Gill hires more help

STICKNEY, Ill. - Pat Devereux Jr., a Chicago-based trainer who served as the top assistant to Bert Sonnier and Ernie and Dee Poulos before going out on his own in 2000, is giving up his public stable to begin working for prominent East Coast owner Mike Gill.

Devereux will begin working for Gill and trainer Mark Shuman early next week at the Palm Meadows training facility in Boynton Beach, Fla., where Steve Margolis currently is working for Gill while also overseeing his own small stable. Devereux said he probably will be assigned a string of horses at one of several tracks in the Northeast within the next month or two.

Gill, who owns more than 200 horses, has been on a record tear at the Gulfstream Park meet in Florida, where Shuman currently has about 70 horses in training for him.