“I never had big dreams about what it would actually be. Hall of Fame and stuff like that, it never crossed my mind,” he said. “I just wanted to be some kind of success.”
Mandella, now 75, was born in Altadena, California, and grew up around horses since his father, Gene, was a blacksmith. He learned valuable lessons at his father’s side and by working as a teenager at Three Rings Ranch, near his family’s home. He was a keen observer and retained everything he saw.
“It always helped me a lot. That experience was always going to be the foundation that I had,” Mandella said. “We were always breaking [introducing to the basics of horse racing] horses. We received older horses with injuries and I learned a lot about that.”
He continued his development by traveling to New York to work as an assistant to Lefty Nickerson before obtaining his coaching license at the age of 23. He credits his ability to deal with injuries as one of the keys to his fame.
“Learning when to stop when injured has always been valuable to me where I am today,” Mandella said. “Stop before you ruin them, that’s the most important thing.”
The reward for Mandella’s willingness to take her time with horses has been enormous. Despite only having 53 Breeders’ Cup entries, he has nine wins and ranks 11th all-time in earnings with $13,116,960.
He enjoyed one of the most remarkable afternoons in racing history when he won four of a possible eight Breeders’ Cup races at his home base of Santa Anita Park in 2003. He dominated the 2-year-old rankings as Action This Day took the Juvenile and Julie Krone became the first female jockey to guide a Breeders’ Cup winner when Halfbridled conquered an extreme outpost in the Juvenile Fillies.
In one of the most scintillating finishes in the history of the championship event, Mandella trainee Johar finished in a dead-heat with High Chaparral for first place in the Turf, while Falbrav again finished in third place in an overall finish that made for a nerve-wracking wait for the photo. The trainer rounded off his special day when longshot Pleasantly Perfect, who would go on to win the Dubai World Cup, took the opportunity in the Classic.
Mandella admits he never saw this monumental feat coming. “I had a lot of nice horses that were in top form, but they were competitive races,” he said. “They had to go the extra mile to do it, and they certainly did.”
It all happened so quickly as Mandella rushed to the paddock to saddle each horse, to the winner’s circle and back to the paddock. He found himself in breathless disbelief when the whirlwind passed.
“I couldn’t imagine all this happening,” he said. “I was just thinking about how much I appreciate the people I train for and the horses I had.”
Mandella decided when he turned 60 years old to reduce the size of his operation so he can be as hands-on as he wants. That shouldn’t be taken as a sign that he’s retiring anytime soon.
“I still enjoy this,” he said.
Note: This story was originally published in October 2017 and has been updated.
Fun facts
- Provided the last of Laffit Pincay’s record seven winners (Bedouin) at Santa Anita on March 15, 1987.
- Featured in another Pincay mark by saddling Irish Nip when Pincay rode his 8,834ewinner at Old Hollywood Park on December 10, 1999.
- Was introduced by Allen Jerkens, a trainer he had long admired, when he was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2001.
- Son Gary started training for himself in 2002.
- Has a great interest in the history of the sport and has an extensive racing library.
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