Violette still very much a part of Cohen's life

Melissa Cohen said there isn’t a day that goes by that she doesn’t think of her former boss, Rick Violette Jr.

“He’s always on my mind,” Cohen said. “What would Rick think, or what would Rick do?”

Cohen worked for Violette for 15 years as an assistant trainer and pretty much ran the shed row during the times Violette got sick or had to focus his attention on other matters as the long-time president of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association.

Violette died last Oct. 21 from cancer. Wednesday, everybody will be thinking of Violette when the New York Racing Association honors his memory with the inaugural running of the $100,000 Rick Violette Stakes for New York-bred 2-year-olds. The race was formerly run as the Rockville Centre and was held at Belmont Park. It was switched to Saratoga when the meet was extended by one week.

Cohen took a break from the track shortly after Violette’s passing and his horses were dispersed to other trainers. In the spring, Cohen took a job as an assistant to Jonathan Thomas and she is based at Belmont Park.

“I wasn’t sour of the track, I just needed my quiet time,” Cohen said. “I went through hell, it was a long few years dealing with everybody, it wasn’t just Rick it was a lot of other things. Mentally and physically, I needed a break. I would never have been able to just move on like nothing happened.”

For a brief time, Cohen got to work again with Diversify, the former Violette trainee who won the Grade 1 Whitney last summer here in what Cohen described as her fondest memory working with Violette.

“There were so many good memories, but the biggest and most precious memory was the Whitney just knowing how happy that made him and everybody and the crew,” Cohen said. “Nobody deserved it more than him for what he’s done for this industry. His dedication is above and beyond.”

Diversify was at Belmont Park for about a month before a minor injury prompted Ralph Evans to retire the gelding. He will is now based at Old Friends, a retirement facility in Kentucky.

"It wasn’t that hard for me,” Cohen said of seeing Diversify leave the barn. “That horse did more than enough and more than you could ever hope for. You’re always happy to see them retiring happy, that’s the way it’s supposed to be.”

Cohen, who will attend Wednesday’s race, will spend most of the summer at Belmont where Thomas has the bulk of his stable, including, at least for now, Catholic Boy, last year’s Travers winner who finished second in the Grade 2 Suburban on July 6. While Catholic Boy is unlikely to run in the Whitney, he could make the Grade 1 Woodward here on closing weekend.

If Cohen could be around a Whitney and Woodward winner in consecutive years, Violette would probably think that’d be pretty cool.