Violette’s work speaks loudly, both on and off the track

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. – By his own admission, Rick Violette has a big mouth. But he does know when to keep it closed.

Case in point: Last July, while walking the streets of Delray Beach, Fla., with two daughters of a longtime employee, Violette and the women were held up at gunpoint. Violette knew this was no time to play hero.

“There’s no being brave,” Violette said. “Once the gun went to the young lady’s head, it was ‘Don’t screw this up.’ ”

Though money and documents were stolen, Violette and the two women came away from the episode unharmed.

“It was weird, no question,” Violette said. “It was scary, too.”

Violette knew the value of keeping quiet that night. When it comes to issues involving racing, however, Violette knows the importance of speaking up. Violette, who began training horses in 1977, has been a vocal advocate for horses, horsemen, and the industry as a whole.

“It starts with a big mouth,” Violette, 62, said when asked about his desire to be so involved in horsemen’s issues. “My biggest frustration, I guess, are guys who complain on the rail and wouldn’t take 10 minutes out of their time to do something constructive. If you’re going to complain, I think you got to be willing to step forward.”

On a national level, Violette has been among the leaders in developing a uniform medication plan, one that has been adopted in several states. Violette is a staunch proponent of the use of the anti-bleeding medication Lasix, a hot-button topic in the industry because in most states it is the only medication permitted to be administered on race day. It has led Violette to clash with The Jockey Club, among the more powerful of racing’s alphabet organizations which includes many members who are against the use of any race-day medication.

Closer to home, in New York, Violette has been the president of the state’s horsemen’s group for eight years, recently being re-elected to a third term in a tight vote that was contested by opponent Terry Finley. Violette, working with – and sometimes against – different management groups at the New York Racing Association, has dealt with issues such as the high rates for workers’ compensation insurance, horse welfare, and race dates.

In addition, Violette is a member of the board of directors of NYRA’s re-organization board while NYRA is trying to formulate a plan for its future and possible re-privatization.

Violette, who is not compensated for his work for either organization, does all that while trying to oversee a racing stable of 40-plus horses.

Violette credits his assistants, Melissa Cohen and Rusty Myers, for keeping the stable humming when he’s absent.

“You have to compartmentalize things,” he said. “I have a wonderful crew, so I can take liberties that maybe I couldn’t have taken a few years ago. I don’t have a family – a wife and kids to go home to. Other guys have bigger responsibilities.”

Violette has struck the balance well between on- and off-track issues. On Saturday, for the second straight year, Violette will have a runner in the sport’s biggest race, the Kentucky Derby, where he will run the talented New York-bred Upstart in a field of 20. Last year, Violette finished fifth in the Derby with the overachieving New York-bred Samraat.

“It’s pretty cool,” Violette said. “We don’t have 100 horses. We don’t really operate with the Derby as our goal every year because sometimes it’s fruitless. We got lucky and got two really good horses that happen to be New York-breds. It shows you where that program has gone. It’s gratifying. I got a great crew, a wonderful bunch of owners.”

Ralph Evans, who worked on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange for 31 years before retiring in 1997, co-owns Upstart, a son of Flatter who cost $130,000 as a yearling. Evans has had horses with Violette for more than 20 years, with the two campaigning stakes winners March Magic and Free of Love together.

Evans, a low-key individual himself, admitted that he would like to see Violette be less vocal.

“Rick is a very, very disciplined, honest sort of guy,” Evans said. “I sort of cringe a little bit when he gets more ink than I would prefer. I wish Rick would be less of a good interview for you people and stick to ‘Gee, he ran well,’ or ‘Gee, I liked his work’ instead of saying the stewards wanted to get home for dinner. That doesn’t help anybody – even if it’s true.”

Upstart wintered in Florida, racing three times at Gulfstream Park. He jumped onto the Derby trail with an emphatic 5 1/2-length victory in the Grade 2 Holy Bull Stakes in January. Though he finished first in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth in February, Upstart was disqualified for interference in a controversial call. In the Grade 1 Florida Derby on March 28, Upstart finished second to Materiality. There was an incident in midstretch where the two horses came together, and Jose Ortiz, the jockey of Upstart, wanted to claim foul. But it was the last race of the day, and by the time Ortiz went to call the stewards, they were gone.

That and the fact that both the Fountain of Youth and Florida Derby were run over slow, deep, demanding surfaces upset Violette. The day after the Florida Derby, he called the Gulfstream stewards and track maintenance crew “incompetent.”

“In Florida, I was pretty quiet between the Fountain of Youth and Florida Derby,” Violette said. “But I had been in contact with management, and when we had a slower racetrack and the stewards pull a disappearing act, well, that’s enough. They’re supposed to hear about it. Nothing ever changes if you don’t open your mouth, and it certainly doesn’t change talking about it in the back room.

“It’s the same way whether it’s New York politics or national politics. At some point, you can’t just be taken advantage of by somebody having a forum and constantly using it and trying just to work things out behind closed doors. Sometimes you have to take things public. I do my homework.”

Back in the 1990s, when Violette was helping to negotiate a contract between the horsemen and NYRA, he angered then-NYRA president Kenny Noe to the point where Noe had Violette move his stable from Belmont Park to Aqueduct.

Evans, who was a member of the NYRA board when that happened, and Violette agree that the trainer’s tendency to speak his mind has probably cost him owners and opportunities.

“Rick would’ve had even more of a successful career if he had been less of a lightning rod,” Evans said. “But he’s very committed. He believes in what he believes in. He listens, and I do respect the fact he does his homework. I’m not so sure he hasn’t occasionally gone out of step, but New York racing, particularly those that depend upon winter racing, owe him a great deal of gratitude.”

Kiaran McLaughlin, who trains Kentucky Derby starter Frosted, is an adversary of Violette’s on the track but is happy to have him on his side in the boardroom.

“He’s very passionate about what he does,” McLaughlin said. “I don’t know how he does it with full-time training, but he does it, and he finds time, and he always has the best interests of the horsemen in mind, and he works very hard and does a great job.”