Trainer Walsh putting together another career-best year
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Brendan Walsh ran two losers Saturday at Churchill Downs, then two more Sunday. That’s not exactly man-bites-dog news, but before that, Walsh had run six straight winners in a rather outlandish exhibition of how his training career is thriving.
“Everything is going great,” said Walsh, who paid his dues as an assistant in Dubai and to fellow Irishman Eddie Kenneally in America before starting his solo career in earnest in 2012. “It’s actually a tribute to the people around me. My staff works hard every day, and I’ve got good owners and nice stock, which is why it’s all coming together. If you don’t have all that, it can be tough.”
For the record, a $2 win parlay on the six Walsh winners was worth $4,214, assuming anyone was bold and prescient enough to follow through (while also being smart enough to stop at the right time). In order, his winners from May 21-26 were War Union, Golden Domer, British Humor, Awesometastic, Kapellmeister, and Beauly.
The streak had the Churchill publicity folks clicking through their online record book. They found that the track mark for the most consecutive wins by a trainer was set in 2005, when Joe Woodard sent out a remarkable 10 in a row, breaking the 1997 record of eight set by Pat Byrne (who actually won nine straight, including one beforehand at Keeneland).
Walsh, 44, has been a busy traveler in recent weeks. When not hurtling up and down Interstate 64 to look after a 50-horse stable split between Churchill and Keeneland, he has visited Maryland, where he sent out Multiplier to a sixth-place finish in the May 20 Preakness at Pimlico, and Canada, where he saddled Shelbysmile for a sixth-place finish in the Grade 2 Nassau on Saturday at Woodbine.
Multiplier, based at Keeneland, will run in the June 10 Belmont Stakes “if he has another good week,” Walsh said Monday, noting that the colt is scheduled to breeze this weekend. “He came out of the Preakness in good shape. He’ll fly on the [June 6 charter] to New York if that’s what it comes to.”
Through Sunday, Walsh’s 2017 stable earnings were more than $1.5 million as another career-best year unfolds for him. His nine wins at the current spring meet had him tied for third in the trainer standings with Brad Cox, behind Steve Asmussen (11) and J.R. Caldwell (10).
