Maria Borell issued trainer’s license in California

Maria Borell, the one-time trainer of 2015 Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Runhappy whose career was derailed by animal-cruelty charges filed in Kentucky in 2016, has been issued a trainer’s license in California, according to Borell and state records.

Borell said Friday that that she plans to train horses in California for several clients. Borell has lived in Kentucky since 2022, when she returned to the state to deal with the charges. The charges were dropped last year in a deal with local prosecutors. She has maintained her innocence in the matter since she was first charged.

Borell trained Runhappy for one year, culminating with his win in the 2015 Sprint. The colt’s owner, Jim McIngvale, fired her the day after the race, replacing her with his racing manager, Laura Wohlers, who is the twin sister of McIngvale’s wife. At the end of the year, Runhappy was named champion male sprinter. He is now a successful sire.

In a statement, the California Horse Racing Board said Friday that Borell contacted board investigators earlier this year about applying for a license. Borell had allowed her Kentucky license to lapse after she had been charged in 2016.

“Because she had been inactive, she was asked to take tests with stewards and the official veterinarian, which she passed,” the statement said. “After meeting other criteria (e.g., worker’s compensation insurance) she was issued a license two days ago, there being no legal impediment to her being granted a license in California.”

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Prosecutors in Mercer County, Ky., charged Borell and her father, Charles, with 43 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty in 2016, after dozens of horses on a local property owned by the Borells were declared by state veterinarians to be in various stages of malnourishment. At the time the horses were examined, Maria Borell had been working in Florida for months, while her father lived in Kentucky.

Her father eventually accepted a deal charging him with nine misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty under a so-called Alford plea, in which the defendant does not admit guilt. He was sentenced to two years’ probation and fined $4,300.

Although Maria Borell avoided facing prosecution on the charges while living outside of Kentucky, the Mercer Country prosecutor, Ted Dean, dropped plans for a trial last year after Borell’s attorney argued that the county would be unable to prove the charges because Borell had been working in Florida for seven months prior to the case arising.

Borell’s father also was prepared to testify that Maria did not have any direct role in the care of the horses, the attorney said at the time.

“My belief is that she was not legally responsible for the care of the horses, even if they were in a condition that would satisfy the charge of cruelty to animals, which I don’t think was a sure thing either,” the attorney, Russell Baldani, said at the time.

Under the agreement, the charges were expunged from Borell’s record and a ban on caring for animals in Kentucky was lifted.

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