Richard Violette Jr.

Top Associated Horses: Toulouse Lautrec, Market Collapse, Deflationary Fears, Worstcasescenario, Litigation Risk, Vesper

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2009 Record: (206-30-30-35)

2009 Earnings: $1,351,991

2009 Win %: 14% In-The-Money %: 46%

Born: Jan. 30, 1953, Worcester, Mass.
Residence: Mineola, N.Y.
Family: Single
Education: Graduated from Lowell University in Massachusetts with a bachelor’s degree in political science
Racing Background: Started career with horses work with hunters and jumpers ... One of his clients on the East Coast circuit also owned racehorses and Violette started galloping at the race track ... Began working on the backstretch at Suffolk Downs after college ... Moved to Woodbine in 1978 to work as an assistant for Emile Allain ... Moved to New York to be an assistant for David Whiteley in 1980 ... Was appointed as a trustee of the New York Racing Association in 2008 ... Chairman of the New York Jockey Injury Compensation Fund since 1996. Was one of the founders of the fund, which is considered a national model for workers' compensation coverage for riders at the racetrack ... President of the National Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association since 2000 … President, board of directors, New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association … Violette helped to start the Groom Education Program to teach backstretch workers grooming techniques and English in 2002 in New York
Racing Career: Started his own stable in 1983 ... Current stable consists of approximately 60 horses in training in New York. Also sends a string to Florida in the winter ... Klaravich Stables is his main client ... After saddling four horses in the 2007 Breeders’ Cup, Violette hopes to return to the series with a pair of promising 2-year-olds ... Worstcasescenario, a possibility for the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, took the Adirondack (G2) at Saratoga then was eased in the Matron at Belmont Park ... The filly exited the race with sore feet and is receiving treatment ... Not Macho Anymore, a colt, was second in the G3 Sapling at Monmouth ... A recent stable star was Dream Rush who won four stakes – the 2007 Old Hat, Nassau County, G1 Prioress and G1 Darley Test ... Among his four starters in the 2007 Breeders’ Cup the best finish came from Dream Rush, fifth in the Filly & Mare Sprint ... In addition to Dream Rush, on that day Globalization finished 11th in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, High Finance was eighth in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, and Phantom Income was 13th in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies ... Yolanda B. Too, who finished 12th in the 2005 Distaff, is his only previous Breeders’ Cup starter ... Dream Rush was consigned to the November 2007 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky selected mixed sale and purchased for $3.3 million ... Upset two-time Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Lure in the 1994 Kelso Handicap with Nijinsky’s Gold ... Read the Footnotes was the New York-bred juvenile champion after winning the Remsen and Nashua in 2003. Later won the G1 Fountain of Youth, finished fourth as the favorite in the G1 Florida Derby and seventh in the Kentucky Derby ... Other stakes winners he has trained include Summer Doldrums, Free of Love, Citadeed, Man From Wicklow, March Magic, Marquette, Miss Huff n’ Puff, Must Be War, Outperformance, Upon My Soul and Savedbythelight ... One of Violette’s early clients was Alfred Vanderbilt, the noted breeder, owner and racing official, who staged the famous match race between Seabiscuit and War Admiral at Pimlico ... The contact with Vanderbilt came through working for the Whiteley stable. "We had a great relationship," said Violette. "He was very, very good to me.” ... Violette’s relationship with Vanderbilt went beyond racing. “One of the most flattering things I was ever asked to do was to give one of his eulogies" ... In the latter years of Vanderbilt's life, Violette filled another role. "On Belmont Day and Travers Day I used to call the race for him because he was blind. One of the stories I told at the eulogy was that it didn’t matter if the Queen Mother was sitting to his left on Belmont Day or Travers Day, before that race she had to find another seat because that was my spot and I called the race for him."