| PROFILES |
NICK COSATO (SLAM DUNK RACING) DRAIN THE CLOCK & MAXIM RATE
N
ick Cosato’s unique journey through Thoroughbred racing has led him to two different partnerships with two different trainers who produced two Gr. 1 stakes victories. He earned those accomplishments. “I’m pretty passionate about the game,” Cosato said. “You have to be. Owning horses is difficult. Running a partnership is difficult. I’ve got more than skin in the game. I’ve got bone marrow in it. I’m all in.” Now 54, Cosato lives in Sierra Madre, Calif., two miles from Santa Anita. He was born in nearby San Gabriel. “I was pretty much born on the apron of Santa Anita,” he said. “Every Sunday, I was there with my father—like clockwork.”
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TRAINERMAGAZINE.COM ISSUE 61
He grew up idolizing Bill Shoemaker. “I was obsessed with Shoemaker,” he said. “I wanted to be a jockey, and he was the best. Everything he wanted to do, I wanted to do. My parents would have been all right with that.” Unfortunately, growth re-routed his dream. He guesses he was 10 or 11 when he realized he was too big to become a jockey: “I said, ‘This isn’t going to happen.’” He would grow to be 5’7” and 170 pounds. He went to college at California Poly Pomona, majoring in animal science, while he worked in a restaurant, umpired baseball games and officiated basketball games. “I’m a sports junkie,” he said. The sport he loved the most was horse racing. “I would always watch jockey agents from my fascination with Shoemaker,” he said. “I thought it was a very interesting job—a pretty cool job. I was fascinated with it.” After college, an opportunity came his way. “I knew a jockey agent, Tony Strangio, who represented an apprentice jockey, Christine Davenport,” Cosato said. “She was the first jockey he ever had. He was going to open a business. He asked me if I’d take her book. I thought it was a perfect opportunity.” He entered his new profession with an unrealistic outlook. “I thought this was going to be easy,” he said. “I found out it wasn’t as easy as I thought. I didn’t expect to start with Eddie Arcaro,