Harness: Noel Daley coming back to America

It is impossible to know if you’ll like something until you try it. For Noel Daley, he tried it and didn’t like it. Less than a year after leaving the United States to train in his native Australia for Maria and Emilio Rosati, the Hambletonian-winning trainer is coming back to America.

“I didn’t plan to be,” said Daley when asked if he was officially back to train in North America. “I sold everything. I haven’t got anything here. I just couldn’t get into the racing there. I missed everything about here; the lifestyle, the racing; my friends. I’m 57 and I plan on racing for the next decade, so I said ‘can I do it in Australia?’ and the answer was no for me. I figured it was best to make the change now. I’ve only been gone less than a year and I’ve already reconnected with a bunch of owners. Everyone has been pretty supportive.”

Daley said he couldn’t stop thinking about racing in the U.S. He cited Hambletonian Day when he was focused on the action at The Meadowlands at 3 AM in Australia as the moment it really hit him that he wanted to go back to his adopted home of 30 years.

“The job was good and the guy treated me well, but I didn’t race a lot of horses there,” said Daley. “I had a lot of young ones prepping for races. I raced a few of the American mares we took down there, but I found myself going to the races and coming home to look at the results in America.”

Daley left his home base at Magical Acres (where he will return) shortly after sending out Princess Deo to a second-place finish in the Goldsmith Maid final at The Meadowlands on November 24, 2018. He returns with a résumé of 2,570 career wins and $61,454,588 in earnings from horses under his care.

The always affable Daley, who has won five Breeders Crown races , the 2011 Hambletonian with Broad Bahn and won the 2005 Trotter of the Year award with Mr Muscleman, will be starting from scratch in his return to New Jersey in his quest for the next champion. At one point he was training 125-head but whittled that number down to 20 at the start of 2018 and 10 by the time he was prepared to leave for Australia.

“Basically I chased owners off the last five years knowing my intentions were to go home,” said Daley, who was in action purchasing HIP 262 Redemptor, a Cantab Hall trotting colt, for $95,000 on the second night of the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale. “I bought one so far. He went for a little more than I thought he would, but that seems like the norm right now here. I’ve got a lot in the next couple of days that I like. It is such a strong sale. I’m more of a budget buyer. Usually there is only one or two that you are hoping to get but there are actually quite a few here I’d be happy to have in my barn.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Daley went on to buy two more, HIP 416 Canta Bella for $28,000 and HIP 564 Tackle Box for $20,000.]

“I’ve already picked up another that someone else bought and a couple of 3-year-olds to train straight away. I’ve also got a few homebreds that people are going to send to me. Within a month I’m sure I’ll have about 15.”

Daley will return to Australia shortly after the sale to tie up some loose ends and return to start anew at the end of October. While he admits he doesn’t even have a harness as he starts this U.S. reboot, he’s eager to get back in the flow.

“I’m very excited,” said Daley. “I’ve spent the last five years prepping to go home and when I went I realized it wasn’t what I wanted it to be. Now I’m super keen to be coming back as a real restart.”

Judging by the many people who stopped to greet him during the few minutes we spent together, the Harness Racing community seems glad to have him back as well.