by Rich Fisher, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Rich Fisher

Trenton, NJ — After watching his daughter Amanda work with Standardbreds, Richard Kelley wanted to own a horse.

Initially, that didn’t go over real well.

“He decided that after coming around for a while, he wanted to buy a racehorse and that pushed me to get my own trainer’s license,” Amanda Kelley said. “When he first came to me and said he wanted a horse, I said, ‘Absolutely not!’ He kept on me and I finally got my trainer’s license, and when we found a decent horse, we claimed it. That was Net Revenue.

“I warned him though, that if the horse ended up being bad, he couldn’t get mad at me!”

The only yelling were screams of joy at the finish line. As it turned out, both owner and trainer got to celebrate on Oct. 25 when Net Revenue gave Amanda her first career win. Jimmy Devaux drove her to victory at Saratoga Casino and Raceway.

“I remember watching it with my dad, stepmom and (fellow trainer) John Podres,” Kelley said. “I was so nervous. She drew the rail. It was my third start with her and I thought she would be good.

Photo courtesy of Amanda Kelley

Amanda Kelley got her first win as a trainer at the age of 33.

“She is a tricky mare behind the gate and as long as she didn’t make a break there, she would be tough. She went wire-to-wire. That gave me my first training win and her a new lifetime mark. I was really proud.”

That pride continued 34 days later, when another Richard-owned/Amanda-trained horse, Bettor On Top, prevailed at Saratoga.

“I wasn’t nearly as confident then,” Kelley said with a laugh. “He likes to follow other horses, so when Billy Dobson pulled him and came first over, I was really nervous. He’s a bit of a lazy little horse, but once he poked his head in front, I knew he had it.”

Thus, the autumn of 2015 will always be special for the Valley Falls, N.Y., product, as she appears to be on the rise as a trainer.

Admittedly “horse crazy” from the time she was born, Kelley gained an interest from her grandmother. She would “mess around” with cheap auction horses, which led to getting a job at an American Saddlebred training center, Wrighthall Stables, at age 20. She stayed there for eight years and was hugely influenced by owner Darlene Wright.

“She never asked you to do anything she wouldn’t do herself and always let me work with different horses,” Kelley said. “It was a great opportunity that taught me a lot. They weren’t racehorses, but I carry over a lot of the training techniques.”

After eight years with Wright, Amanda moved to a sizeable Standardbred breeding farm and two years later moved to the track at Saratoga.

During the first 10 years her training experience came from breaking babies and working with young horses. This year she officially got her trainer’s license at age 33.

Three years ago, Kelley met Podres, the son of former Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Johnny Podres. The elder Podres’ biggest claim to fame was winning Game 7 of the 1955 World Series to give the Brooklyn Bums their long-awaited conquest of the Yankees.

Podres picked up with Kelley where Wright left off as far as her education.

“John Podres has been a huge influence,” she said. “I met him at the breeding farm, we became friends and I started hanging around the track. I still work fulltime with him and he teaches me quite a bit.

“We have two different styles of training so we kind of cover all the bases (no pun intended). I like the young horses and the tricky ones that make you think, and he likes the claiming end of it. We make a pretty good team here in Saratoga.”

She is also co-owner of a horse with Podres, and her involvement with him has its perks.

“I hear a lot of cool baseball stories,” she said. “I never got to meet his dad, but he sounds like he was pretty awesome.”

Kelley also owns a weanling named Terror’s Halo by Western Terror that “I’m pretty excited about. She looks great.”

For now, she is celebrating the exploits of Net Revenue and Bettor On Top, who provide the trainer with a bit of variety in how she has to handle them.

“Those two horses are night and day to train,” she said.

The bottom line with Net Revenue is that she is predictable.

“A total professional, all business,” Kelley said. “Every day you knew what horse you were going to get with her. She liked to tow, she liked her routine and every time she stepped on the track, she gave you 110 percent. She has a huge heart.

“Bettor On Top is more of a goofball. He’s silly. Anything he can find on the jog track to be scared of, he will! He’s quick about it too — birds, squirrels, tractors,” she added with a laugh. “It takes a certain kind of driver to get that little bit extra out of him. He does his job though, that’s for sure.”

Kelley plans on spending the next few months getting out of the New York chill and racing at Pompano Park in Florida. Her long-term plans are undecided.

“I’m not sure what the future holds,” she said. “I’m having a lot of fun with the racing and all the action. And I love that my dad loves it too. I just want to continue learning and growing as a trainer and see what comes along.”