Alexz Goldin is a young woman with great ideas

by Victoria Howard

Alexz Goldin was born in Summit, NJ, but currently resides in Delaware.

Her father, Mickey Goldin, has been in the business for many years; owning, training, and driving racehorses, but today he does it more recreationally rather than for a living.

Although her mother wasn’t involved as heavily as her father, she was also a big supporter and fan, helping name the foals and is her daughters No. 1 fan. Alexz said with a smile, “I couldn’t have rallied through the tough times if it wasn’t for her. She was the one who was there to pick me up when I felt like I was at the bottom — and it can be often — for this business isn’t for the faint of heart.’

Alexz chose to follow her father, and today is a trainer and occasionally drives standardbreds. Presently, Alexz, 35, trains 15 horses that she stables at Dovington.

Alexz races primarily at Rosecroft and The Meadowlands but last month she headed to Virginia to try her luck at their seven-week meet.

“My main involvement in the sport is training and dabbling in driving,” she said. “I own one broodmare who has given me three foals so far.

“The first foal, Fortunesfool, made it to the races as a 2-year-old and competed on the Ohio circuit; the other two were rather large and needed time to grow and mature and hopefully should be qualifying soon.

I’m quite happy with the way this 2-year-old is coming along and hope to see him racing this year.

“A funny fact is that my broodmare’s foals resemble my family to a tee. My mother’s first child was a boy, then I was born, and then she had two more sons after me. My mother’s oldest child and her third son were born on the same day.

“My broodmare’s [Anotherprettyface] first and third foals were born on April 20, the same day too. If Anotherprettyface’s upcoming foal is a colt, it would be déjà vu.”

Alexz currently trains 15 horses and said she is known for keeping them for a relatively long time.

“Generally, I don’t put my horses in claiming races, as I primarily race in condition races,” she said.

“I just recently retired my very first horse that my father ever claimed who I fell in love with.

“The horse dad claimed was So Take That, who I refer to as ‘Fatty.’ I raced Fatty over six years and retired him at the age of 15. I drove him primarily during his final year of racing once my driving license was approved.

“Fatty is very special to me as I learned a lot from him. Today, he is currently living his life out with his best friend, Versado, whom I rescued from the kill pen.

“The first horse I purchased on my own was Cheyenne Ryan Lee. When I bought him, he was 4 years old and is now 10 years old.”

Another special horse for Alexz is Marco Beach.

“I bought him three years ago and he has done a lot for my career,” she said. “’Marco’ has gotten my name out there for he was the Horse of the Meet at Rosecroft which in turn awarded me Rising Star and I finished second overall in the trainer’s standings.

“Marco Beach holds the track record at Shenandoah. It has been a fun ride he has taken me on.”

Alexz said her horse Marcus Seelster has the greatest personality as well as grit on the track.

“I watched ‘Marcus’ for over a year and as soon as he was put in a claiming race, I called my owner and said we had to get him,” she said. “Then there’s Lil Day Drinkin which is really my father’s pet and got my dad and I our first father-daughter win, me training and my father driving. Lil Day Drinkin is now a 14-year-old so he will retire this year and we will place him in a good forever home.

“As you can see, our horses tend to stick around us much longer than most. Most horsemen will say that is not the way you do business, but I’m sure my horses are extremely grateful that they end up in our barn.

“Occasionally, I get a few that are sent to me to train and were struggling with their previous connections and their owners end up putting them in claiming races once they start showing inconsistency in the higher levels.”

Alexz said her most exciting time as a trainer was taking five babies out of the field and having them all make it to the races.

“I think it was because the babies and I were teaching each other, since up until then I had never trained a baby down by myself,” she said. “That was approximately three years ago, and I still have one of the five babies still racing. As I said, not many of our horses leave the barn once they come here.”

As a younger and up-and-coming trainer/driver, Alexz has thoughts about how our sport has changed from when her father was heavily involved.

“I think it’s a shame that there isn’t a lot of comradery,” she said. “I feel like it has created an unwelcoming vibe at the track, especially in the background [barn area]. I am young and still trying to navigate my way. I constantly ask questions for there is so much I still need to learn.

“In general, horsemen aren’t as willing to help or lend a hand. Some have no problem watching you struggle. They will ask you how you did, knowing you didn’t get a check.

“My father and others I have learned from told me in the past horsemen would ship together or the night before a race they would go out with coworkers and rally through the next day. Today, people don’t want to ship together. Why can’t it go back to what it was like the earlier days?”

Alexz also said she would like to see the sport work on appealing to a younger audience by trying different things.

“I really enjoyed partaking in the woman series that Dee Lineweaver put together,” Alexz said. “I was glad she reached out to me. It felt like I was giving back to the sport and having fun at the same time. This year I hope it will even be bigger and better. We plan on promoting it in advance and hope more tracks plan on participating as well.

“We never thought it would take off as much as it did. The bettors definitely took a liking to an all-women’s race as we were the highest bet race of the night.

“Another thing that I think can be improved are the tracks. Each track has different rules regarding what constitutes a violation. If all the rules could be the same while keeping our horses safe, it would help immensely. Everyone needs to be on the same page.

“Also, the USTA could have a boilerplate contract which grooms and trainers could use when they are doing work for an owner. The contract could be on the USTA website for people to use. Even a Spanish version could be available. It’s just a thought but anything we can do to help our sport is a start.”