Rice red hot, rebuilding her 2-year-old business
:quality(75))
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The slow start Linda Rice had to the Saratoga meet is a distant memory.
After going just 4 for 45 through the first 13 days of the 45-day season, Rice has won 19 races from 77 starts over the last 16 cards. The highlight came Saturday when Rice won five of the seven races in which she had starters, equaling a Saratoga record shared by Todd Pletcher and Chad Brown, both of whom have won five twice.
“Well, it was a pretty slow run at the beginning of the meet,” Rice said Sunday in between her two victories on that day’s card. “Sometimes it comes together. Training and owning and racing horses can be a very frustrating game. There are a lot of ways to lose, so when you’re on a good run, it makes it all the more rewarding and special.”
Rice has been on a good run for quite a few years now. She has been the leading trainer on the New York Racing Association circuit in wins twice in the last three years, including setting a NYRA record with 173 wins in 2025. With 2,874 career victories, Rice is the sport’s all-time winningest female trainer.
Rice fought a years-long battle with the New York State Gaming Commission, which in 2021 slapped her with a three-year license revocation and a $50,000 fine for having improper access to names and other information regarding entries to races she was considering entering before those races were drawn. She allegedly enjoyed this access for approximately a three-year period beginning in 2011. An appellate court judge dismissed the license revocation penalty, and Rice ultimately settled with the Gaming Commission on a $100,000 fine.
Rice said she lost clients and horses as a result, but, mostly through claiming, built her business back. One area where she has seen continued growth is with 2-year-olds, as she is getting more and better stock.
One example of that was Saturday with Scramjet, a New York-bred son of Uncle Mo who won the faster division of a split maiden race going gate to wire to win by 1 1/2 lengths. His final time of 1:11.27 was nearly two full seconds faster than the other division, which was the very next race won by Road Show, trained by Mark Casse, in a time of 1:13.12.
Rice initially had Scramjet entered in a July 30 maiden race on turf. While she thought turf would be an easier spot to start Scramjet, Rice was more than content to leave him in a five-horse field when rain washed that race to dirt. Scramjet made it onto the track, but not to the gate.
“I told Manny Franco this horse has outworked everyone I’ve worked him with,” Rice said. “He goes out to the track – he’s a studdish colt – he bites the pony, jerks back, Manny falls off, [Scramjet] ran loose, scratched. Now I’m in here in a split division, the tougher half.”
Scramjet is a homebred for owner-breeder Steve Barberino, a new client for Rice. She said she went to look at a couple of 2-year-olds for Barberino “and he sent me six.”
Earlier in the meet, Rice sent out the Yaupon filly Velora, a $300,000 2-year-old in training purchase, to a 4 3/4-length victory in a New York-bred maiden special weight race. That filly is owned in partnership by Winning Move Stable, a longtime client for Rice.
Getting that 2-year-old business back is important for Rice to return the stakes she used to win with more frequency. Velora and Scramjet are candidates for the Seeking the Ante and Funny Cide stakes, respectively, later in the meet.
“Had to rebuild that business,” said Rice, who added the Gaming Commission investigation “was very damaging to my business and very difficult to get through. I’m gaining momentum, [gaining] the clients back and their confidence.”
Entering the final three weeks of the meet, Rice’s 23 wins have her second in the trainer standings, three behind Chad Brown. In 2023, Rice won the final race of the meet to tie Brown for the meet title with 35 wins. In 2009, Rice won the title outright with 20 wins. In the last 17 years, Rice is the only trainer not named Brown or Pletcher to have won or shared a meet title at Saratoga.
Rice is downplaying her chances to win this summer’s training title.
“Can’t underestimate Chad. He’ll win two, three, or four in a day,” Rice said. “I’m just taking one race, one day at a time. . . . A lot of the people you train for, they just want to point for Saratoga. This is where they enjoy coming to the races, enjoy winning. They bring their families.”