His Career Thriving, Will Walden Set to Have His First Breeders' Cup Starter

It was hard to see Minaret Station (Instilled Regard) winning the GII Castle and Key Bourbon Stakes last week at Keeneland. He was 38-1 and coming off a narrow win in a maiden at Horseshoe Indianapolis. Yet, he beat his rivals that day, punching his ticket to the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf. But that was only one part of this story, one that is about being on the bottom, digging your way out of trouble and then thriving.

For trainer Will Walden, this will be his first Breeders' Cup starter. That's the same Will Walden who had substance abuse problems for years and the only employment he could find for a while was a job at Wendy's. He's won two graded stakes and 46 races this year, is winning at a 20 percent clip and is having his best year since he started training in 2022.

“It means a lot that we're headed to the Breeders' Cup,” Walden said. “We want to compete at the highest level and on the biggest stage. This is what we're trying to do, what we're trying to accomplish. It's nice to have a little validation for the entire team. They put their heart and soul into these horses and they're starting to see the fruits of their labor pay off.”

Walden deserves a lot of credit for getting his life back together, but the story is larger than his personal struggle. Walden, the son of WinStar's Elliott Walden, was among the first people to take part in a recovery program created by Taylor Made's Director of New Business Development Frank Taylor. And let's not forget that he only got the horse because Larry Best and his stable manager Don Chatlos believed in him.

“We have all our horses at Taylor Made and that's how Will came onto our radar,” said Chatlos. “I paid attention and kind of watched him and how he carried himself. I kept bringing that information back to Larry. We were trying to spread some horses out and Larry said here's an opportunity to give a couple to Will.”

After the individuals complete rehab in the Stable Recovery program they move on to the Taylor Made School of Horsemanship. It is there that Taylor and his team teach the students the horsemanship skills they will need to get a job in the horse racing industry. Walden's crew includes several individuals who came through the horsemanship program, including the exercise rider of Minaret Station.

“It's unbelievable how the story keeps unfolding and how he's got those guys from Stable Recovery still working for him,” Taylor said. “Then there's the guys who worked for Will and then came back to work for us at Taylor Made. They have just killed it.”

The program keeps growing and more than 100 people have come through it, with many of them now employed in some aspect of the racing business.

“This thing is really working,” Taylor said. “It's great on so many levels. You're saving lives, you're reuniting families, you're developing a work force. You're not only making these guys sober, you're making them successful. The horse is the special ingredient, combine that with the accountability and the purpose of the work. Put that all together and it works.”

Chatlos, who won the 2004 GI Breeders' Cup Mile with Singletary (Sultry Song), has stayed close to Walden and has been impressed with the way he carries himself.

Minaret Station | Coady Media

“To see what Will has done, yes, it makes you feel good because I had my own problems that I had to deal with,” Chatlos said. “I know where he's coming from and I know what it took for him to get to where he is. In the racetrack environment it is hard to stay on that path. After he won that stakes at Keeneland it was straight to the Champagne Room. That's not the place to be. Will and I stayed for a few seconds, watched the replay and then got out of there and went to the test barn. With alcohol so prevalent everywhere on the racetrack, it isn't the easiest place to be if you have a drinking problem.

“I just liked him. For some reason when I met him we hit it off from the beginning and I just liked him. I thought this was a guy worth gambling on.”

Walden is well past the point where owners are giving him horses because they feel sorry for him. His roster of current owners includes Best, Woodford Thoroughbreds, Cypress Creek Equine, Wachtel Stable and Gary Barber. He's getting horses because he's young and successful and seemingly getting better every day.

“I always knew that Will was a very good horseman,” Taylor said. “He comes from a family of very good horsemen. He's worked for Todd Pletcher, Dale Romans, Wesley Ward, Bill Mott, Jonathan Sheppard. Even though he was dealing with his addiction issues at the time, he was working for and learning from the best. He was trained to be a trainer. It was his destiny.”