Trainer Howard Wolfendale dead at 69
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Howard Wolfendale, a longtime trainer in Maryland whose best horses were hardy runners plucked out of claiming races, died on Thursday night in Mechanicsburg, Pa., of complications from a stroke he suffered the previous week, according to family members. Wolfendale was 69.
The son of a decorated military veteran who owned show horses and married the daughter of a lifelong racetracker, Wolfendale was known for his success in rehabbing claimers on the Maryland circuit. In the 2000s, he routinely started more than 250 horses a year and put up sparkling win percentages, reaching as high as 31 percent in 2006.
His daughter, Maggie Wolfendale, who is a paddock analyst for the New York Racing Association tracks, recalled on Friday that her father had a special knack for “picking out horses who had some back class who had for some reason or another fallen down the ladder.”
“Back then, he had an opportunity to train for some owners who were good friends and who gave him the reins to claim the horses he wanted,” she said. “And he was always good at getting them put back together and finding spots where they could win.”
Wolfendale’s wife, Tammy, who survives him, was an exercise rider and co-owner of many of his claims. Other family members got their start in Wolfendale’s Maryland barn. Several of his brothers and sisters were also trainers.
“I learned so much working for him,” said Maggie Wolfendale, whose specialty is the physical assessment of horses and who is married to the trainer Tom Morley. “We had such a good time. So many family members and friends would be working in the barn.”
Wolfendale began training in 1977, with his career picking up in the mid-1980s as he began taking on more horses. Although he won enough races in the 2000s to crack the top 100 in wins six times in eight years, his stable numbers began dropping off in the 2010s and he retired in 2020.
“In so many ways now, it’s a numbers game,” Maggie Wolfendale said. “He just didn’t have the numbers anymore, but he was also ready to retire.”
In addition to his wife, Tammy, and daughter, Maggie, Wolfendale is survived by his brother, Ross, a trainer; a cousin, Scott, also a trainer; and granddaughters Grace and Willow.
For his career, Wolfendale won 1,525 races from 7,124 starts for a lifetime winning percentage of 21 percent. His horses earned $22.1 million in purses.
Maggie Wolfendale said the secret to her father’s success was his natural feel for a horse’s needs.
“He always said that you have to let the horse be a horse,” she said.
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