Kathleen O’Connell

Birthplace: Detroit, MI | Residence: Davie, FL | First Win: Kim’s Lucky Spot, Detroit Race Course

Started Training: Early 1980s, Detroit Race Course | Circuit: Tampa Bay Downs, Gulfstream Park, Monmouth Park, Colonial Downs, Meadowlands

O’Connell gave perennial Oldsmar wins leader Gerald Bennett a run for his money last season before settling for a second-place finish with 30 winners, six behind her friendly rival. She tied for eighth at Monmouth Park with 15 winners. O’Connell won the 1998-1999 Tampa Bay Downs training title with 26 victories and tied Jamie Ness for the top spot with 51 apiece in 2009-2010. O’Connell also won the 2009-2010 Calder Casino & Race Course Tropical Meet, becoming the first woman to win the training title in the track’s 39-year history. She clinched the title with a victory by Fly by Phil in the Grade III Tropical Park Derby on the turf. In recent months, O’Connell has been gaining ground on Kim Hammond in the race to be No. 1 in lifetime victories among women trainers in North America (O’Connell, with 2,365 winners through Nov. 22, trails Hammond by about 18). The conditioner known as “K.O.” captured one of the biggest races on the 2018-2019 Tampa Bay Downs calendar with 3-year-old Floridabred gelding Well Defined, who won the Grade III Sam F. Davis Stakes for owner Stonehedge LLC. Now owned by O’Connell under her Kathleen O’Connell Racing Stable banner, Well Defined has earned almost $800,000 in his career. Also in 2019, O’Connell won the Grade II Princess Rooney Stakes at Gulfstream with 5-year-old Florida-bred mare Stormy Embrace for the second year in a row. In September of 2018 at Delaware Park, O’Connell scored career victory No. 2,000 with 2-year-old first-time starter Wishful Quality. O’Connell’s national profile skyrocketed in 2015 via the accomplishments of 3-year-old filly Lady Shipman. She finished second by a neck to Mongolian Saturday in the TwinSpires Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland.after a sensational season in which she won six stakes and set a pair of course records. In 2011, O’Connell saddled 43-1 shot Watch Me Go to win the Grade II Tampa Bay Derby for long-time client Gilbert Campbell. Among O’Connell’s top trainees are Blazing Sword, a three-time graded-stakes winner; Scandalous Act; Shananie’s Beat; Lindsey Lane; and Ivanavinalot, also known as the dam of the great filly Songbird.