Louie Roussel III sends out 1,000th career winner at Arlington
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Fifty years after sending out his first starter as a trainer in 1967, Louie Roussel III won his 1,000th race Friday at Arlington when 2-year-old filly Heavens Whisper, a horse he bred and owns, won her career debut in the fourth race.
Roussel had been stuck on 999 wins for more than a week despite running a couple heavily favored horses. Ironically, Roussel hadn’t won with a first-time starter at Arlington since 1993.
The name of the milestone winner was fitting, too, since Roussel is a devoted religious man.
“Thanks, and praise the Lord,” Roussel said. “Everyone has been so kind to me my whole life in this business. I want to thank the valets, the gate crew, the exercise guys, the jockeys, the grooms and the hot-walkers. It’s them, it’s not me. I was just lucky enough to be here today.”
Roussel, a 71-year-old New Orleans native, had local fame at birth as the son of a colorful and financially successful New Orleans entrepreneur that bore the same name. Roussel III, an attorney, gained national attention in 1988 with his horse of a lifetime, Risen Star, a son of Secretariat who suffered a tough trip in the Kentucky Derby that year before notching wins in the Preakness and Belmont well above standard.
Roussel owned Fair Grounds Racecourse in New Orleans from 1977 through 1990 before selling the track to the Krantz family. But Roussel never really left Fair Grounds. He still owns the barn on the edge of the backstretch that stables his stock, and can be found every morning – a kind word for anyone that cares to stop by – watching his horses train from his white SUV. A gentleman trainer, perhaps, but a successful one, too.