by Chris Lomon

If there is ever a moment when Brielle Roman needs to find strength, she never has to look beyond the eye-catching artwork that adorns her arm, and everything it stands for.

“This horse has been so inspirational to me,” said the New Jersey-born horsewoman. “I suppose it was a bit of fate that he is called The Boxer and that he ended up with me. The tattoo is another way to show how he is a big part of who I am.”

The ink is, in fact, a myriad of things – part inspiration, part comfort, part hope.

Roman, whose equine roles include horse trainer, horse rescuer, horse advocate, and horse rider, is also making a name for herself in another arena.

“When I’m not doing anything with the horses, whether it’s the racehorses, the riding horses or the adoption program, Trot-Trot Standardbreds that I run, I am a boxer.”

The diminutive Roman discovered she packed quite a punch when she took up the hobby.

“I went through a terrible breakup, and I needed an outlet. So, that is why I started. Apparently, it turns out that I have a natural talent for it. It’s very enjoyable and it’s an excellent workout.

“When I’m training horses, I need to be strong, so it helps in that way. Also, there is a lot more thinking that goes into boxing than you might initially believe, with things like footwork, hand speed, and other aspects. It’s a good mental workout, too.”

In the hours she isn’t working on bobs and weaves, body work, and right hooks, Roman is in the barn, tending to her pacers and trotters.

That she finds herself in the shedrow is a story in itself.

“I wanted to do this my whole life. But it’s hard to come from a non-horse racing background into an industry where so many people have a family association to it.”

Roman does have a long association with horses, but not the sport of harness racing.

“I have always loved horses. I took riding lessons with my sisters at a backyard stable.”

While her siblings soon lost interest, Roman’s was growing exponentially, it seemed.

“I grew up riding hunters and jumpers and off-track thoroughbreds,” she said. “I liked racing too, and I would go to Freehold to watch the races.”

Eventually, she would become part of the very world she had only seen through the lens of a fan.

Eight years ago, she bought a standardbred foal she named Witch Hazel, who would go on to enjoy success in the show horse ring.

That experience included finding work as a groom for trainers Gary Candell and Chris Ryder.

In 2022, Roman joined the training ranks herself. She had nine starts in her rookie season, with her best finish a second, courtesy of the well-traveled bay gelding Legato.

The next year, she earned her first win, the milestone coming with Legato on Jan. 20, 2023, and ended the campaign with six trips to the winner’s circle from 55 starts.

Roman has already established career-best marks across the board in 2024.

“This is my first year that I am training what I would refer to as full time. It’s been great. I have had some horses who have come along really well.”

One of those horses is Oh Lina, a 7-year-old trotting daughter of Amigo Hall.

The bay mare, who has raced throughout North America, came to Roman mid-way through 2023.

“She is incredible. She came down to us from Canada, where she had been for a while. That is the horse who I feel changed my career.”

Their first win together came at Freehold that September. Just over six weeks later, Oh Lina stepped into the spotlight at The Meadowlands.

Saddled with post 11, the veteran campaigner was in tough.

“The first time I took her to The Meadowlands, which was also my first time there, I thought to myself, ‘I don’t know if I belong here.’ I wondered if I had made a mistake trying this with her.

“She was 17-1 and in a trailing position. The weather was horrible, and the track was an absolute mud fest.”

Roman, typically loath to give drivers too much direction, gave Jonathan Ahle, in the race bike that evening, a very detailed blueprint for the finicky Oh Lina.

“She is an interesting horse to drive – she is very nice, doesn’t pull like most trotters, and is very well-gaited – because she tries to fake you out. She has no gate speed whatsoever. I have tried everything with her and that is just the way she is.

“What she does have is this great late kick. You just have to wait to get her rolling. Whenever someone drives her, I always have to explain, ‘Trust the process with this horse. You will feel like you have nothing for half the race and then you will start to feel a change. When that moment comes, you just have to let her go.’”

And so, having heeded the words Roman offered, Ahle did exactly what was shared with him.

“I can recall the moment in that race where Jonathan let her go just after the half, and she went by everybody like they were standing still. She got to the front and zipped away to win by six lengths and set a new lifetime mark in 1:55.

“When I got to the winner’s circle, Jonathan looked at me, smiled and said, ‘Wow, you gave great instructions.’ But that was incredible. It was something I dreamed about, to win at The Meadowlands, and we did. I couldn’t believe that happened to me.”

Not everything has gone according to plan.

When she lost a mare she bought to a freak accident – the horse tripped coming off the track and shattered a pastern – Roman considered throwing in the towel.

But that is when serendipity, in the form of The Boxer, intervened.

“When that happened to my mare, it was very discouraging. I thought maybe I should just give up, but a lady reached out to me and said she had a trotter who had been sitting in a field for five years and needs a job, something for him to do.”

Roman looked at his lines and saw nothing that stood out.

Still, there was something, not easily definable, that compelled her to take The Boxer under her tutelage.

“He had raced in the fairs in Kentucky. He couldn’t go faster than two minutes, he was making breaks – they couldn’t keep him flat. But for some reason, I thought I should give him a try. At the very least, the one horse we had needed a friend, and he could maybe help with that.”

Expectations for a return to racing were minimal at best.

The Boxer, however, had a different game plan in store.

Slowly, but surely, the horse who had grazed and sauntered around a farm for the past five years, started to show signs he might want to compete again.

“I decided to train him down. My expectation was that I would jog him for two months, make him a riding horse, and then adopt him out to someone. I didn’t want to get attached to him, but he was so sweet. The more we trained him, the more he kept going. By that point, I was so emotionally invested in him.

“I wanted him to qualify. We made it. He qualified and trotted in 1:57, which was the fastest he had gone in his life. I had tears, a lot of them, on that day.”

Roman had more tears on the night of Oct. 13, 2023, at Freehold.

“He had some issues, and he would make breaks here and there – it was hard to find somewhere for him to be competitive. He was also green. Freehold opened back up and one day, I got Jim Marohn, Jr. to drive him.”

It was a perfect match.

“They went to the front, and they won,” said Roman. “I think it will end up being one of the biggest highlights in my horse racing career. I won’t ever forget it. Everything he had been through and everything I had been through – it just all came together.

“How many horses come back after five years and win?”

Now retired for good, The Boxer is never far from Roman’s side.

The 10-year-old son of Yankee Glide, whose final race came in February, now has a new calling.

“He’s my riding horse now. In my free time, I like to compete in shows with standardbreds. The Boxer and I have won a lot of championships together.”

Roman is a passionate advocate for standardbreds competing in the show ring.

Her hope is to dispel the notion that the breed can’t succeed against their equine contemporaries.

“They have a stigma attached to them in the riding horse world and I want to see that change. They are truly wonderful, versatile, intelligent animals. When people don’t see them do well right away, people think they can’t do it.”

Roman will be there to remind them otherwise.

I have been retraining as riding horses for about eight years. I compete with my horses in open breed competitions. I have a stallion, Luck N Roll K, who is one of my retired racehorses. He has been the best pacer I have had so far. I bought him as a $7,500 claimer and he made around $50,000 for me.

“Now, he does very well in riding competitions. He reached Gold status last year – based on the points he earned – at events put on by the USHJA, which governs the Hunter/Jumper shows across the U.S. I believe he is the only standardbred to have ever achieved that.”

Outside of the arena, Roman, through her non-profit, Trot-Trot Standardbreds, is helping rehome and rehabilitate standardbreds whose racing careers have reached the finish line.

To date, Trot-Trot has found new homes for around 50 horses.

“Some we need to rehab, and we will do whatever is necessary for that. We train them, break them to ride, and then find a suitable home for them.

“I’m a busy person,” she added with a big laugh.

Busy, but also content.

Roman doesn’t need to be reminded there will be challenges to come in her life and career.

Yet she has never felt more prepared to face whatever form those hurdles take, to always answer the bell, thanks in part to the horse with a most fitting name.

“I had wondered why the people who owned him had named him that. I was told they named him after the song [the 1970 hit by Simon and Garfunkel].”

Whenever she listens to it, the final verse always resonates.

In the clearing stands a boxer
And a fighter by his trade
And he carries the reminders
Of every glove that laid him down
Or cut him till he cried out
In his anger and his shame
“I am leaving, I am leaving”
But the fighter still remains

“It reminds me of all the times life knocked me down and the hurt I carry with me from all those tough moments. But despite all that and the times I wanted to give up, I’m still here fighting… just like my horse, The Boxer.”