Linda Rice – Photo Courtesy of NYRA
She’s been big-time for a long time, and 2023 was Linda Rice’s best year ever. Five consecutive New York Racing Association training titles. Graded stakes victories with Joey Freshwater, Mommasgottarun and Pioneering Spirit after claiming them. More than $10.3 million in purses, a personal best.
Rice capped it with another major milestone, eclipsing David Jacobson’s 2013 NYRA record of 164 wins in a year. She tied it when Un Ojo and Bayou Spirit scored Dec. 30 at Aqueduct and broke it when 9-1 shot George’s Vice won the second race there Dec. 31.
“It’s a tough number to get to,” Rice told NYRA PR. “I think about how we’re starting over at one tomorrow,” she said with a laugh. “It’s been an incredible year.”
Rice, 59, was born into racing, the daughter and granddaughter of trainers. Raised among horses, she became an exercise rider and assistant to her father, Clyde, who taught her well. Linda was unusually ambitious, going out on her own at 23 in 1987, when she had her first victory at long-gone Garden State Park. Contrabass was the first of 2,409 for the Wisconsin native who grew up in Pennsylvania, and she’s on many all-time lists.
Breaking Records: Linda Rice’s Triumphs Beyond Gender Norms
She’s 73rd in wins, according to Equibase statistics, trailing only Kathleen O’Connell among women. She’s 29th in money with $104.4 million, more than twice O’Connell’s total. In 2009 Rice became the first female to win the prestigious Saratoga title, and this summer she did it again, taking the meet’s final race to tie Chad Brown.
“It was amazing and improbable,” she said. “We were five wins behind with two days to go,” Rice told thoroughbreddailynews.com
“It’s been a great year and a lot of fun. Winning meet after meet in New York, it’s been very gratifying. This is home for us, and it’s a tough venue to compete at. We’re very proud.
“It takes the sting out of being known as (just) a top female trainer. That’s supposed to be flattering, and I try to take it that way, but there’s an undertone to it.”
A Legacy in the Making: The Triumphs and Challenges of a Racing Pioneer
Rice is a star who just happens to be a woman. In 1998 she became the first one to saddle a Grade 1 winner at Keeneland. In 2000 she swept Saratoga’s series for 2-year-old males (Sanford, Saratoga Special, Hopeful) with City Zip, who sired the Rice-trained sprinter Palace, a two-time Grade 1 winner. In 2017 her 1,000th victory was a family affair.
The relentless drive can cut both ways, and ambition put Rice in an embarrassing position. In May 2021 the New York State Gaming Commission ruled there was “substantial evidence” she had sought and received confidential information from racing office employees about entries for races from 2011-15. Such intel provided an edge about placing her horses where they had the best chance to win.
Controversial Suspension Overturned: Inside Rice’s Legal Battle and Victory
Rice appealed a three-year suspension and $50,000 fine and received a stay. In June 2023 a New York State appellate court overturned the ban as “disproportionate to the offense and shockingly unfair,” although in October the Gaming Commission doubled the fine to $100,000.
“It was a huge relief to finally get through it and have it all behind me,” she said. “It was very trying, very stressful.”
That blot on Rice’s resume will be only a footnote by the time she’s through. If she keeps up her pace, she could wind up in the Hall of Fame with her father’s childhood friend, D. Wayne Lukas.