Chris Ryder: from Down Under to the top of the sport
The New Zealand native will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in Goshen tonight.
by Matthew Lomon
Picking up the phone to news that his place would be forever etched in U.S. harness racing history inspired a moment of reflection for trainer Chris Ryder.
“I started out at Freehold [Raceway] with a couple of cheap horses,” said the native of Greymouth, New Zealand. “Before that, I used to bring up some Down Under horses through California and sell them. I was always pleased to be able to get everything paid for and have a little bit of money to get home.
“After a call like that, you look back, not so much on the good horses you had, but where it all started, where you came from… and now, here you are.”
And where he happens to be is amongst the elite of the sport.
It’s been nearly one year since Ryder, who has career purse earnings of $61 million, received word of his selection to the U.S. Harness Racing Hall of Fame Class of 2025.
The stretch between the Aug. 27, 2024, announcement and the July 6 enshrinement ceremony at the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame in Goshen, NY, has given Ryder not only ample time to reflect, but also prepare for the night’s most daunting task: delivering his induction speech.
“I am not renowned for my public speaking, but it is what it is,” said Ryder with a laugh, adding that he is in good hands with fellow industry veteran Bob ‘Hollywood’ Heyden, who will be introducing him.
Jokes aside, Ryder vividly recalls the surreal realization and “great surprise” of learning he was a Hall of Famer.
“It’s not something I figured I was in line for but like I always say, ‘Just let my horses do the talking. Don’t overcomplicate, don’t overthink things, just keep the basics,’” Ryder said. “But no, it was a nice moment. I was home with my wife – I just wish my mom and dad were alive because dad loved horses. He always had horses back home in New Zealand.”
Ryder’s cell phone and email inbox have worked overtime since news broke of his call to the Hall.
“The support was very good,” Ryder said. “It came from all over the place and people you wouldn’t think. A lot of owners I used to have in the past, and people I know in the business – the usual crew. It was quite busy there for a while.”
And then there is Twin B Joe Fresh.
Sporting a lifetime mark of 32-8-1 across 43 lifetime starts, the bay bred by Brittany Farms has earned nearly $3 million during her remarkable career.
In 2024, Twin B Joe Fresh finished no worse than second through 13 starts, winning 11, including nine in a row, en route to claiming Horse of the Year honors at the Dan Patch Awards.
The prolific pacer, who became Ryder’s first Horse of the Year recipient and the second pacing mare to receive the award in its 78-year history, joining Shartin N in 2019, has done wonders for Ryder’s life, personally and professionally.
“It’s been good because between Dexter [Dunn], Pete [Trebotica] that works for me, and one of the owners who holds 10 per cent, we keep asking each other, ‘How long is this going to carry on?’” Ryder said. “She’s in good shape – I think she’s going to be around for a while. At most, it’s getting to be a question of how long we race her for, but that’s the only tough part. Everything else is good. She’s been something unbelievable. It’s been amazing. She’s what you’d call a cornerstone horse that I have to talk about.”
Other standouts who benefitted from Ryder’s tutelage include Cathedra Dot Com, Put On A Show, I Luv The Nitelife, Bettor’s Wish (a double Dan Patch award winner) and Party Girl Hill.
The Allentown, NJ-based conditioner has trained nine Dan Patch and three O’Brien Award recipients.
For Ryder, having the good fortune to hold a full-time role in a sport he has great reverence and respect for is perhaps the biggest reward.
“Honestly, just being able to make a living and have a comfortable lifestyle with my wife and my two boys,” Ryder said. “That’s all I ever wanted.”
And it is exactly what he found.
Finding success hasn’t come with an ego to match.
“Just to have a good name and to know that you’ve got some integrity, you haven’t cheated people, that you treat people right,” he said. “Whether you need more great horses or not is really beside the point.
“So long as you can rest your head on your pillow not worried about how you treated anybody, and like I said, just being able to make a living doing what I have has been enough for me.”
Soon enough, Ryder will find himself in a New York state of mind – and with a personal cheering section along for the ride.
“My two boys will be there, my wife, of course, and a couple of friends,” he said. “My sister’s arriving from New Zealand.”
The soon-to-be Hall of Famer has traveled plenty of miles of his own, not always under the easiest of circumstances, and reached the finish line more times than he ever could have envisioned.
A Hollywood dream for one of New Zealand’s finest.
“The whole weekend is going to be fun because I think they’re trying to get some horses together for the Hall of Fame driver race,” Ryder said. “We’re going to race a few horses up there over the weekend, too.”
Ryder takes his rightful place amongst harness racing royalty alongside fellow 2025 inductees Tom Aldrich, Bob Boni, the late Mal Burroughs, and communicators Judy Davis-Wilson and HRU’s own Debbie Little.
