Lerner 'Closing Up Shop' on Training Career

Andrew Lerner said Oct. 14 he is “closing up shop” as a horse trainer to focus on other endeavors, though he plans to remain involved in the sport as an owner.

The 32-year-old said Oct. 14 that his last starter as a trainer would come Oct. 16 when he runs Surely Spectacular  in the ninth race at Santa Anita Park, a $61,000 maiden race. This week he also runs Loud Loud Music  in the first race at the Southern California track Oct. 15 in a $40,000 claiming race.

His career change, first reported by Daily Racing Form’s Steve Andersen, follows what he said were altered priorities after the birth of his daughter, Kinsley, about one month ago. His focus is on her and his wife, Katie, he said.

“I did so much more than I expected in this spot as a trainer,” he recalled. “I was just gonna train for myself, have two or three horses. We ended up having 45 at one point, multiple graded stakes that we won. We’re gonna end on an 18% career note, which I think is phenomenal over a five-year period. I think we left everything on the table."

Lerner began training in 2017, winning with five of 31 starters that earned $81,785, and his stable grew to a peak in 2019 when he trained 39 winners from 156 starters that made $972,880. In December 2019, Queen Bee to You  gave him his first graded stakes win in the Bayakoa Stakes (G3) at Los Alamitos Race Course, which she followed a month later in January 2020 with a victory in the La Canada Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita.

Over his career, Lerner has 88 wins from 502 runners with earnings of more than $2.5 million.

He began notifying some owners of his desire to step away from training in recent months, and he is now down to eight horses. He thinks Loud Loud Music could be claimed Friday as one of the race favorites, and plans are being finalized for many of his others to go to other trainers.

One of his more talented runners, John DeMaio and Eric Homme’s Il Capitano , a 2-year-old maiden winner at Del Mar who ran 10th in the Zuma Beach Stakes at Santa Anita Oct. 3, will now be trained by Simon Callaghan, Lerner said.

Going forward, Lerner intends to focus on Your Fan Zone, a technology company he chairs, and pursue commercial real estate in the Midwest, which he did before diving into horse racing, first as an owner and then as a trainer.

He mentioned he might partner on the racetrack with owners Bill Strauss, who he calls a lifelong friend, and National Hockey League star Erik Johnson, who races as ERJ Racing.

He left open the possibility he could resume training.

“I can always come out of retirement. Michael Jordan did,” he said with a laugh.