Sarah Davidson following in footsteps of her successful father
Sons tend to follow their fathers into training careers more than daughters do. One daughter who has carried on the family business is Sarah Nicole Davidson.
Davidson, 34, opened a public racing stable in 2018. She is based at Lone Star Park and shares a barn with her father, longtime trainer Brent Davidson.
“Sarah was raised around it and she just loves it,” said Brent Davidson.
The Davidsons are a family steeped in racing, and have beeen part of the backbone of the industry in Texas. Sarah Davidson’s late grandfather, T.E. Davidson, was one of the most respected horsemen in the Southwest, while her own father made his mark with 2-year-olds and his work with the millionaire Vivace. Sarah Davidson’s mother, Colleen Davidson, is a longtime breeder and owner currently assisting with her husband’s division in Oklahoma.
Sarah Davidson – who is the niece of the late Quarter Horse trainer John Buchanan – has 12 horses in training. They include Natalies Joy, a candidate for the $75,000 Valor Farm on July 10 at Lone Star.
“She’s an up and comer,” said Davidson.
Davidson took a thoughtful approach to launching her own public racing stable. She fully understood the demands of the training profession – not only growing up in the sport, but also having had to take over her father’s operation in 2011 when he was recuperating from a serious training accident. She also spent some time working as a clocker and a jockeys’ agent before taking the training plunge.
“I thought it would be appropriate to wait until the time I was financially and mentally ready,” she said. “When you’re a trainer, you’re a trainer, a groom, a secretary, an accountant, a manager. There’s so many different factions to it.”
Brent Davidson, 59, said he tried to deter his three children from training because of the time commitment, but he is proud of Sarah.
“When she’s got one in, I always watch,” he said. “She’s getting the run out of her horses. And she’s got a photographic memory for horses. Sarah remembers all horses.
“We wanted the kids to do other things. I didn’t think about doing anything else. But I tried to get them to think about something else, just because of the hours, seven days a week.”
Brent Davidson has trained for about 40 years, getting his license as a teenager in New Mexico.
“I was in Albuquerque and the stewards called me in,” he said. “They said, ‘We think it’s about time you get your license.’ That’s how I got my trainer’s license. I guess Daddy had it planned.”
Sarah Davidson is the oldest of Brent and Colleen Davidson’s three children. Ashley is a veterinarian assistant for a racetrack practitioner and Michael is an insurance agent who holds an animal science degree.
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Following the meet, Sarah Davidson will race at Remington Park, then Sam Houston – the same circuit as her father. She said one of the best lessons she’s learned from him is to “treat the $5,000 claimer as well as the stakes horse and the janitor as well as the CEO.”
For Sarah Davidson, following in the footsteps of her father has proven to be her calling.
“I’ve had the opportunity to do other things, but nothing was as fulfilling as this,” she said.