A Wild Ride With Maria Borell and Runhappy
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Runhappy is the horse of a lifetime for Maria Borell.
Photos by Samantha BussanichStory by Scott Serio
Lexington, Ky. - Everyone thought Maria Borell was a little crazy when she laid out a roadmap for Runhappy early this spring and told folks to get ready to head to the Breeders’ Cup in October. Borell hadn’t won a race yet as a trainer and had just taken over training duties for the 3-year-old colt. She was convinced he would be running in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint on the last Saturday in October.
Borell didn’t set out to be a trainer, but isn’t complaining about how her dream of being a jockey has turned out. “My dad liked horse racing and I watched the Derby with him when Sunday Silence won. I said ‘Hey, daddy, I want to do that, I want to ride horses’ and that was the start of the addiction,” said Borell, who started her training career 0-for-22. “It was pretty hopeless for a while. I am just happy I have him. Some people wait their whole life for a horse like him.”
RUNHAPPY AND MARIA BORELL
With a background in riding hunters, jumpers and dressage, the 32 year-old Borell is thankful her path to training was slightly circuitous. “I think I have learned a lot of helpful things along the way that I wouldn’t have learned if I had just jumped right into it,” said Borell on being a groom, exercise rider and equine veterinary technician before becoming a trainer. “I had been galloping two years and I decided I wanted to be hands-on in the decision making process with these horses. I am very opinionated and I had an idea how I wanted to train these horses. I had the opportunity to do it, so I just tried to work my way up.”
The struggle to be a successful trainer was real for Borell. Training is her focus, but she also leases a 120-acre farm and manages the care of approximately 45 horses – mainly broodmares, with some babies, layups and retired horses mixed in.
When the call came from Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale to train Gallery Racing Stables’ Runhappy, Borell was shocked.
“They just gave me a call. I don’t think anyone knew how good Runhappy was going to be at that point. He couldn’t even run or gallop in a straight line when we got him,” said Borell. “We worked with him. We took blinkers off. He is a horse that likes to look around. He always wants to go in like a 10 (second furlong) and I tried to get him to calm down and come back to the rider and finish strong. Just taught him he can just slow down and catch a breath and still run fast.”
Runhappy isn’t the only one having a fast year. Borell went from winless as a trainer to running off four straight with bay son of Super Saver that was a $200,000 sale purchase. For Borell’s first stakes start, Runhappy nearly set the track record in the Grade I King’s Bishop Stakes at Saratoga. That win gave Borell her first graded stakes win.
Borell also is doing something considered rare in today’s horse racing world. “I love that we don’t run on any drugs, that is a huge thing for our industry, hopefully people will get on that bandwagon and we are proving that you don’t need it.”
The next step in proving she wasn’t crazy back in May is a win this Saturday in the Sprint, but the whole wild ride this year still hasn’t quite set in for Borell. “I have high hopes for him (Saturday),” said Borell, “But this has all been pretty insane.”