wife, now married for more than 40 years – bought out their partners, kept her, and bred her. She produced the filly Olympic Charmer, a two-time graded stakes winner of nearly $500,000. Olympic Charmer in turn produced the filly Charm the Giant, a graded stakes winner of $336,000. Charm the Giant produced the filly Charm the Maker, a two-time stakes winner of $340,000. The approach was simple, and a familiar one in the sport – keep the fillies, sell the colts. “You have to sell some. You have to treat it as a business,” McAnally said. Charm the Giant’s offspring also included the male Liam the Charmer, a graded stakes winner the McAnallys sold as a yearling for $500,000. So when Charm the Maker in 2018 produced a colt by Candy Ride – an unbeaten Grade 1 stakes winner McAnally trained in North America – the decision was to sell as a yearling. He brought $650,000, and subsequently was named Rock Your World, who has gone on to win all three of his starts, including the Santa Anita Derby, for trainer John Sadler. McAnally deflects credit. Typical, he wants the acclaim for Charm the Giant – dam of Liam the Charmer and Charm the Maker, granddam of Rock Your World – not for himself. “I hope she’s voted broodmare of the year,” he said.