George R. (Rusty) Arnold II

Top Associated Horses: Get Ready Go, Banner Year, Monte, Whitley, Rendition, One Caroline

2009 Record: (309-43-39-41)

2009 Earnings: $2,266,502

2009 Win %: 13% In-The-Money %: 39%

Born: March 26, 1955 in Paris, Ky.
Residence: Lexington, Ky., and Boca Raton, Fla.
Family: wife Sarah is a former exercise rider who works at the barn with him and frequently rides the gray stable pony, Tommy, to the track with the runners for their morning training, while Rusty watches from the rail. Rusty calls Sarah his "eyes and ears" on the racetrack
Education: Studied pre-veterinary medicine as an undergraduate at the University of Kentucky, but horse training won out
Racing Background: Racing roots go back two generations to his grandfather, James Russell, who was broodmare foreman at famed Elmendorf Farm ... His father, George Sr., owns Fair Acres Farm near Lexington, where he breeds horses to race or sell; also trains a few horses ... Rusty worked on the family farm as a youth, spending time around horses from his earliest days ... Traditionally, the oldest son takes over the family farm when the father retires, but Rusty was smitten with the racetrack and chose to head in that direction, first breaking horses for trainer Eugene Euster and then galloping horses for him in preparation for becoming his assistant trainer
Racing Career: Says favorite part of training is getting a good horse and that he enjoys training despite the long hours and the seven-days-a-week schedule. “I like working with the horses," said Arnold. "The hours and the days are demanding but everyone’s job nowadays is demanding. The focus is to think that each time you get a new crop, you are going to come up with a top horse. Look at Hal Wiggins. He trained horses all those years, and Rachel Alexandra [who was sold by her owner after winning the Kentucky Oaks for Wiggins] walked into his barn." …Went out on his own in 1975 and saddled his first winner that summer when La Yo Quiero won at Delaware Park ... First stakes winner was Fleeting North in the 1976 Neptune Handicap at Cincinnati's River Downs ... Moved his stable to New York in 1980 and got a big break in 1985 when he was chosen to run a string of horses for owner John Ed Anthony following Shug McGaughey's move to train the vast Phipps family stable ... He bases his stable at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky. most of the year and Palm Meadows training center in Boynton Beach in the winter ... His longtime Kentucky assistant trainer is Jack Bohannon and his travelling assistant is Claudio Cortez … Among his major stakes winners: Wavering Monarch, Little Missouri, Rootentootenwooten, Top Secret, The Wheel Turns, Tricky Creek, West by West, Victory Ride, Liberty Gold, Fircraft, Final Round, Letgomyecho, Rey de Cafe, Comminque and Stream Cat ... Won the 2007 Arlington-Washington Futurity and Lane's End Futurity at Keeneland with Wicked Style, 10th in the 2007 Breeders' Cup Juvenile ... His best finish in a Breeders' Cup race to date was a fifth by Top Secret in the 1996 Distaff ... Arnold's favorite track is his home track of Keeneland where he is among the top three trainers in all-time victories ... Among the highlights in 2009 for Arnold have been training One Caroline to five consecutive victories, including the G3 Sabin Stakes and G2 Rampart Handicap, for long time client G. Watts Humphrey and bringing multiple stakes winner Karelian back from over a year layoff to finish a close second in the G1 Shadwell Turf Mile in October ... Hopes to start Karelian in the Breeders' Cup Mile ... Names 2001 G1 Test winner Victory Ride as his favorite horse. “I spent a lot of time with her. She was special to me. She probably wasn’t the best I ever had but she probably was the fastest.”... When not at the track, Rusty is usually found on the golf course, while Sarah is an artist, whose work has appeared on the cover of Keeneland Magazine.

Breeders' Cup Record

Starts	1st	2nd	3rd	Earnings
4	0	0	0	$20,000

1996	Distaff	Clear Mandate	6th
	Distaff	Top Secret	5th
1997	Distaff	Clear Mandate	6th
1999	Mile	Delay of Game	7th