DERMOT MAGNER may not be a familiar name at Saratoga Race Course. However, within a five-year span of being in the United States, Magner has worked for two of the top racing operations: Todd Pletcher and Chad Brown.
At 38, Magner has taken his experience and knowledge from working with both high-profile trainers to develop his own racing stable located in the Clark Stakes Barn.
“I wasn’t really sure if it was the right time,” Dermot said. “A couple of guys who had been around me said if I decided to go on my own, they would support me and give me a couple of horses. I thought it was now or never. So, I decided to take a swing to see what happens.”
Magner has not started many horses since becoming an independent trainer at the end of January. Of the 14 horses he is currently training, including eight at Saratoga, only three horses have run over the last 3½ months.
However, one of the horses that may have helped his presence at Saratoga is Hersh, who he co-owns with Jack Bick and Jay Oringer of Nice Guys Stalbes.
When Hersh made a last-to-first move coming off the far turn to graduate from the maiden ranks on Aug. 4, not only was that Magner’s first victory at Saratoga, it was also his first career win.
“He had been training well,” he said. “As soon as the condition book came out and I saw that race, that was the one I was aiming for.”
Hersh, who was also second in his debut, has been nominated for the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers and the Grade 1, $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Stakes – both for 3-year-olds on Aug. 25. However, Magner suggested he may wait for something in the fall at Belmont.
“We’ll probably take him back to Belmont and let him regroup and find a nice spot down there,” he said. “We may stretch him out to a one-turn mile.”
Magner also just missed his second victory on Monday when second-time starter Thirsty Gal was toward the back of the field in a maiden claiming race for New York-breds before making a late run to finish second, just short a half-length.
Throughout his life, Magner has been involved in either livestock or horses. His parents had a dairy farm with some broodmares near Limerick, a city in Southwest Ireland. Magner even had a run as an amateur jockey in Ireland. However, the 2008 recession made it difficult for him to find work in this industry.
“Ever since I could walk, I have always been surrounded by horses and cattle,” he said. “It kind of progressed from there. I’ve always been working around the fields and the sales. I found it tough making a living after the crash.”
Magner periodically visited the United States during that time, but it wasn’t until early 2013 when he decided to move to this country.
With very little knowledge of American racing other than the Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup, Magner found his first job that summer by handling yearlings for Godolphin/Darley facility in South Carolina. While working there, Magner met another high-profile trainer who helped him get a job of being an assistant: Kiaran McLaughlin.
“Luckily, I got to meet Kiaran McLaighlin there,” Magner said. “He guided me and suggested that I should go work with Pletcher at Saratoga that summer.”
In his first season, Magner experienced the high-class operation that helped Pletcher take the Saratoga training title 36 winners, including their first winner of the meet with then first-time starter Stopchargingmaria, who later won the Coaching Club American Oaks, Alabama and Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
For three seasons with the seven-time Eclipse Champion trainer who again won the Saratoga title in 2014 and 2015, Magner continued to work with outstanding horses such as Liam’s Map (Woodward and Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner) and Constitution (Donn Handicap and Florida Derby), as well as countless promising two-year-olds.
“That was a fantastic learning curve,” Magner said. “There was a high volume of horses coming in all of the time. Every time that [horse] van rolled up, there were some beautiful babies coming off.”
After the 2015 Saratoga season, Magner found another opportunity by working with Brown at the Palm Meadows Thoroughbred Training Center. During that winter, Brown was interviewing for an assistants to manage his Monmouth Park division. Magner was
his final choice.
“It was his first time to have a string of horses there,” Magner said. “So, I started training under him for a couple of months at Palm Meadows. I felt privileged that he picked me and sent me to Monmouth Park to take care of those horses.”
Magner and Brown had success at Monmouth Park for two seasons – 18 winners from 65 starters. Some of those winners included Money Multiplier (Monmouth Stakes), Wekeela (Matchmaker Stakes), Timeline (Pegasus Stakes), and Tammy the Torpedo (Tammy the Torpedo).
However, one of the colts that Magner helped train early in his career while managing the Monmouth Park division was eventual Preakness winner Cloud Computing. Magner was impressed with the horse.
“When the van pulled up that day and he walked off, I said, ‘Whoa! What is this?’ He came down there and started training there. I watched him in the morning,” Magner said. “I wasn’t sure what he was, but I knew he was something.”
It has been nearly seven months since Magner has been on his own. Like many other new trainers, he is hoping for success after learning from his mentors for the last five years.
“I got some really good experience of working for both of them,” he said. “I have learned about the system and program by working with them, and I have put that to good use with my own business.”
