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M
ARY Eppler’s life seemed pretty well set in the late ‘70s. The 62-year-old Baltimore native, who graduated from Loyola College with an accounting degree, was in her sixth year working as an actuary for Blue Cross Blue Shield. Then she realized she was denying her lifelong passion: horses. So she chucked it all to become a hotwalker at Sagamore Farm. Forty-seven years later, she made a bit of Maryland horseracing history, becoming the first woman trainer to win a title at Laurel Park, when the meet ended on New Year’s Eve. It wasn’t a photo finish. Eppler posted 24 victories from just 86 starters to finish eight wins ahead of Gary Capuano in second. “It was great to be the first woman doing it, but I don’t think it’s any different than a man doing it,” she said on January 31st. “Only that there are less women trainers.” She’s thrilled to be one of them. “I loved the horses, ever since I was born,” she said. “My grandfather, William Goldsborough, owned horses. Unfortunately, he died when I was six. I guess I inherited my love for horses from him.” Her parents wanted her to pursue a more
practical career. “They didn’t want me to get involved in horseracing,” she said. “They thought it was a very hard life. Sure it is, but I enjoy it.” When she left health insurance to start hotwalking at Sagamore, she couldn’t have been happier. “I loved it, because I always wanted to be around horses,” she said. She advanced from hotwalking to galloping, exercising, and ultimately training and breeding. She saddled her first horse in 1980. On July 20th, 2013, Eppler claimed Page McKenney at Penn National for $16,000. All he’s done since is win more than $1.3 million off a career record of 17 victories, 13 seconds, and four thirds from 46 starts. Along the way, he has finished in the money in 25 consecutive races, testimony to not only Eppler’s training, but her ability to manage and place horses, too. On January 24th this year, Page McKenney won his second consecutive running of the $75,000 Native Dancer Stakes off a nine-month layoff. There’s no reason to believe that Adam Staple and Jalin Stable’s gelding seven-year-old isn’t poised for another highly successful season. Page McKenney’s success helped Eppler reach a career milestone she wasn’t even aware of in 2015 when she captured her
700th career race. “I just never really kept track of it,” Eppler said. “I didn’t even know until my boyfriend (and assistant trainer), Mike LaRochelle, told me it was my 700th. He keeps track of that kind of stuff. That was sort of cool, but it’s not like I won my 1,000th. If someone asked, I would have guessed it was my 500th.” Asked if she celebrated, she said, “No. You don’t really have time to celebrate.” However, she did begin paying attention to the Laurel Park trainer standings as the final days of December dwindled and she had a shot at her first training title, unaware that no woman had yet won one at that track. She couldn’t have calculated the odds of her becoming a leading trainer when she was an actuary. “I didn’t think I could do something like this,” she said. “The trainers that actually win training titles have a lot of horses.” Her current stable numbers 23 horses, maybe 10 less than she’ll have later in the year. She has no aspirations of taking off to bigger racing venues. “I’m happy in Maryland,” she said. Asked the best part, she replied, “Being with the horses and seeing that they’re happy and doing well.” n
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