by Victoria Howard

Molly D’Agostino is grateful that her uncle Lon Rosenfeld visited a harness track some 50 years ago and never left, paving the way for his family’s interest in the sport.

Molly’s parents, Laura and Joe D’Agostino would watch the races on the backstretch at Vernon Downs, toting Molly along. It didn’t take long for the wide-eyed girl to fall madly in love with the majestic animals.

In middle school she got her first grooming job working for trainer Whitney Bell, which made her love and admiration for the horse only intensify.

While attending high school, Molly worked for various trainers, learning something different from each one. Molly is not just a pretty face, for after graduating from law school, she became a licensed attorney in New York where she currently practices supporting major non-profit organizations across the U.S., while running MMXX Standardbreds.

“When I moved from New York to Connecticut in 2018, there were no racehorse tracks,” Molly said. “I missed harness racing terribly. My family owned a trotter named Fox Valley Photog who was not much on the track, but I loved him. In 2020, I retired ‘Fox Valley’ who was 14 years young and 308 races deep. I built him a barn in CT to retire.”

Molly really missed being around the horses and decided to do some trail riding and broke Fox Valley Photog to ride.

“My neighbors who are heavily into traditional horse showing couldn’t believe he was a standardbred racehorse and convinced me to train him for showing,” she said. “With their guidance we did, and Fox Valley Photog became a superstar in the ring!

“Last year he was Horse of the Year with SPHO [Standardbred Pleasure Horse Organization], basically, the number one pointed standardbred under saddle in the United States. This year in June he showed in Tulsa, OK, for the PTHA World Championships and got four top 10 finishes in the world under saddle, which is a huge feat for a standardbred. Every other competitor in our classes at Worlds were quarter horses.”

In 2021, Molly started an all-standardbred show team (MMXX Standardbreds) with Fox Valley Photo leading.

“There have been many horses who have come to join our team, including current leading horse for 2024 ’Horse of the Year’ and Breeders Crown pacer Go Daddy Go; Breeders Crown winner Split The House, the great Atlanta’s full brother, Monticello, and many more. And I’m proud to say that we have several kill pen rescues on our show team, too.

“Because of the success of the show team, we launched an adoption program in 2023 to help my friends on the track place their horses in safe riding homes.”

In addition to her show horses, Molly does still have racehorses at Vernon Downs under the care of trainer Dave Dewhurst.

“My show team is stabled in Connecticut at Angel & Anchor Farm,” she said. “My stable star on the track right now is Makadushin N Cheez, an open trotter in New York. My stable star in the ring is Breeders Crown pacer Go Daddy Go.”

Although Molly loves all of her horses, there’s no question that one stands a little above the rest.

“My favorite horse in the whole world is Fox Valley Photog,” she said. “He was definitely not the fastest and was very sub-par in his 300-plus starts on the track, but under saddle, he has paved the way for 140 plus of his brothers and sisters to find homes that promise them a safe, secure future as a riding or show horse. ‘Foxy’ is the love of my life, and I will never be able to repay him for all he has done for me and this breed.”

Molly got the idea for MMXX Standardbreds when she was competing and kept getting asked about her horses.

“When I was campaigning our show team around show rings across the country and beating thoroughbreds, quarter horses, and warmbloods, I kept getting asked from top showing stables, ‘What breed is that and how can I get one?’” she said. “With my connections to the racetrack it only made sense to combine my two passions to create a one-of-a-kind direct-off-track adoption program.

“MMXX Standardbreds is an all-standardbred show team and adoption program. We have facilitated 140 adoptions since we started, helping racing owners and trainers place horses that no longer are competitive on the track or have since retired.

“We also have a full team of people that make it happen. On the show team side, my husband Jay, is our newest second trainer and my board members, Jessica Rivard and Dana Ziter, also help with the show team. Our logistics coordinators are Alex Rhodes and Justine Albin and we have several volunteer riders, Liesl Dalpe, Emma Lewis and Grace Glasko and others.

“On the adoption side we have had several volunteers help us move the adoption program forward, among them are Ellen Harvey, Laura Rosenfeld, Nichole Phelps, who are all angels sent from above for our standardbreds.”

According to Molly, her show team has been very successful in the ring because of the training methods they use.

“Standardbreds are very easy to transition into riding because all the ‘buttons’ are there for a safe ride: start, stop, woah, go, left, right, etc.,” Molly said. “What they don’t understand is what ‘leg’ means. The good foundation for restarting a standardbred is to teach them to move off and understand leg cues. The only way you are able to do this is repetition.

“I have been very fortunate to have several great horsewomen in the show ring provide guidance because when I started, I knew nothing about showing.”

MMXX Standardbreds is a non-profit organization.

“The only support we receive are from industry sponsors and individual donations,” Molly said. “Despite the endless requests we have made to the USTA or STA, we have not received any support, which has been disheartening. But we thank our many sponsors who help us do what we do, especially our premier sponsor, Bluestone Farms. Bluestone stepped up to ensure we’re able to continue the adoption program during show season.

Author’s note: To donate to MMXX Standardbreds, go here. To enroll a horse please email Molly at [email protected].