Veteran rookie: Shaffer makes first start as a trainer on Ellis Park’s opening day

Story and photo of Sarah Shaffer on a horse at Oaklawn Park by Robert Yates

Sarah Shaffer describes her life story in chapters, emphasizing how a twist here led to a turn there.

The latest chapter, unimaginable a little over a decade ago, begins Thursday when Shaffer makes her training debut in the fifth race at Ellis Park with Princess Buttercup. Jane Elliott has the mount.

A former jockey, Shaffer, 41, struck out on her own in early June after working the last several years as an assistant and/or exercise rider for several nationally prominent trainers, including Mike Maker, Saffie Joseph Jr. and Mike Trombetta.

“Of course, it’s always scary to transition,” Shaffer said. “But I feel like because I have prepped myself for this and have given myself enough time to be prepared, I don’t really have any reservations. It’s just time.”

Shaffer has had to make up for lost time because she didn’t begin building a serious equine resume until 2012.

Originally from West Grove, Pa., Shaffer was into rodeo and showing horses as a teenager, but she knew nothing about Thoroughbred racing.

Eyeing a corporate life, Shaffer began working for retail home improvement giant Lowe’s in 2008 and four years later had risen to assistant manager at its Avondale, Pa., store.

Still dabbling in show horses at the time, a chance meeting with Pennsylvania Thoroughbred trainer Brian Malone triggered a career U-turn for Shaffer in her mid-20s.

“He asked me if I galloped horses,” Shaffer said. “I told him I had no clue what that meant. He said I would be the perfect exercise rider because of my size. He told me when I was ready to give him a shout and he would get me lined up. I had a real job. I took it (suggestion) with a grain of salt because, in my mind, I was very focused, career-oriented. But it sort of struck me in that moment that it could be fun.”

Shaffer left Lowe’s roughly three months later, steered by Malone to Pennsylvania breeders Larry and Laura Ensor.

Shaffer said she began breaking babies at their farm and was “legged up” on some of their steeplechase horses. Shaffer said the Ensors also had a business relationship with Thoroughbred trainer Chuck Simon, who was stabled at a New Jersey training center. Shaffer said she would drive there on weekends to learn how to breeze horses.

“It was definitely destiny,” Shaffer said. “When I had the job at Lowe’s, it was very easy for me to climb up the ladder. It was sort of not fun because I was able to accomplish it so easily. I realized the different dynamics of horse racing, that there was so much to learn. Every day, you learn something, I realized what I was meant to do.”

Shaffer said she began riding steeplechase races in the spring of 2013, with appearances in the prestigious Maryland Hunt Cup in 2015 and 2016 highlighting her point-to-point career in the United States.

Shaffer began transitioning to flat racing in the summer of 2013 as an exercise rider for Trombetta and trainer Graham Motion at Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland (roughly 20 minutes from West Grove). She began riding Thoroughbreds as a 10-pound apprentice in the fall of 2016. But her career was grounded before it really started after she broke her collarbone, three ribs and seven vertebrae in a Nov. 12, 2016, spill at Laurel.

“Fortunately, the breaks that I had were nothing long-term, problematic,” said Shaffer, who won a handful of Thoroughbred races. “I rode back four months to the date. In that timeframe, I realized I was an apprentice at an older age. I want to say 28. I didn’t want to be a jockey long-term. I took the experience for what it was, and then I went back to riding for Michael Trombetta, who was the person who originally gave me my start galloping horses at Fair Hill Training Center.”

After retiring from riding in early 2017, Shaffer became Trombetta’s top assistant at Fair Hill in September 2018. Shaffer was also Trombetta’s riding assistant at Saratoga in 2018, 2019 and 2020. Shaffer became Joseph’s traveling assistant in September 2021 and accompanied Drain the Clock to the United Arab Emirates for the Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) in March 2022.

She began galloping horses for trainer Robertino Diodoro in November 2022 at Oaklawn and was his assistant in 2023 at Saratoga. Stints under Maker and trainers John Terranova and Lindsay Schultz followed.

“Some people may look at it as a negative, that I’ve worked for multiple people along the way,” Shaffer said. “But for me, it’s not. Because as an assistant, I have to, in a very short amount of time, learn the system and how the trainer wants things done. So, to me, regardless if I’ve worked there for a month or two years, I have to pick up that job immediately.”

Shaffer said she began preparing to go out on her own in September 2024, with May the tentative target date. Shaffer began galloping for Schultz in November at Oaklawn and followed her to Churchill Downs for its spring meeting that concluded Sunday.

“She’s worked for a lot of different people, so I think she’s plenty prepared,” Schultz said.

Princess Buttercup, a 4-year-old daughter of grass champion Kitten’s Joy, is the only horse Shaffer trains. Shaffer’s SS Racing Stable purchased the filly, previously with Motion, for $18,000 at Fasig-Tipton’s June Digital Sale.

Shaffer said she hopes to begin building her stable roster this summer, adding she wants to keep the initial number low because of her “hands-on approach.”

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Shaffer’s significant other, Bailey Thibeault, who assists Kentucky-based trainer Jordan Blair. “She deserves a shot to make her dreams come true. I’m really proud of her.”

Shaffer said she plans to make Arkansas (she has a home about 10 minutes from Oaklawn) and Kentucky her year-round circuit, with the hope of returning to Saratoga one day. Shaffer calls Saratoga her favorite meet and her red and white stable colors mirror the upstate New York venue’s color scheme.

“Everything has worked out the way that I believe it was meant to, and I followed it,” Shaffer said. “I didn’t argue with it. I sort of knew when my time was up in certain phases to get to where I am today. Having that spill, nobody wants to get hurt. But in a sense, it was a blessing in disguise. It led me to the next phase.”