Charles Town horseman Walters wins 1,500th race

Trainer David Walters saddled his 1,500th career winner when Urkillingmebeth captured the eighth race at Charles Town on Jan. 13. Walters earned his first victory on July 1, 1979, and has been a mainstay on the Charles Town circuit.

Walters-trained runners have earned $14,447,219. He has won the Sadie Hawkins Stakes six times. His classy mare Carnival Chrome took four consecutive editions of the race between 2005 and 2008. Carnival Chrome won 10 of 16 starts for lifetime earnings of $488,688.

“She was a very peculiar horse to train,” Walters said. “She had a lot of quirks about her and she was kind of a one-person horse. Early on, she had a regular groom. After that, I moved her down to the first stall where I could be around her constantly and I even just started grooming her because she was her own mare.

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“If you didn’t have her respect, she could have easily been messed up. Once she got to trusting you, she was like an old plow horse. She laid it on the line every time.”

Carnival Chrome’s daughter, Chrome Mine, grabbed the 2015 edition of the Sadie Hawkins for Walters.

“It was very special,” Walters said of that family connection. “We bred Carnival Chrome to Mineshaft and Chrome Mine had ability right off the bat. It was a question of keeping her harnessed with her ability and keeping her sound. Conformation-wise, she wasn’t all that great and I knew if something would go wrong, it would be in that area.”

Walters is “actively claiming in Maryland” right now with owner Michael Miller. Walters’s brother, Henry Walters, is a trainer based at Pimlico.

“I never had a goal to get to 1,500 to be honest with you,” he said. “My job every day is to give my owners my all, to tell them the truth, to hopefully have them let me do my job and whatever happens, happens.”