Knowledge of horses landed Katie King in her field of dreams
by Chris Lomon
Katie King had far different aspirations for her full-time career, but a familiarity with horses would lead to an unexpected, but treasured, field of dreams.
The original game plan she had meticulously designed for herself in the working world had nothing to do with standardbred racehorses or being part of their orbit.
Instead, King, born and raised in Galway, a town located in Saratoga County, NY, was focused on pursuing a role in law enforcement.
“I was fresh out of college and had my bachelor’s degree,” King said. “I went to school to study Criminal Justice and then looked around for jobs related to that field. I wanted to be a police officer, but that didn’t pan out as I hoped.”
And that is when an unanticipated Plan B came into play.
“I ended up finding work in standardbred racing through a teacher whose daughter was in the industry,” King said.
King was instantly at ease around the horses.
“I have always loved horses, so it didn’t take me very long to fall in love with the racehorses,” she said. “I had been around horses my whole life but had never done anything with standardbred racing. My mom had a retired standardbred as a trail horse.”
A love of the animal and eagerness to embrace her role would lead to more opportunities inside and outside of the barn.
King never once flinched at the long hours spent in the stalls and on the road.
“I started off doing stalls and then I eventually learned how to harness,” she said. “I have my own horses, so I knew how to drive a truck and trailer. I would paddock at Saratoga and then ship to other tracks – Meadowlands, Plainridge, Vernon, Batavia. That was interesting because each track is so different.”
Now in the barn of trainer Amanda Kelley, King’s desire to add new skills to her repertoire grew every time she set foot in the barn.
One task was particularly enjoyable.
“I started jogging and training a couple horses over time,” she said. “Training sessions can be a little stressful. I give the drivers a lot of credit – that’s not easy. But I like jogging horses.”
Especially, she noted, at a certain time of the year.
“The property where Amanda’s horses call home has a grass field, along with a jog track,” King said. “In the summer, when it’s nice out, you can jog in the fields. It’s also kind of cool, especially in the fall when the leaves are changing colors. It’s really beautiful.”
Serenity is also found in the horses under her care, past and present.
Quadratic Bluechip is one who made a lasting impression on King.
A son of Muscle Hill out of the Revenue S mare Reven Crown, the bay gelding with 24 career wins, 56 top-three finishes, and over $225,000 in purse earnings from 111 starts, was a handful for the competition on most nights.
Away from the bright lights of the racetrack, the trotter, bred by Blue Chip Bloodstock Inc., was quite the opposite.
“I could go into his stall, and he would be so gentle,” King said. “If he was lying down, he would put his head in my lap. He’s definitely one of my favorites.”
As is Vintage Cheddar N, a bay pacer in the Kelley barn.
The son of Betterthancheddar out of the Grinfromeartoear mare Howfarnow gave King one of the top moments of her career courtesy of a head-turning performance at Plainridge this summer.
On July 3, Vintage Cheddar N set the new track standard for older pacing geldings with a time of 1:49.0 – he would break his own track record and set a new lifetime mark of 1:48.3 in the $75,000 Bert Beckwith Memorial on July 20.
“I always used to keep it [emotions] all inside, but when he went 1:49 on July 3, I think that was the first time I ever yelled down the lane,” King said. “I had never held a horse who had gone that fast.”
King takes none of those moments for granted – she is well versed in how fortunes can change throughout the course of any day.
“The best part of my job is seeing them win and perform at their best,” she said. “The toughest part — I do love to ship and travel with the horses — is when you have to deal with unforeseen things when you are on the road. It could be traffic or when you have a late night after the races and you don’t get home until four in the morning.
“There was one time when we got caught in a snowstorm after the races and we didn’t get home until the next day at six in the morning. You learn to live off very little sleep.”
King has also learned to dream big, both in horse racing and in the rodeo ring.
“I have four horses in my backyard, two of them are mine,” she said. “One of them is my aunt’s horse, who I use to barrel race. It’s a Monday and Friday thing throughout the whole summer. So, on top of harness racing, I do that. I just love it.
“My main horse got sick two years ago and I won’t ever be able to race her again, so I bought a 2-year-old, who is now 3, and I am in the process of training that one to be my barrel horse. This summer, my aunt let me borrow her 22-year-old quarter horse, who won me another buckle this year. I was able to make about $2,000 this summer doing the barrel racing. It’s nice to have the money, but I do it first and foremost because I enjoy it so much.”
King feels very much the same way about standardbred racing.
While it wasn’t her first choice for a career, she treats it as though it very much was.
“I guess I am most proud of the way I have adapted to this industry,” King said. “I want to be the first one at the barn and make sure all my horses are taken care of. I feel like I always go above and beyond – that’s just the way I am wired. A lot of people outside of racing don’t realize how much heart and soul the grooms put into their horses, but we truly do.”
