Five Questions with Trainer Rachel Halden

While it may not have felt like it early on, the 2024 season wound up as one to remember for trainer Rachel Halden.

The native of Wakefield, in Yorkshire, England, recorded her most prosperous campaign yet, surpassing the $800,000 purse earnings mark after guiding her pupils to a 9-12-10 line across 61 starts.

Halden also found great success at the stakes ranks in 2024, going 2-2-3 through 13 contests, highlighted by breakthrough performances from Roscar in the Breeders’ Stakes and Aristella in the Princess Elizabeth.

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Grateful for those, both human and equine, that made her most recent meet so memorable, Halden reflects on how her career-best season came together and previews what she’s most excited about going into 2025.

When you look back on 2024, what made it such a special year for you and your barn?

“It was a career best year for me and my barn. It was a very successful one and I’m grateful for all the support from the owners.”

Was there a moment when you realized it was going to be a successful season?

“It was an interesting season because it started off quite frustrating in that I wasn’t winning many races, but the horses were all running extremely well – we had a lot of seconds. When your horses are running their races, and they’re running well, you can never be disappointed. But unfortunately, in this game, winning is what it’s all about. That’s what everybody wants to do – owners, trainers, grooms, exercise riders, hotwalkers – we all want to be winners.

“When the wins came, you knew that everybody was sitting on wins, or you hoped they were. Then I had that huge week where we ran seven and won five with two seconds. It started the weekend that I was one-two in the Breeders’ [Stakes] with Roscar and Saccharine. All of the sudden it was a completely different picture, and all those seconds really counted when you looked at the money we won for the year.”

Was there a race or performance that stood out?

“Running one-two in the Breeders’ was very special. It’s one of our classic races, but it was also that our whole week came together – the frustrating seconds, those horses that you felt had been sitting on wins, it came together for a lot of them. Collective Force ran a huge race that November 6 weekend. You always knew he was capable of doing that, but unfortunately, he’s been a hard luck horse , everything has to go his way. That race, everything did.

“The Princess Elizabeth was also very exciting because that was for a new client. It was my first year training for Vianne Lizza, of Flying Zee Stable. When you win one of the prestigious two-year-old races, you start thinking about the Woodbine Oaks this year. I’m very much looking forward to her three-year-old year.”

Talk about the team effort needed for the type of success you had in 2024.

“You certainly don’t do anything on your own. There is a lot of behind-the-scenes work that goes into it, from the grooms, the hotwalkers, the exercise riders, and Steve [Bahen] is a big part of that. A lot of people see him galloping for me in the mornings and outriding in the afternoons, but they don’t see him at the barn at 4:30 like the rest of us, and he’s a big part of my operation. Everybody plays a significant role. You never do any of it alone.”

What are you most looking forward to when it comes to 2025 racing?

“It was a career-best year, and you hope to build on it. When you’ve got a two-year-old that jumps up and wins the Princess Elizabeth you’ve got her three-year-old campaign to look forward to. Then there’s the three-year-olds that did very well last year. Saccharine for one, I’m excited to see how she can perform as a four-year-old now that she’s a bit bigger and stronger. She’s a filly that had done nothing wrong all year except win! It was well deserved for her when she broke her maiden in her last start of the year against the boys.

“You look forward to building on what happened last year. I’ve still got these two with me and some new ones coming up also.”