Published Sunday, November 24th, 2024 (1 week ago)

Talented East Coast Trainer Joins the Ranks at Del Mar

By Jim Charvat

Jonathan Thomas | Benoit Photo

Jonathan Thomas © Benoit Photo

There’s a new shooter in town and he’s brought some quality horses to Del Mar. Jonathan Thomas has been racing horses back east in Kentucky and New York. But this fall he’s brought a string of horses out west.

“We have a handful of fit horses who thankfully have climbed the ranks this year,” Thomas says. “They deserve some shots in some of the better races that are being offered here. Churchill has a done as a good job as they can with their turf course but the weather can be a little dubious in Kentucky this time of year, so I thought we’d come out here and we’d be able to breeze and get on a good schedule. So far everybody is coming into it well and should make all the races we’ve pinpointed.”

Thomas definitely has the Turf Festival covered. Starting today with Mrs. Astor in the G3 Red Carpet, he has horses nominated in all seven of the graded stakes races. He’s brought a string of 12 to the seaside oval.

“Just being away from home and bringing staff out here,” Thomas says when asked of the challenges of making such a move. “But Del Mar makes an easy pitch for my guys, so that part was easy. David (Jerkens, Del Mar’s racing secretary) and his team have been super hospitable. 

“Travel has become very sophisticated and reliable,” Thomas continues. “These horses are pretty well traveled by now. It’s mostly getting the horses to travel well and, touch wood, everybody has traveled extremely well.”

The 44-year old trainer was born in Virginia and horses have always been a part of his life.

“The area I grew up in is very horse laden,” Thomas states, “and my family was involved in horses in various capacities. There’s a lot of steeplechasing at small tracks at home. I was just kind of born into it.”

His first racetrack job was about as good as it gets, working as an assistant in the Christophe Clement barn at Saratoga.

“I rode steeplechase races and traveled around a lot with the horses,” Thomas notes. “The steeplechasing world, if you’re a jockey, requires a lot more hands-on than say a typical flat rider. I think by that point I was well versed in running a barn and being around horses.” 

Thomas would work for Clement from 2002 until 2007. Then he went over to Saudi Arabia where he worked for about a year before landing a job with Todd Pletcher  

“I started at Todd’s barn the year Curlin won the Dubai World Cup,” Thomas adds. 

That was in 2008. He says the transition into going out on his own wasn’t a sudden decision on his part.

“I didn’t formally go out on my own,” Thomas states. “I went to Ocala, Florida to learn more about 2-year-old sales. It was something I was a little deficient in. I went to work for Todd’s dad there. I grew a sizable business with 2-year-olds and then people started leaving me a horse or two to run. So it wasn’t like I hung a shingle out ‘open for business.’ It just gradually happened.”

One of the horses that Thomas was left with was a horse named Catholic Boy, who went on to win the G1 Travers in 2018 and make over $2 million in earnings. 

“That gave me the chance to get started for real,” Thomas says.

He now has 24 horses in training across the country.

“We’re not averse to traveling,” Thomas contends. “I think winning at Del Mar this meet was our 14th or 15th track this year. Everyone thinks we have a hundred horses in training with four different divisions but we don’t. We have a handful at Turfway and the best of what we have in our stable is here (at Del Mar) right now.”