The Road Back: In The Company Of Horses, Tyler Maxwell Is Home

When Minaret Station (Instilled Regard) jogged back after his stunning upset victory in the GII Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland on Oct. 6, one of the first people to greet him was trainer Will Walden, followed immediately by Tyler Maxwell.

The victory was not only poignant in what it represented, with the 2-year-old colt earning an automatic berth to the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, but also in how it brought things full circle for Maxwell who, at one time, was seemingly a lost soul until he was saved by the power of purpose and horses.

A native of the town of Richardsville in Bowling Green, Kentucky, Maxwell's life on the straight and narrow gave way to an addiction to pain medication when he was just 12 years old.

“I had a normal childhood, everything was good, I loved being a kid. And then one day that kid woke up and I didn't love being me,” explained Maxwell. “A few other things happened, some close deaths in the family, and then my appendix ruptured at the age of 12 and I got prescribed pain pills. At the time I didn't know what pain pills were, but I knew when I took the pills that I was given, it didn't just take the pain away. I felt a lot better.”

It was in February of 2020, after nearly a decade wrapped up in a clouded haze fueled by pain medication and alcohol, that Maxwell got behind the wheel while intoxicated and rolled his truck at 70 mph, getting ejected in the process. His memories of that night are few and far between, though he does remember waking up in the hospital, then blacking out because of the pain, and finally waking up again, that time on the floor of Warren County Regional Jail.

Tyler Maxwell | Sara Gordon

“I wasn't mad that I was in jail. I wasn't mad that I had totaled my truck. I was more so mad that I was still alive at that point,” said Maxwell.

In the six months leading up to his court date, Maxwell failed every monthly drug test he was given. And it wasn't until he stood before the judge, who offered him the choice between entering a treatment program or going back to jail, that Maxwell accepted that he needed to make a change.

That October, he entered the Stepworks of London program before moving on to the Shepherd's House in Lexington, Kentucky.

“In your first week at the Shepherd's House they have a treatment team on Mondays and this team individually assesses everybody. You have to go in and sit there in front of them while they ask you a bunch of questions. When they asked me what I wanted to do, and I don't know why I started off with this, but I said 'I want to ride horses for a living,'” said Maxwell. “I'd lived in Kentucky my whole life but this was the first time I had ever been to Lexington. I had never watched the Kentucky Derby, never seen a horse race, but I told them I wanted to ride horses.”

Christian Countzler, a Shepherd's House graduate who returned as a team member to oversee daily operations of the housing programs, replied, “We can make that happen.”

It was during Maxwell's time at the Shepherd's House that he met Walden and Michael Lowery, both also going through the treatment program. The trio of young men were members of the very first group to join the School of Horsemanship at Taylor Made, part of the Stable Recovery program created by Taylor Made's Frank Taylor and Countzler, now the CEO.

Nearly a year later, Walden was ready to branch out on his own, starting a new chapter as a trainer, and wanted Maxwell and Lowery by his side as he did. It was at that point that the trio packed everything up and followed a van of yearlings down to Ocala, Florida.

“I didn't know how to ride. It was miserable. I was scared, and once I got there, I felt lost. That was the most terrifying thing that I had ever been through in my sobriety [journey], being down there and feeling like you're so far away from home. For a few months, Mike and Will were the closest thing that I had to God,” said Maxwell. “One day I woke up and it all just started to click. I guess it really worked out because these babies didn't know anything, and I didn't know anything, so as they were learning, we were learning together. Will taught me how to ride. If it wasn't for Will, I would not be where I am today.”

Maxwell was there as the Walden stable set up stalls for the first time at Keeneland, in the March of 2022, and later sent out their first starter at Keeneland that April. He eventually received his assistant trainer's license as he took on a bigger role in the barn.

But he was always looking for something more, something different and in his search for that, Walden gave Maxwell the number of Neil McLaughlin, the trainer at the helm of WinStar Farm's private training center.

Tyler Maxwell and Neil McLaughlin | Sara Gordon

“I tried the whole assistant trainer thing for a little bit and for me, it was just too much. It was more involvement with people, less involvement with horses. Not that I'm not capable of doing any of that, because I am, but I just wasn't happy. And I didn't get sober to not be happy,” said Maxwell. “I called Neil and set up an interview. I was nervous, because I didn't know whether or not I would be good enough since I had only been at the track for not even two years, but I got here.”

In the span of just over a year, Maxwell has established himself as an integral member of the team of exercise riders at WinStar's training center.

“Tyler, first and foremost, he's here at WinStar because he's a great horseman, a great rider and a great member of my team. These guys are here on our team because they're really skilled horseman, number one, and the fact that we can help another human being is part of the WinStar pledge of trying to be caring, loving, and to help support our community whenever we can,” said McLaughlin, whose admiration for Maxwell is apparent as he speaks about the 28-year-old.

“I think a lot of these guys [in Stable Recovery] grew up and they had relationship problems, people problems, and they really have to learn to trust and love in a new and healthy way. These animals give them the chance to do that.”

McLaughlin made it clear that the opportunity he offered Maxwell was not one made out of pity, but one stemming from a belief in the young man, who had completely turned his life around, standing in front of him.

“Neil has told me a few times that he wasn't doing anybody any favors. When I came here, it was either I can ride and stay here or I was going to go somewhere else. And I'm still here, which means a lot. I've only been here a year and I've already been on horses like [Grade I winner] Mullikin and [King's Plate winner] Caitlinhergrtness,” said Maxwell. “It means a lot but I try not to think too much about it. Will taught me early on that if you're not good without it, you'll never be good with it. So, I try to be the same, regardless of whatever horse I'm on.”

For Maxwell, whose only previous experience with horses before Stable Recovery came from occasional visits to his extended family's ranch in Tucson, Arizona, the horses are now the one unwavering constant in his life. Along with the two-legged support system that has grown around him over the years, it's those on four legs who have kept him going.

“Earlier this year, right before the [Kentucky] Derby, I got a phone call from my stepdad saying that my youngest sister had committed suicide. She had shot and killed herself. I heard that and I was paralyzed. I couldn't drive, couldn't move, and the only thing I needed to do was to call Christian. He immediately came and got me,” said Maxwell. “When I went home [for the funeral], I was there for a week, and I just wanted to get back to these horses because they got me this far. If they could get me through what they got me through, they can get me through anything.”

And when it came to Walden's shining moment with Minaret Station, it was only fitting that Maxwell, who had been by his side from the very beginning, would return to the track and lead his friend's star colt into the winner's circle.

Walden is now in his third year of training and heading out to Del Mar soon with his first Breeders' Cup contender. Lowery found his place at Taylor Made and is now the divisional broodmare manager at the farm. And Maxwell has not only excelled while riding at WinStar, but has also gone one step further by taking on a role at Stable Recovery, where he works in the afternoon.

In a sport where all eyes focus on the odds, one could argue that Maxwell was destined to be the longshot. But to see him in the saddle, his hands quiet on the reins, it is clear he has not only defied the odds, but gone above and beyond to win his own kind of Grade I.

“It means a lot to not fall back on what I would have previously, to know that all I had to do was just come back home to this. Where the horses are is my home. It's always going to be like that.”

To learn more or donate to Stable Recovery, visit www.stablerecovery.net.