Harness: Ohio regular Rhoades eyes Yonkers stable

Bill Rhoades has come a long way from being the 18 year-old kid who was beating this author in Billings amateur races at the county fairs. Now 34, in the last three years he has posted gaudy UDRS (Universal Driver Rating System) numbers, as high as .451 in 2018, and raised his win total each year.

From humble beginnings, Rhoades has big plans. He won the 2020 Northfield Park training title and now he is setting his sights on the East Coast, preparing to race at Yonkers Raceway.

Despite the COVID-shortened 2020 season, Rhoades posted a career best 213 wins from 862 starters, with a .388 UDRS and a career best $1.3 million in earnings.

"It was a little scary, but I have good people behind me," said Rhoades. "While others were backing off, we got a bit aggressive and invested in a lot of horses during the shutdown. Most of them were terrible buys. Believe it or not, it was a seller's market. You have to work hard for everything all the time."

Rhoades knew he wanted to be a horseman well before his winning county fair driving debut, which occurred when he was just 16.

"I started working with horses when I was about 4," said Rhoades. "I learned from my stepdad, Roy Brown. He was demanding, but I learned things the right way."

(Full disclosure: I drove a couple for Roy Brown, too, although with no success. I blame driver error. The horses were good).

"He was a great guy and a hard worker, and he was tough but fair," said Rhoades about Brown, who passed away in 2015 on the night of Bill's wedding.

"I started with cheap claimers, now I have some good racehorses. And this year we have seven babies. That will be new for me, first time since I was a kid, but it was time. Hopefully we can have some success and do even more next year."

Rhoades has a couple New Jersey-breds and several Ohio-breds in the barn and recently shipped three raceway horses east to Buffalo Raceway, and all three were victorious.

But that doesn't mean his barn is bursting at the seams. Rhoades started the year with over 50 horses in the barn and now he has about 20. While part of that is anticipation of his move east, that is not the only reason.

"I have always set goals and I have reached [most of] them, so this is another goal, looking for quality, not numbers," said Rhoades. "Out East is the place to be. That is where the money is and that is where I need to be."

Rhoades will be looking to buy or claim horses to race at Yonkers and he will be stabled at Mark Ford's training center. He does not plan to limit himself to Yonkers, as he eyes The Meadowlands and other Eastern tracks, but Yonkers is the main goal. Why Yonkers?

"Nick Clegg put the bug in my ear to head out there," said Rhoades. "The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I am going up there for the first two weeks or so and then I will be splitting time between New York and Ohio. I have a great team at Northfield and I will need to find some good people in New York. I especially need to be able to classify them right (the horses, not the people) and find good drivers. That makes all the difference. Eventually I hope to have about 10 there. We will play it by ear. I'd love to race at The Meadowlands, but Yonkers is primary. I like the half-mile track. It's my favorite. I have goals, but I am not going think too far ahead."

Despite the Pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Rhoades set personal bests in wins (213) and stable earnings ($1,375,339), and he continually credits his team, especially his wife, Leah, who is a veterinarian. Rhoades is proud of her, saying, "She totally changed my life. When I was younger, I had some challenges, some issues. I was shoeing horses in Pennsylvania and she came to the fairgrounds I was at. I told a friend I was going to marry her, and I asked her out on a date. Six months later we were married."

Rhoades believes his knowledge of shoeing gives him a huge advantage over many other trainers. "A lot of people don't shoe horses right," said Rhoades. "Some barns, they are all the same. With as many as I have now, I don't shoe them all myself anymore, but having that knowledge really helps."

The last thing that sets Rhoades apart is his training style. While some trainers condition their raceway horses lightly, Bill is a throwback. "Over the years, I have learned from a lot of good trainers. I train them extremely hard to keep them on their toes. They need to be in order to be successful," said Rhoades.

And what about that promising driving career of his youth?

"I have no talent. I am pretty terrible," said Rhoades. "So I stick to what I know which is training. Of course, teaming up with Aaron (Merriman), doesn't hurt."

One place Rhoades isn't terrible is in the winner's circle, and my hunch is you will see him in the one at The Hilltop in New York sometime soon. That's it for this month. Now go cash, maybe on a Bill Rhoades-trainee.