Trainer Sam David back in business
NEW ORLEANS – Trainer Sam David is running hard with the opportunity he got last year.
David was training a handful of horses and breaking some youngsters at the Copper Crowne Training Center in Opelousas, La., when the owner-breeder partnership of John Duvieilh and Earl and Keith Hernandez asked him last summer if he’d like to join their team.
“Their previous trainer [Frank Leggio] had retired, and they asked me if I wanted to come down to the Fair Grounds,” David said. “I’d been up at Copper Crowne the last eight years training up there, kind of being around my kids and grandkids. I talked it over with my wife, and I decided it’d be fun to do.”
David, 67, who trained 1987 Kentucky Oaks winner Blushing K.D., won 23 races during 2017, more than he had won the last seven years combined. Through Friday, he was 9 for 29 at Fair Grounds and was the ninth-leading trainer at the meet.
“It’s kind of exciting to be down here again and having some horses that are live,” said David, who has 27 horses for his main clients and 35 in total. “I knew over the summer they were pretty nice horses for Louisiana-breds. I thought we were coming in here with some really good chances. When we got here, they’ve all pretty much run like we’ve hoped.”
On Thursday at Fair Grounds, homebred 3-year-old Bitsy’s Afleet ran his record to two wins from two starts when he captured a first-level Louisiana-bred allowance race by more than four lengths, getting a 74 Beyer Speed Figure. At Delta on Jan. 1, David sent Hyper Piper out to win the $50,000 Lookout Stakes. There are no Blushing K.D.’s in the barn – not yet, at least – but Sam David is back in business.
