Amanda Bailey wears many hats – horsewoman, trainer, wife and mother – but none of them exist separately. At the barn she runs alongside her husband, Leon Bailey, her days are an elaborate balancing act of daily barn chores, focusing on the horses, racing and traveling to race, and raising two children, all woven together in a lifestyle that rarely slows down. Bailey was born into the harness racing industry as her grandfather and dad raced horses together. “It’s something I’ve always been a part of and enjoy doing,” Bailey said. At 18, she got her trainer’s license, something she had always wanted to pursue the career she always wanted. However, her parents encouraged her to go to college, so she was steered down a different path. “While harness racing was always a part of my life, it wasn’t all about that until 10 years ago when I started training horses full time. I’ve mostly taken care of horses with my dad and over the past few years, I have started a small stable with Leon,” Bailey said. Leon and Amanda have five horses right now in their stable, one of which is Pestcontrol, a 5-year-old gelding product of Schoolkids–Furious Five whose story holds a special place in the Bailey’s hearts. Pestcontrol, also known as Pesto to his connections, was Bailey’s first horse that she got from her most recent owner Adam Friedland. “I didn’t officially agree on taking him because I wanted Leon to check him out first,” Bailey said. “Well, I didn’t say anything to Leon yet and the people who had Pesto were calling Leon about shipping him up.” Pesto showed up at the Bailey’s barn and he was right off the bat a standout horse. Bailey described him as a runaway on the track, naughty in the barn and not racing well. “I ended up making an instant connection with him,” she said. “I understand his silly quirks and work around them, and it’s paid off. You just have to let him be a goober!” Pesto competed in the $10,000 claiming class for the Baileys, getting checks and a few wins. The tide had seemed to turn with his racing performance until one night last summer when Bailey said one of the scariest moments of her life had happened. Leon had gone to the track late one night to check on waters and could hear a whistling sound. He found Pesto choking and barely breathing. He pulled him out of the stall and the horse was soaked in sweat, shaking like a leaf. Since it was 11:30 p.m., it was impossible to get ahold of a vet, so Leon and Amanda brought him to a nearby vet clinic, where they were able to save him, but then Pesto faced complications from the ordeal. “He had to stay for a few days and stay on medications,” Bailey explained. “When I finally got him home, it was such a relief until he started having really bad reactions to the medications. They weren’t really sure what was going on. “At this point the owner had spent an insane amount of money keeping this horse alive and now he’s having all these issues. We were asking, ‘Is he going to be okay? Is he going to race again?’ There were lots of tears and tough conversations, but I couldn’t give up on Pesto. I was bound and determined to help him.” Pesto was brought to another vet clinic where he stayed for another week. When he finally came home, he had to be hand-walked for certain amounts of time, fed a special way, and put on new medications. “It was a lot of work and rehab and time off, but I never ever lost faith in my Pesto. I was training him back this year and he felt so strong. I knew he was going to be alright and make it back. I think he’s got a few more quirks now, but we’ve had two wins in a handful of starts this year and I couldn’t be happier and prouder of Pesto! We have heart talks before every race how someday we are going to go swim with the dolphins, but I’m not sure how that would go, he’d probably be scared to death,” she laughed. Pestcontrol now has a record of 3-2-1 in nine starts under the guidance of Amanda Bailey with Leon in the bike. One of Pestcontrol’s wins actually garnered a training double on the card for Bailey – the first in her career as a trainer – after he won alongside his stablemate Star Pilot on the same card in March. The 41-year-old now has 84 wins in 704 career starts over the last nine years. “The training double felt special to me because it was the first on my own with horses I train for an owner! And the fact that it was Pesto!” In addition to Pestcontrol, Bailey has a baby in the barn that they broke this past year, so she is excited to watch it grow and develop into racehorses. “We broke one last year that made it and actually won a sire stakes race here at Saratoga, so that was exciting,” Bailey said. With five horses and a family, Bailey spends her days doing barn chores, getting horses ready to jog or train and then rushing around to make sure Leon gets to the races. It’s a tough schedule to handle, Bailey explained, especially with having a stable and catch driving, but she said that they try to have horses that not only fit their program, but that she can handle on her own when Leon’s out driving. Leon drives full time at Saratoga Harness as well as Vernon Downs, where he won his fourth title last year as the leading driver. Together, with Amanda, he is able to balance his catch driving with his stable of five. “Mandi is the most caring and genuine person I’ve ever met,” Leon Bailey said. “She has a natural gift to make anything or anyone feel content. It’s pretty cool to witness her work her magic. I had to marry her quick before she had time to get away!” Amanda Bailey wears all of those hats -- horsewoman, trainer, wife and mother – together. She is a caregiver not just to her family but to her horses, proven by her strength and determination to save Pestcontrol and bring him back as an even stronger racehorse. She can always be found in the barn or in the paddock with a smile on her face, with love and care for each and every one of her horses.