By Nathan Mayberg
Trainer Anthony Mitchell closed 2018 out with a bang when his 3-year-old Sir Anthony (Mineshaft) sprung a shocking 25-1 upset of heavily favored GI Kentucky Derby third-place finisher Audible (Into Mischief) in the GIII Harlan's Holiday S. at Gulfstream Park Dec. 15, but the veteran conditioner said he is resisting the temptation to press on toward a potential start in the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational Jan. 26.
Mitchell, who trains the ridgling for American Academy of Art president Richard Otto, has been based in Chicago for the last 20 years, but has spent more than four decades in the horse-training business. He has trained some nice fillies, including graded stakes winners Original Spin (Distorted Humor), Lovely Afternoon (Afternoon Deelites) and Summer Mis (Summer Squall). He was an assistant to William Badgett during his reign with Hall of Fame champion Go for Wand. But this is the first time he has a male horse in prime position to take on the toughest foes of the handicap division.
It's taken a lot of patience–a virtue that characterizes Mitchell, along with his modesty. Ask him about the success of Sir Anthony and he will first mention his assistant, partner and owner Aimee Bohlman. Then he will credit trainer Eoin Harty and his assistant Andy Hansen for looking after Sir Anthony on his trip from Chicago to Florida. Ask him about Go for Wand, and he won't take any credit.
“That was Rose's baby,” he said, referring to Rosemary Badgett Hennig, who was the filly's exercise rider.
Mitchell, 60, grew up in the seaside resort town of Brighton, England as the son of a butcher.
“My neighborhood was a working-class area,” Mitchell said. “It was a little bit tough, a little bit rough, some kids went the wrong way. My father wanted me to be on the straight and narrow, so he bought me a pony.”
Mitchell learned to be a rider, but it wasn't his calling. “I just wasn't good enough. I tried it for a year. I was battling weight.”
By 15, he had already left school in order to work full-time for trainer Charlie Moore, working his way up to head lad at the barn.
“Charlie was a very patient trainer who paid attention to detail. He had a very good eye for the horses but didn't have the financial means to buy [the better stock],” he said, adding that his time with Moore taught him valuable skills, such as how to identify physical problems early.
After about 15 years with Moore, Mitchell made the trek to the United States.
“I pretty much got as far as I was going to go over there,” Mitchell said. “In England, they don't train on the track. You need the finances to get into a property.”
In New York, he went to work for Thoroughbred trainer Tom Skiffington at Belmont Park, who also had a background as a steeplechase rider. There, he learned how to train horses stabled at the track and how to develop graded stakes horses. Eventually, Skiffington's assistant Richard Schosberg went on his own and Mitchell would join his good friend as an assistant handling his horses at Aqueduct.
While later working as an assistant to Badgett, he was with Go for Wand in her final moments after she tragically broke down at Belmont Park in the 1990 Breeders' Cup Distaff while dueling with Bayakoa. Mitchell ran onto the track and pulled her up after she got back on her feet after collapsing at the sixteenth pole
“It was the worst day,” the trainer recalled.
Mitchell used to ride out on a pony in the mornings with Go for Wand and Rose as they went to work.
“I really don't think she reached her full potential,” he said of the seven-time GI winner. “These exceptional horses seem to have an aura about them. They just stand out from the rest. The breezes were so easy for her.”
Mitchell's experience with Go For Wand laid the groundwork for his patient approach toward training Sir Anthony, who shares a third dam with 2014 Horse of the Year California Chrome. Mitchell elected to give Sir Anthony a winter break last year rather than push on toward a Florida campaign–a decision that allowed him to hatch a better plan this winter to prepare for his breakout stakes score. Continuing down the same path, Mitchell doesn't expect to run his muscular grandson of A.P. Indy and Smart Strike in the Pegasus–perhaps next year, he said.
“As a 4-year-old, I think he's going to get bigger and better,” Mitchell said. “He's still filling out. He's developing muscles on his front end and hind end.”
Sir Anthony was bred by his owner, Richard Otto. The two connected when Mitchell was working for Arlington Park magnate Richard Duchossois at his Hill 'N Dale Farm in Illinois in the 1990s. Otto, who has owned horses since being introduced to the sport in 1985 by former Chicago Bears chairman Ed McCaskey, named the horse Sir Anthony because Arlington Park announcer John Dooley refers to Mitchell as “Sir Anthony” when he wins a race.
As for the horse, Sir Anthony is currently resting on a farm in Ocala, awaiting his next assignment. It will likely be another graded stakes in Florida. Mitchell said he wants to give him a month off.
“He's a very cool customer. He's very laid back. Nothing really bothers him too much,” said Mitchell, who currently operates a nine-horse barn out of Hawthorne and will base five horses at Gulfstream Park this winter.
The trainer admitted he is savoring the moment.
“I don't get to see graded stakes horses year after year,” he said. “I'm very blessed and fortunate. When the times are hard and you're not winning and you put your head down and a horse like Sir Anthony comes around, it makes all the rest of the stuff not so bad.”
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