Growth coming with success for trainer Andrew Lerner

ARCADIA, Calif. – Andrew Lerner, a 29-year-old trainer who launched a stable in 2017, has three runners on Friday’s eight-race program at Santa Anita.

Lerner, who trains 17 horses, is hoping to grow his stable substantially, in part by buying horses at upcoming sales.

“I want to get to 40 by January,” he said on a recent morning. “We’ve got some new partners.”

Lerner is starting to attract attention with recent success. This year, he has won with 7 of 56 starters, and has won with 5 of his last 25 runners since July 14.

Part of the success can be attributed to the recent hiring of Larry Benavidez, a 44-year-old former assistant to John Sadler. Benavidez was briefly out of racing in 2017 and earlier this year before joining Lerner’s team.

“I found Andy and Andy found me,” Benavidez said.

Lerner won his first race in August 2017 at Del Mar, six months after he began training. He has a background in commercial real estate and web design and worked for trainer Mike Pender for more than a year before he began training.

Friday, Lerner starts Arctic Roll in the third race, a maiden special weight at a mile on turf; Belle Monte in the fourth race, a $14,000 to $16,000 claimer at 6 1/2 furlongs; and Platinum Equity in the sixth race, a $25,000 claimer at a mile on turf. All three are owned by Vindicate Racing of Jason Bailey and John Andersen.

Initially, Lerner owned horses in partnerships, but now said he owns very few of his runners.

“I had to train my own horses,” he said of the start of his operation.

In the summer of 2017, Lerner said he hoped to have as many as 20 horses by the end of 2018. That goal has nearly been met.