Two years ago, Rob Atras came to Saratoga for the first time to assist trainer Robertino Diodoro in building a New York base. Both of them had already worked well together in winning a plethora of races at Oaklawn Park and Turf Paradise.
Their first year at Saratoga was challenging as they won just 3-of-31 races, but they did rebound at the Belmont and Aqueduct fall meets by winning 13-for-52 races.
Last year, the Diodoro-Atras team had a better Saratoga meet with seven wins and finished the year downstate with an additional 10 winners. Then by the end of December, Atras had to make a career decision after Diodoro left New York for Arkansas and Arizona.
With the help of Diodoro leaving a few horses and talking to owners, Atras took the chance in staying in New York.
“He had eight horses left over with previous clients,” Atras said. “He talked to a couple of the owners for me and asked if I wanted to take them over. I thought about it for a few days. How many chances are you going to get to train horses in New York?”
Seven months later, Atras has built a solid stable and remains competitive through mostly claiming horses.
With just 10 starters from his 23-horse stable located behind powerhouse trainers Chad Brown and Jason Servis, Atras has done well within the first 10 days of the Saratoga meet with a pair of winners with four others in the money.
“It’s nice to get a good start,” he said. “I was worried because I know how tough it is to win here. With a couple of those seconds [finishes], I was hoping they would have won. I thought we had a shot. They have been running well. That’s the main thing. It takes a little pressure off of us.”
Atras admits he puts a lot of pressure on himself.
“I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself,” he said. “When horses look like they should win, I take it hard. I don’t show it. It usually hurts me when they don’t win. Still, at the end of the day, I’m proud with the way the run.”
This isn’t the first time that Atras has been on his own as a trainer. Ten years ago, he had been winning races at Assiniboia Downs in his native city Winnipeg, Manitoba. In fact, the 34-year-old learned a lot about horse racing at Assiniboia Downs since he was a child when his mother, who had owned thoroughbreds, brought him the track.
“I learned to read the racing form at a young age,” he said. “As soon as I was old enough, I started working in the stalls and tacking horses in the summers and weekends.”
While Atras attend the University of Manitoba, it was difficult for him to be away from the track. After about three semesters of trying to determine a career, he left the university to pursue his education and future in racing that started with being a foreman and assistant for Rebecca Maker, who primarily trained in the Midwest.
“The university didn’t work out for me. I had a couple of ideas of what I wanted to do, but I found it was a waste of time,” Atras said. “In that summer, I worked at the track and never looked back. I was like a sponge. I wanted to learn everything. My parents weren’t happy about it at first, but they are now supportive.”
His success reinforces that support. Since January, Atras has won 25-of-94 races for more than $1 million, mostly at the Aqueduct winter meet and Belmont spring meet. Atras knows he has benefitted from the racing conditions and scenarios on both Long Island tracks, and he notices the difference in Saratoga competition, especially with field sizes.
“It was a pleasant surprise that everything had gone that well,” he said. “I felt we’ve had horses in good spots. We had excellent rides and good trips. Obviously, the winter meet is different to the spring meet, and definitely a lot different to the Saratoga meet.”
“You go from 5- or 6-horse fields to 10-horse fields,” he added. “You enter your horse and think you are in a good spot, then there are 13 horses and you run third or fourth.”
Unlike the aforementioned powerhouse trainers with champion horses, Atras is dependent claiming horses for his stable. Over the last six months, he has nearly tripled that number through claims.
While Atras has gained horses from the claiming box, he has also lost horses and “shakes” in which a roll of the dice determines which trainer owns a horse if there are multiple claims.
“The claiming game is tough,” he said. “They get claimed and you don’t get a chance to win with them. That’s what happened to me in the spring. I lost seven to eight horses. I was down to 12 horses. I lost 10 shakes in a row. I could not get any shakes to go my way. Still, you cannot be discouraged.”
Of the eight horses that have been the root of his stable, two of them have raced well: Dynamax Prime and Daria’s Angel.
After winning a pair of allowance races at Belmont Park in May, Dynamax Prime came back with a second-place finish to Mr. Buff in the Saginaw Stakes. While Mr. Buff is likely heading to the Whitney Stakes on Saturday, Dyamax Prime is being pointed to the Evan Shipman Stakes for New York-breds on Aug. 7.
Meanwhile, Atras is trying to find a race for Daria’s Angel, who won the Sis City Stakes at Aqueduct in March, sometime in the Saratoga meet.
“I’ve got a mix of horses,” Atras said. “I just got some young horses that just come in that may be running at the end of the meet. I have some condition horses who I am hoping to get started soon. There are also some horses who have had a short break and will probably come back at the end of August.”
