Michael Dilger Joins Vaccarezza Stable

When Carlo Vaccarezza suddenly lost his assistant trainer in June, he knew he not only needed to fill the position quickly, but with a top person; someone experienced enough to take the reins while Vaccarrezza deals with the myriad other businesses with which he is involved. As luck would have it, Michael Dilger was thinking about making a move back to the States after some time spent at home in Ireland, and the pair quickly agreed to work together.

Now, Dilger is at Ellis Park where he supervises the training of the dozen or so horses Vaccarrezza has there, along with the help of Vaccarrezza's son, Nick. We sat down with the pair to discuss Dilger's background and the goals for their new partnership.

SF: Michael, you were in the very first graduating class of the (then) Darley Flying Start, is that right?

MD: That's right. I was in the inaugural class 20 years ago. When I finished the two years of the course in 2005, I took a job with Todd Pletcher, and I was there for seven years, until the end of 2012. In 2013, I started training on my own, predominantly in Florida and New York. I took a break during Covid, and I most recently had spent some time at home in Ireland, but the itch to come back to America was there. So I came back in late May, and was on the lookout for a job. And everybody that called Carlo and told him that I was available also called me and told me it would be a good place to land.

SF: Where did you grow up?

MD: I grew up in Mullingar, in Ireland. Prior to the Flying Start, my grandfather and uncle were both National Hunt jockeys, and my grandmother was a veterinarian, so my parents are both involved in horses. And prior to the Flying Start, I had completed degrees in international business and Japanese. That was a big part of getting selected for the course, I think.

SF: Any relation to Gerry Dilger?

MD: Gerry was my godfather. Gerry and my dad are cousins. And right before he first came to America, my parents asked him to be my godfather.

CV: Michael was also involved with Eoin Harty, and he also worked for John Gosden.

MD: While we were on the Flying Start course, we had three externships that were very, very educational. And the first one was with Eoin Harty out in California. And then the second one was with Gai Waterhouse in Australia. And then the last one was with John Gosden while he was still training at Manton. So those were definitely some of the highlights of being on the Flying Start course.

SF: If those were your three externships, you obviously always knew you wanted to train.

MD: Absolutely, yes. When I came over-and it's ironic how things go–when I was still in the course and they were helping us get placements, they had approached Kiaran McLaughlin about my going to work for him. And at the time, Kiaran didn't have a spot, but through Gerry and Mike Ryan, they said, `if you're not going here, you should definitely go to Todd Pletcher.' So they put me in touch with Todd at that time. It's a great organization to work for, and he's a great example for anybody who wants to be in the game.

SF: Carlo, can you talk a little bit about how you run your operation? How many horses do you have now, and why is it important to have someone with the knowledge and background that Michael has?

Michael Dilger and Nick Vaccarezza | courtesy Michael Dilger

CV: It's very important and I'm very, very lucky to have Michael joining the group, number one. Number two, we just ended a phenomenal meet at Churchill Down. We hit 30% on the win total, and a little over 80% in the top three. So it was a phenomenal number percentage-wise to hit 30% at that very prestigious meet, and Churchill is huge. We have 18 horses altogether. Out of 18 horses, 11 are two-year-olds, and I don't try to push the babies, especially the ones I buy in the June and the April sales. I leave them in Ocala for an extra couple, two, three months. A few days ago, we just shipped 10 horses to Ellis Park. So we have 10 at Ellis, and we have horses on different farms here in Lexington, with Hill 'n' Dale, and Morning Line, and in Ocala at Top Line with Jimbo Gladwell. We have now probably another dozen horses.

Michael works with the help of my son, Nicholas. Nick is only 24 years old, but he's a seasoned person. He worked for Chad Brown for three years, he worked for me, and he did a stint with Richard Dutrow. And I can see the chemistry between Michael and Nicholas, that they get along very well. Nicholas is a very passionate young man. He'd been in the industry since the day he was born and he needed, basically, an older brother, and so Michael can grab him by the hand and say, `Listen, Nick, you're doing this right. You're doing this wrong.' And I couldn't find any better person than Michael. Michael is very soft-spoken. He's a tremendous horseman, and he's very passionate, as Nick is. And I think they're going to be a good team. I would like to spend a lot of time in my barn, but between the three restaurants (Frank and Dino's, Shun Lee, and Damiano, I don't always have the time. So having Michael there is a blessing in the sky.
Michael's addition to the barn is a phenomenal one. I hope that there are people who believe in us. I'm not looking to have 100 horses, but we'd love to have around 36.

SF: Michael, what has it been like to be back?

MD: it's been great. I've really enjoyed being back at the racetrack, and enjoyed training the horses and being around the horses, and am looking forward to having some runners.