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Doug O'Neill
Top Associated Horses: Tap It Light,
There Goes Gee Gee,
High Success,
Success Fee,
Blame the Wine,
Enriched
Family: wife Linette, children Daniel and Kaylin Dixie. Credits brother Dennis, his chief assistant, with getting him started in training and supporting him throughout his career
Racing Background: Began working at the track in 1986 and learned under Jude Feld, Hector Palma and Doug Peterson before taking out his license in 1994
Racing Career: A perennial leading trainer in Southern California in recent years, he has won 23 titles on the circuit since 2002, including the spring/summer Hollywood Park and Fairplex titles in 2009. The Fairplex title was his sixth. The Hollywood Park title was his fourth for the spring/summer meet. In 2007 he tied with Jeff Mullins, each saddling 26 winners, a record number for a Hollywood Park spring meet. He also has won four Hollywood Park fall meet titles, including fall 2008. He has three each at Santa Anita, Oak Tree and Del Mar. In 2007, O'Neill saddled 139 winners, to lead Southern California trainers in number of winners saddled ... Top performers in 2009 are Informed, winner of the G2 San Diego Handicap and Californian Stakes; Necessary Evil winner of the G3 Hollywood Championship Stakes, racing against colts, and third in the G3 Sorrento Stakes; Acting Lady (G2 Providencia Stakes); Square Eddie (second G3 San Rafael and third G2 Lexington; Repo); Bench the Judge (Bob Benoit California Cup Juvenile Stakes); Classical Slew (Willard L. Proctor Memorial Stakes, third Hollywood Juvenile Championship Stakes); Wolf Tail (Graduation Stakes); Champagne Eyes (Santa Lucia Handicap); Scorewithcater (Borderland Derby) and Peace Chant (Phoenix Gold Cup Handicap) ... Has saddled 17 Breeders' Cup runners including five in 2008 Breeders' Cup. Best finish was Square Eddie's second place to Midshipman in the ’08 Juvenile. Prior to that had won one Breeders' Cup race in each of the past three years, starting with Stevie Wonderboy in the 2005 Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Also won the 2006 Breeders' Cup Sprint with Thor's Echo and the inaugural Filly & Mare Sprint in 2007 with Maryfield. All three horses went on to win Eclipse Awards ... Associated with one of the greatest claim stories in racing history with Lava Man. Claimed for $50,000 at Del Mar in Aug. 2004, the then 7-year-old gelding was retired in Aug. 2008, with earnings of $5,268,706, more than $5-million since the claim by S T D Racing and Jason Wood. In 2006, Lava Man swept Southern California's top three races for older horses –the Santa Anita Handicap, Hollywood Gold Cup and Del Mar's Pacific Classic –the first time any horse won all three races in the same year. Lava Man's third successive Hollywood Gold Cup in 2007 put him in the record books with the legendary Native Diver as the only other horse to accomplish the feat. With the Gold Cup win over Hollywood Park's Cushion Track, Lava Man became the first horse in history to win a Grade 1 race over three different surfaces ... Lava Man has been undergoing stem cell therapy to repair cartilage in his ankles. He returned to O'Neill's barn after the Del Mar meet and his first official workout was recorded on Sept. 23, 2009, when he went three furlongs in :36, the fastest time for that distance, at Hollywood Park ... O’Neill said Lava Man is undergoing treatment, using his own stem cells. The treatment is under the direct supervision of Dr. Herthel, Alamo Pintado’s founder. The gelding was residing at Rich and Gaby Sulpizio’s Magali Farms not far from the hospital, and was being exercised on the training track there ... O'Neill said while back in training, Lava Man continues to undergo stem cell treatment. He noted the cost of the study is in part underwritten by a grant and the owners are paying the remainder … Last year, O'Neill shipped from California to Florida for two 2008 Grade 1 stakes victories with Spring At Last in the Donn Handicap at Gulfstream and Mistical Plan in the Princess Rooney Handicap at Calder ... Won his 1,000th North American race when No Means Maybe captured the Bustles and Bows at Fairplex Park Sept. 13, 2007 … O'Neill's first stakes win was Tanks Forthemusic in the 1996 CTBA Marian Stakes at Fairplex Park … First major stakes winner was Classy Cara, winner of the 2000 Fantasy Stakes and Honeymoon Handicap … Won his first Grade 1 race when Sky Jack scored in the 2002 Hollywood Gold Cup ... Won the 2003 Japan Cup Dirt with 48-1 longshot Fleetstreet Dancer, a $40,000 claim by O'Neill in 2002 ... Currently has 110 horses in training, with about 60 percent at Hollywood Park and the rest at Santa Anita ... Named California Thoroughbred Breeders' Association Trainer of the Year in 2002 and 2006 … Other stakes winners he has trained include Sharp Lisa, Supah Blitz, Cobalt Blue, Notional, Great Hunter, Shamdinan, Excessivepleasure, and Super Freaky among others… O'Neill calls "the captain of his team" Leandro Mora, a former assistant to Brian Mayberry ... Groom Noe Garcia, who regularly cared for Lava Man, returned to the barn in late Jan. 2008 after losing his left arm in a serious automobile accident in July 2007 on his way to Del Mar ... O'Neill had the most lucrative year of his career in 2006, ranking second nationally with earnings of $11,247,756 while winning with 163 of 968 starters. He came close to equalling those figures in 2007, ranking fourth with earnings of $10,860,141 while winning with 153 of 1,049 starters. These are his highest two rankings to date ... Through Oct. 16, 2009, O'Neill was ranked 10th among North American trainers with 115 wins from 764 starters and earnings of $4,669,679.
NOTE: Bio stats include North American and selected international races. Click here to view selected international race list. Biographies on jockeys, trainers and owners are from the Breeders' Cup World Championships events from 2001 through 2009, and are intended as informational resources. Biographies will be updated if an individual is again a participant in the Breeders' Cup World Championships. Biographies are available for most horses appearing in the top 100 money earnings list, and/or for those who are frequently making headlines in the news starting with the 2006 Triple Crown season.
