Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Trainer Walder reclaiming his time after rehab stint
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Peter Walder said he finally hit “rock bottom mentally” this spring before deciding to check into a rehab facility, a choice he now credits for changing his life.
“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” Walder said. “I began going through tough times ever since my grandfather died two years ago. Then I had to take some time off due to a licensing issue, and that compounded things. I got so down and out. I wasn’t being true to myself, my clients, or my horses. I was tired of seeing 8 percent next to my name as a winning percentage in the Daily Racing Form when I knew I was better than that.
“It finally reached a point I had to do something to change my life around for the better and become Peter Walder again.”
Walder, 49, checked into rehab March 26 and spent three weeks there. Since his return, he’s won nine races, including Thursday’s finale with Big Boy Bruno, a horse he entered for the main track only who registered an easy victory after the race was switched from turf to dirt due to rain.
“Since I’ve been back, there’s been a noticeable difference both in myself and around the barn,” Walder said. “I go to the gym every morning at 6, then head out to the track. There was a period before I went to rehab I was showing up at the barn maybe once or twice a week. And I really need to thank both my help, for holding things together at the barn while I was gone, and especially all my owners, who stuck by me while I was down and gave me the peace of mind to do what I had to do to get better.
“I feel great now, and you can also see the results in our stable’s record over the past several weeks.”
One of the owners Walder was referring to is Pete Proscia. His Paradise Farms owns a dozen horses in partnership with Walder, including Shadow Rock and Silver Defense, who are entered in the co-featured third and 10th races here Sunday.
Shadow Rock has seen a rebirth of his own of late. The 8-year-old gelding had raced almost exclusively on turf and registered his first 12 victories on grass before Walder and Proscia claimed him for $25,000 in February.
“I breezed him out of the gate here without blinkers one morning last month,” Walder said. “Pete was with me at the time, and the work was so sensational we just kind of looked at each other, said, ‘Holy cow,’ and decided we absolutely had to try him on the dirt.”
Five days later, Shadow Rock responded with a wireto-wire, nine-length victory under a $12,500 claiming tag and earned an 86 Beyer Speed Figure. Shadow Rock is entered for twice that price as a main track-only runner in Sunday’s optional claimer scheduled for five furlongs on grass.
“They took the races off the turf on Thursday and Friday, and with the forecast calling for more rain, there’s a pretty good chance he’ll get in on the dirt again Sunday,” Walder said. “Sometimes with these older horses, especially really old ones like him, you try something different and a light bulb goes off in their head. And if this race comes off and he runs like he did last time, the others are going to really be in trouble.”
Walder is a major proponent of entering horses for the main track only in local turf races, a strategy that has paid big dividends over the years, with Big Boy Bruno being the most recent example.
“You can only do it with certain horses, and sometimes it kind of throws a monkey wrench into your training schedule,” Walder said. “But with all the rain we get down this way, especially during the summer, the risk-reward is high.”
Walder, who has 32 horses stabled at Gulfsteram Park, said he also likes Silver Defense’s chances in the 10th race, a six-furlong, first-level allowance with a $47,000 pot. Silver Defense returns to the main track off a seventh-place finish last month on turf.
“He won earlier in his career on grass at Keeneland, but obviously he’s got more affinity for the dirt, so I’m just throwing a line through that last race and hoping he gets back to the form he showed two starts back when finishing second against this same kind of field.”
Silver Defense will face six rivals, including the remarkably consistent Social Roy, recent statebred allowance winner Tell Me a Story, and the stakes-placed Aequor.