M. Anthony Ferraro

Born: October 31, 1961 | Birthplace: Olean, NY | Residence: Victor, NY

First Win: Finger Lakes, 1984 | Started Training: 1985, Tampa Bay Downs

Circuit: Tampa Bay Downs, Finger Lakes, Presque Isle Downs

As a teenager, Ferraro had aspirations of playing major college football. A detached retina ended those hopes, but the youngster didn’t need to look far to pursue another avenue in sports. Ferraro is the son of trainer Michael S. Ferraro, whose barn he joined in 1982. The elder Ferraro had been a competitive body-builder, winning the AAU Teen Mr. America contest in 1957 and the AAU Mr. USA title in 1964 before deciding to direct his full energy to the horses. M. Anthony, known as Mike, teamed up with his father a year after his dad won the 1981 Grade I Whitney Handicap at Saratoga with Fio Rito. While his father remains active at Finger Lakes, having trained more than 3,400 career winners, Mike has trained many outstanding runners of his own at the upstate New York track. Mike, who is approaching 2,200 career victories, trained multiple-stakes winner Try N Sue, who finished third in the Grade III Florida Oaks in 1998 at Tampa Bay Downs and ran in that year’s Kentucky Oaks. Three years later, he conditioned Sheastonecoldfox to three consecutive stakes victories and a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Belmont. The younger Ferraro says his best horse was Swamp King, with whom he won twice at Saratoga in 1993 before taking the Monroe County Breeders’ Cup Stakes at Finger Lakes. Ferraro credits the Tampa Bay Downs track surfaces and environment, in part, for his ongoing success. “There is no better place for the horses in the winter than Tampa,” he said. “When they leave, they’ll go anywhere and do well.”