| Jonathan Sheppard | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Trainer |
| Born | December 2, 1940 Ashwell, Hertfordshire, England |
| Career wins | 1,005+ (steeplechase) 2,477+ (flat) |
| Major racing wins, honours and awards | |
| Major racing wins | |
|
Steeplechase: Flat racing: Breeders' Cup Grand National Steeplechase (1988, 1989, 1992, 1999) Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (2008) Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (2009) |
|
| Racing awards | |
| U.S. Champion Steeplechase trainer by earnings (1973-1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2007) | |
| Honours | |
| National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame (1990) | |
| Significant horses | |
| Cafe Prince, Flatterer, Highland Bud, Storm Cat, Forever Together, Cloudy's Knight, Informed Decision |
|
Jonathan E. Sheppard (born December 2, 1940 in Ashwell, Hertfordshire, England) is a Hall of Fame trainer in American Thoroughbred horse racing.
Sheppard came to the United States in 1961 and in 1966 won his first race with Haffaday in a steeplechase event at My Lady's Manor, Maryland. In 1973 he won his first earnings championship in steeplechase racing. He went on to win the earnings title another twenty-three times. He has trained the winner of four Breeders' Cup Grand National Steeplechase and holds the record for most wins in the Colonial Cup Steeplechase with eleven. Sheppard is the only trainer to win the American steeplechase Triple Crown, doing it with Flatterer, the only horse to win the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Steeplechase horse four years in a row.
In addition to steeplechase racing, Jonathan Sheppard has met with considerable success in flat racing. In both venues, he has had a long working relationship with stable owner, George W. Strawbridge, Jr. and in 2008 he conditioned Strawbridge's filly Forever Together to victory in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf.
In 1990, he was inducted in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.
In 2004, Jonathan Sheppard was elected president of the National Steeplechase Association.[1]
In 2008, Sheppard joined fellow Hall of Famee inductee Sidney Watters, Jr. as the only men in American racing to have trained a champion over both jumps and on the flat. As of 2010, Sheppard's horses have won twelve Eclipse Awards:
On Sept 25, 2010 he achieved the milestone of getting his 1,000th steeplechase victory as a trainer. At Monmouth Park Racetrack his trainee Arcadius took the $100,000 Helen Haskell Sampson Stake (NSA-G1) by a length under Brian Crowley.[2] He became the first trainer to send out 1,000 jump winners in the United States. The milestone is considered all the more impressive with the low annual volume of National Steeplechase Association sanctioned races. In 2008, for example, there were a total of only 168 jump races held that year in the US.[3]
On October 29, 2011 (with the victory of the runner 'Dugan' at the Aiken Fall Races) Sheppard’s career winnings in National Steeplechase Association races rose by $9,000 (USD) to $20,002,192. The British-born trainer, 70, is the first in the American sport ever to pass the $20-million mark, unadjusted for inflation. His closest competitor, Jack Fisher, has yet to hit the $10,000,000 mark. [4]