Borell Chats About Her Journey, Runhappy and Breeders’ Cup

Trainer Maria Borell with Runhappy after he won the Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix Stakes on Oct. 2 at Keeneland Race Course. (Photo by Eclipse Sportswire)
Maria Borell is trending. At this time last year, most people in horse racing had never heard her name. Now, everyone wants a piece of the 32-year-old trainer, who has become one of the most talked about personalities in the spotlight of the 2015 Breeders’ Cup World Championships.
On Saturday, Borell will saddle Runhappy in the TwinSpires Breeders’ Cup Sprint. The 3-year-old colt by Super Saver (winner of the 2010 Kentucky Derby) comes into the Breeders’ Cup off of two graded stakes wins - the only two graded stakes races in which Borell has ever even had a horse run. In fact, before this year she hadn’t ever won a race of any kind.
Borell took a few minutes out of her hectic Breeders’ Cup-week schedule to talk with America’s Best Racing’s Dan Tordjman. She chatted about her unlikely journey, the challenges she’s faced and her level of optimism going into the biggest race of her life. 
You're going to the Breeders’ Cup! Has that sunk in?
I think it has sunken in but, in a way, it hasn’t. It’s kind of a crazy feeling. I’m really excited about it. Even being at the [post-position] draw yesterday, it’s still like, is it a dream? Am I going to wake up tomorrow, or in a couple of hours, and it’s over? I don’t know. It’s wild.
With Runhappy, you’re coming off of two huge wins in the Grade 1 King's Bishop Stakes and the Grade 3 Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix Stakes. How good is this horse? 
I think he’s a really good horse, and I think when people call him a ‘freak’ they’re not very far off. I mean, he’s just so talented and does things very effortlessly. He’s a pretty amazing horse.
What was it like winning your first graded stakes with Runhappy at Saratoga in the King’s Bishop in what was your first graded stakes race as a trainer? 
That was pretty incredible. I was nervous there for a whole plethora of reasons. At first, because everyone thought we were crazy jumping from allowance to Grade 1. Also, it was on my home turf (Borell grew up in Syracuse, just a few hours away from Saratoga) with the big boys. Not that I pay attention, really, to who we’re racing but, you know, it doesn’t get any better to me than Saratoga in the summer. It’s the best racing in the country. So, I was nervous for sure, but it was an amazing feeling and my family was there. It was great.
RUNHAPPY WINNING KING'S BISHOP

Photo by Eclipse Sportswire
Runhappy became the prohibitive favorite for the Breeders' Cup Sprint after the Phoenix. In that race, he broke slowly, rushed up to grab the lead, set blistering fractions and still held on to win. What did he show you there?
I guess [I learned] that he can overcome pretty much anything that’s thrown at him. Even the [rainy] weather, I don’t think he loved it, honestly. He was tripping a bit in the post parade [on the sloppy track] and we were all kind of nervous, but he pulled through it. Rain or shine, hopefully he’ll show up on Saturday. I hope we just break clean and no one comes into us. I feel like four of this horse’s starts, he’s gotten slammed into one way or the other. So, I hope he just breaks clean and straight. We don’t need everything happening — if he does break a tad slow, we don’t need someone coming in on us to make it worse.
You've really made a splash on the racing scene with the emergence of Runhappy, but take us back to how this all started for you. When and how did you get into racing?
Well, I got into racing really as a very little girl. The first horse race I saw was the Kentucky Derby that Sunday Silence won in 1989. I watched on TV with my dad. Ever since, I was horse racing obsessed and told my dad, ‘that’s what I want to do.’ So, he got me riding lessons. At first, I wanted to be a jockey. I rode for a couple of years, not as a jockey, of course, but galloped and broke babies (getting horses ready for racing). Then I decided I really liked being more hands-on in what goes on with the horses and their training. So, I wanted to have a say, more or less. I was an assistant trainer for a while [under Barclay Tagg, who won the 2003 Kentucky Derby with Funny Cide] and I bounced around a bit. I was an equine [veterinary technician] and the economy went bad and everything kind of spun around for a lot of us in the horse industry.
I moved here [Lexington, Ky.], opened up a little farm [Beacon Hill Farm], thought if no one is going to give me horses to train, I’m going to breed my own (laughs). Along the way, a couple of people gave me some chances to train. We claimed some horses for $5,000 and $2,500. One horse someone gave me didn’t finish his last race before I got him. I had some pretty scary horses there, for a while.
How did you end becoming Runhappy's trainer?
I kept fighting on and I was lucky enough to meet [owner James McIngvale and his racing manager Laura Wohlers] and they gave me a chance. Someone recommended me to them and, of course, I owe everything to him. He’s a fellow horse owner, we had horses race against each other before. We kept in touch and he’s very good friends with Laura. So, when she said they were going to move horses to Louisiana, she couldn’t be up here [in Kentucky, where Runhappy was recovering from an injury] all the time, and they were looking for someone hands-on with a good set of eyes; he recommended me. He told [Wohlers and McIngvale] that I give it like 200% effort and that my horses have always looked the part, always looked really good.
Laura and I are very close. We talked daily. We talked for hours and not necessarily about these horses. We’re very close, good friends. It’s been a great experience. I can’t ask for anything better. We’re a good team, we all get along very well.
Before this year, you had started horses in 22 races dating back to 2013 and hadn't saddled a winner. How difficult was that for you or was it more of a situation where you felt like it was all building up to you achieving the success you're now experiencing?
I believe that Bob Baffert said, ‘you’re only as good as the horses you have.’ Horses make trainers. Trainers don’t make horses. You can only bring out the best in the horses you have. You can’t make them have that raw talent. I knew that a lot of the horses I had, it wasn’t ever me. If you claim horses for $5,000 or $7,500, they come with issues. You have to baby them and manage them as you see fit. But I mean, I was frustrated at the beginning of this year before they got in touch with me, you know, thinking ‘what do I do?’ All I had left was one filly I bred, how I would pay for a trainer myself, pay for a rider and the stalls out here. This horse, Mr. McIngvale and Laura, they really changed my life completely around. It’s wild to think about where I was six or seven months ago. I’m very lucky. You just have to be lucky enough to get a horse like Runhappy in the barn that has the talent and bring out the best in him and show the world, look, I can handle a horse like this. And, here we are (laughs). 
BORELL AT POST-POSITION DRAW

Photo by Eclipse Sportswire

What did it mean for an owner like James McIngvale (who has owned graded stakes winners During and Wimbledon) to show the kind of confidence he has in you?
I’m just very lucky and very blessed. A lot of people didn’t think I deserved the chance, but I worked very hard. I think a big selling point for them is that I really agree with most things that they think. I don’t believe in Lasix (a diuretec administered to horses before races to prevent bleeding), I don’t believe horses should be running on all of these drugs. I mean it when I say that. I don’t not follow those rules. So, I think when they figured out I was so dedicated to that, I think it was easy for them to give me a chance. Mr. McIngvale knows that I adore this horse. I always feel like the horses want one-on-one attention, and not just in a program, and they will excel more when you cater things to them and what they need.
Can you put into words what the past few months have been like for you?
It’s been pretty unreal. I mean, for me personally, the whole process has been amazing and unbelievable. I still watch the Saratoga race and it will bring tears to my eyes. As far as the media attention and everything else, I mean, of course it’s all overwhelming. Like after the draw, eight people came up to me to talk to me and I was thinking, ‘whoa, this is really weird.’ No one even knew who I was this time last year. I’m not used to it, that’s for sure.
BORELL AT POST-POSITION DRAW

Photo by Eclipse Sportswire
How are you feeling about your chances with Runhappy in the Breeders' Cup Sprint? 
He’s training spectacularly. Honestly, he’s training better than he was going into the King’s Bishop and the Phoenix. He just came out in the Phoenix a different horse; there was an air about him, thinks he’s hot [expletive]. I guess you’ll have to edit that word (laughs), but he does. But yeah, he’s training better than I could’ve ever asked for. The breeze last week was a little faster than I would’ve liked, but he did it effortlessly, came out of it great, ate up, tried to run off with the rider again. So, I’m not too worried about that. I think if he runs his race, I think he’ll show up. He’ll hopefully win. Of course, we’re in very tough, but I think we’ll be there. It’s a tough race; there are some great horses in there.
Have you let your mind go to what it would be like if you actually won the race on Saturday?
I’m honestly just trying to think about it as another race. He doesn’t know who he’s racing. He just goes out there and runs. It’s better for me not to worry about it and just let him do his job, which he loves to do, and hope it’s good enough to beat the rest. It’s funny though, Laura Wohlers makes fun of me, she’s like, ‘you’re not going to pass out or faint if he wins, are you?,’ because I cried at Saratoga. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I really don’t want to cry because everyone will try to talk to me and I’ll look ridiculous (laughs).
You're one of the fresh faces in the racing world and we, as America’s Best Racing, are constantly striving to expose newer and younger fans to this sport. What do you think we need to do as an industry to create more Maria Borells and, on a basic level, to get more young people interested in racing?
Well, I think we need to get more fan-friendly. When we did a meet and greet for Runhappy [a few weeks ago], we had 60 to 70 people show up, and it was great. Everyone was so appreciative, and that’s a step in the right direction. What I hear from my mom is that people get bored in between the races. They need to figure out something to do to entertain people so that they want to go. Ellis Park in the summer had some fun family things, there were other animal races [between the horse races] and I think that really attracts families.
I think Runhappy is a perfect story, you know. I was just a little girl with a dream and didn’t give up. It shows, I hope, that if there’s some other young person who has that dream and wants to follow it, they should get into it.
RUNHAPPY IN KEENELAND PADDOCK

Photo by Eclipse Sportswire