A Conversation With....trainer Steve Wren

Steve Wren has been training racehorses for owners Kaaren and Hays Biggs for the past 13 years. At Oaklawn, his stable averages just 12 horses per year (some outfits have more than three times as many). Yet in 2000, he was one of the Top 10 trainers at Oaklawn, and the Biggses finished the race meet as leaders in total wins. Their then-3-year-old filly, Miss Seffens, was the most popular runner of the season. Last year, after a slow start, Wren finished the year strong — with 16 wins and almost $700,000 in purse money. Roundup editor Lisa Broadwater spent a morning training session with him trackside at Oaklawn in early January — "early" being the operative word: Things start buzzing at the track at 4:30 a.m.

HR: So how did you get into this business?
SW: [laughs] That's a long story. I was raised in a little town called Prescott, Ark. I used to rodeo, ride horses, go to the horse shows.

HR: Starting at what age?
SW: About 12. I had an uncle in West Virginia who was in the racehorse business. He got me to come up there when I was 21.

HR: What were you doing at the time?
SW: Trading horses. Carpenter work. Whatever I could make a dollar at. I've been on a racetrack ever since, except for a little stint where I ran a thoroughbred farm in Prescott for nine years.

HR: Were you training from the get-go?
SW: No. I was a jockey, but I kept falling off.

HR: How long did you do that?
SW: I rode six months out of a three-year period, probably. But I kept staying hurt. When I started being a jockey, I weighed 140 pounds. I knew I wanted to be a trainer, and I thought it might help me down the line.

HR: What did you learn as a jockey that helps you now?
SW: Don't fall off [laughs]. No, you have to understand the horse. Listen to the horse. They have good days and bad days; they just can't talk like we do. Just watch their signs: The horse can tell you when he wants to run, when he feels good, and you have to interpret his language. You have to get inside his head and play his games. You have to be patient. You have to be mentally alert and have a lot of dedication.

HR: What was your worst injury?
SW: The horse broke his leg, and I broke my back and hip and knocked out six teeth and broke my nose. I was in three different hospitals in a period of 24 hours; they said I'd never walk again. I was 22.

HR: I can see why you switched to training.
SW: Yeah, but to be a trainer, you can't just say, 'I'm going to be a trainer,' and then all of a sudden, you're in business. You've got to have the people behind you with the money to give you horses to train. You have to have a lot of luck. I was training before I went to the farm, but I was just eking by. So I went to the farm and just worked hard and people noticed that I maybe knew a little something about horses. That's how I hooked up with Hays. He got me to come back to the racetrack.

HR: How'd he find you?
SW: I started breaking babies for him in Prescott, and we just hit it off. He tried to get me to go to work for him for three years, but I wouldn't.

HR: Why not?
SW: I was happy with the farm. I had a family and young kids. I didn't want to pick up this life, where you have to move like a circus and be gone all the time. I'm gone eight months out of the year. I go to Kentucky from April to the first of December…. My wife and kids [who are now grown] stayed in Prescott, and I'd be by myself. I tried to come home every 30 days, but sometimes it doesn't work out that way.

HR: What makes a good trainer?
SW: A good owner. They've got the money to buy the good horses.

HR: On a day-to-day basis, what do you do?
SW: I get up, come to the barn, make sure all the horses are in good health, get them trained, get them prepared for the next race. This job is 365 days a year. There's no vacation, no Christmas.

HR: Why is that?
SW: Horses are in the stall. They can't go out to McDonald's and pick up something to eat. You've got to take care of them. This is a very demanding business. You have to love what you're doing or don't get in it.

HR: What do you love about it?
SW: I've always enjoyed horses. I've never done drugs, but I guess you could compare it to drugs: Once you get it in your system, you can't get it out. It's very addictive.

HR: How has business changed over the years?
SW: Pretty dramatically in many ways. One, it's not nearly as much fun as it used to be. It's too serious.

HR: Because too much money is involved?
SW: That's the good part. You can make more money. You don't want to do this for your health — it's not good for your health [laughs]. But it's such a cutthroat deal. I may have a horse that's running good, and 10 or 15 other trainers will call the owner trying to get the horse. In that way, it's changed a lot. It's a lot more competitive. You're playing for more money, bigger stakes, so it's definitely going to be a lot more serious.

HR: Is a trainer's skill in matching the horse to the race?
SW: There are so many different things involved. One, you have to know how to read a condition book — you have to know where to put your horse where he can win. If he can't win races, you're not a good trainer. Well, maybe I shouldn't say that. There are a lot of good caretakers that don't make good trainers. And there are a lot of good trainers that aren't good caretakers.
With a good caretaker, the horses are fed good, they're fat, they look good, their hair coat is good — they look like a million dollars. But they may not run good. With a lot of people, their horses look like death warmed over, but they run really good.
People like that have pretty much of a livery stable; they're in it to win a lot of races. They have a lot of turnover. They run claiming races, and when they lose a horse, they claim another one. We're here to try to have a few good horses and get to the level where we can run in the [Kentucky] Derby or the Breeders' Cup or something like that.

HR: Can you tell a good racehorse by looking at it?
SW: Everybody has a type of horse that they think is best. But when you ask anybody, they'll all look different. I like a horse that can run fast. But they come in all sizes, there isn't one particular type of horse. There are short ones that can run, big ones that can run. It's hard to say.

HR: You don't look for any particular characteristics?
SW: My horses when I pick one out have to be athletic looking. Everything has to tie in together and look pretty smooth from the neck and head. And it looks like that when he runs, it won't take a whole lot of effort for him to move.
Now, it doesn't always work out that way. The proof is always in the pudding. You can buy a horse you think will win — he's got the breeding, the pedigree, the look — but he just can't run. The horse has to have heart. And, unfortunately, you can't look at a horse and see if he has heart. That's just something the horse will have himself. In his training and racing, you'll find out if he has that.

HR: During training, how long are you on track?
SW: We usually get through 11, 11:30. We leave and come back about 2:30 or 3 in the afternoon. Then we feed them, run through the stalls, give them fresh water, make sure none of them are sick, give them their medications — that's the grooms. My job doesn't end there. Once you leave at 11, you're over at the racing secretary's office, you're watching races from somewhere else, you're drawing races to see who's going to race who.

HR: Is it s a stressful job?
SW: Absolutely. I wasn't grey-headed when I went to training.

HR: What's the most stressful thing about it?
SW: Wondering if the owner is going to fire you, if you have a job tomorrow.

HR: Then why do it?
SW: That's a very good question. I'm not so worried about Hays firing me; I'm in a little different situation than most people are. I've got probably the best job on the backside. I work with great people, and they have good horses. I put more pressure on myself than they put on me. But the average trainer would have to worry from day to day if he's going to have that horse in his barn.

HR: How are thoroughbreds different from other breeds?
SW: They're bred to run, and they're not really wrapped too tight; they're not too smart.

HR: They're all about running?
SW: Yeah.

HR: How does that affect what you do?
SW: Each horse is different. You can't do the same thing with every horse. I have a couple of nuts in my barn right now that you have to use kid gloves with because they're like dynamite — they could go off at any time. You have to keep them happy. A happy horse will run good. So you have to figure out whatever it is that works for a given horse.

HR: Is that craziness inherent in the breed, or is that in part because they spend most of their lives in stalls?
SW: It could be a combination of both. You've got a horse that's eating the best grain, the best hay, vitamins — he's a fit machine — and you have to keep him cooped up. He's a bundle of nerves and energy. So, no, if you had him turned out in a pasture, he wouldn't be like that because he's going to roam and relax.

HR: Can you make a good horse into a great horse?
SW: You can't make him outrun himself. He's only going to run so fast. You can go from track to track and make a good horse better by picking his competition. All we try to do is make the horse run up to his ability. If you keep him healthy, happy and fit and run him to his abilities, that's all you can hope for.

HR: What's your greatest accomplishment as a trainer?
SW: Surviving [laughs]. Possibly, getting lucky enough to get hooked up with Kaaren and Hays and working with one owner all this time.

HR: Do you ride?
SW: Not any more. Not since that last surgery.

At that moment, one of Wren's horses gallops by on the track.
SW: This is what I like in a horse. I like them long, I like a bay horse. They seem to stay sounder longer.

HR: Is there a reason for that?
SW: No, probably not. You know, most trainers are very superstitious.

HR: For example?
SW: Everybody has their own idiosyncrasies. Some say a gray with a coon tail can always run. Horses with a white ring around the outside of the eye are supposed to always be mean and ornery. If they have a big blaze, they'll never lose coming down the stretch. Don't give a trainer a $50 bill because that'll jinx him; it's bad luck. Most of us walk around ladders, there are no 13's, no black cats.
If you're having bad luck and the horses aren't running good, you do something different. You're always looking for something to bring you a little luck. If you're a gambler, you've got to be lucky. And if you're not a gambler, don't get in this business.

HR: How important are the exercise riders and the grooms?
SW: Very important. A trainer is only as good as his help. There are a lot of people who play a vital role in that horse getting to the racetrack. You've got the exercise riders, the grooms, the hotwalkers. You've got a blacksmith that comes and checks on his shoes every day. Then you have vets that check them every day. Coming from the farm where a horse is being broke, you have your farm manager that trains the horses, you've got your exercise riders there, your grooms, the nightwatchman.
I have 12 horses, and I have 10 people that work for me. I have three grooms, four hotwalkers, two gallop people, a nightwatchman.
For any trainer to say 'I did this' or 'I did that,' he's being a little egotistical because there's many people who have a hand in getting to that point. Ultimately, the trainer is going to get all the glory, but he also gets all the flak when a horse runs bad.

HR: What makes a good exercise rider?
SW: Good hands. They have to be able to communicate with the horse with their hands and get the horse to relax. Knowing what the horse can take, how far to take him, when he's doing good, when he's not doing good. You have to have light hands, rather than just jerking on a horse. It used to be that before people came to the racetrack, they had to go to the farm and learn how to do this from the ground up. They rode horses, they groomed horses. And if you weighed over 130 pounds, you couldn't be a gallop person. Now, I've seen some that weigh 200.

HR: What about jockeys?
SW: They're a dime a dozen. A good horse is going to get there anyway. A good jockey will keep a horse out of trouble, put him in a position to win races more. With everything being equal, the best horse would win. A good jockey will keep him from getting in trouble.

HR: What's your strength as a trainer?
SW: I'm good with 2-year-olds because that's all I ever get. And I have a lot of 2-year-old winners. We bought six 2-year-olds this year. Four of them have run; four of them have won. That's not bad.

HR: How do you define success?
SW: That gets back to numbers. I don't think it would be that I won 16 million races. I think it'd be that I came to the racetrack, I made a living, I supported my family and had a good time.

HR: Is it a hard life for your family too?
SW: Sure. How would you like to be without your husband eight months out of the year? It's hard on a marriage. You better have a good woman that's very understanding. This game is like golf: It's very humbling. You win a race today. But that race is forgotten; you have to do it all again tomorrow. If a horse runs bad, you get humbled very quickly.

HR: Any predictions for this meet? Or is that bad luck?
SW: Hell, yes. Don't go there.