Mike Maker

Top Associated Horses: Villainage, Coach Gravy, Sweet Euphoria, Freefourme, Collar, Lion's Circle

2009 Record: (612-154-96-69)

2009 Earnings: $4,407,579

2009 Win %: 25% In-The-Money %: 52%

Born: Feb. 7, 1969 in Garden City, Mich.
Residence: Louisville, Ky.
Family: Wife Barbara; son Michael George
Web site: mikemakerracing.com
Racing Background: First learned the art and science of training from his father, George Maker, who trained at the now-closed Detroit Race Course and Hazel Park in Michigan ... Bought his first horse at age 13 with money earned walking hots for his dad and delivering newspapers; the horse won the first time he raced ... After working as his dad’s assistant, Maker went out on his own in 1991 ... In 1993 Maker began a 10-year stint with trainer D. Wayne Lukas, working at Churchill Downs under Dallas Stewart, then an assistant to Lukas ... When Stewart went out on his own in 1997, Maker took over as head of the Louisville operation ... During his years with Lukas Maker worked with Cat Thief and Cash Run, winners of the 1999 Breeders' Cup Classic and Juvenile Fillies, respectively; 2000 Breeders' Cup Distaff winner Spain; 2002 Breeders' Cup Sprint and Eclipse champion Orientate; multiple graded stakes winner Surfside; and 1999 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Charismatic.
Racing Career: Maker left the Lukas stable in 2003 to again open his own stable ... First “big horse” was Freefourinternet, who won the Hawthorne Gold Cup (G2) in 2004 and that year became the trainer's first Breeders' Cup starter, finishing off the board in the Breeders' Cup Classic Powered by Dodge. His other Breeders' Cup starter to date is 2007-08 multiple stakes winner Cherokee Triangle, who finished off the board in the 2007 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf. Among Maker's current stars is Furthest Land, expected to start in the 2009 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile off his win in the 2009 G2 Kentucky Cup Classic ... Other standouts have included 2009 G2 Churchill Downs Stakes winner Accredit, multiple stakes winners Just for Keeps and Future Prospect, and Claiming Crown winners Bargainwiththedevil, One Eyed Joker, Miami Sunrise, Self Made Man, and Chasing the Prize. Maker had hoped his 2006 G2 Lane's End Stakes winner With a City would be his first Kentucky Derby starter, but the horse died from a mysterious illness Derby week ... From Dec. 2007 through April 2009, Maker earned five consecutive leading trainer titles at Turfway Park ... He earned his first Keeneland title in the fall of 2008 and amassed 31 wins in the 2009 Churchill Downs fall meet, not only winning his first title there but also crushing the previous record of 20 ... His success has been powered in part by the prolific stable of Ken and Sarah Ramsey, his primary clients ... Among other clients are Twin Creeks Racing Stable, Thomas Conway, Rancho San Miguel, Scarlet Stable, Lucille Davis, Swifty Farms, and Bluegrass Equine Center ... Lifetime through Oct. 19, 2009, Maker has 493 wins, 313 seconds, and 232 thirds from 2,042 starters and purse earnings of more than $11.7 million. He has 27 stakes wins, four of them graded ... For the year, through Oct. 19, 2009, Maker's runners have won 131 races from 493 starts and earned $3,271,581.