Sardella

to race in the biggest RUS competition this country has seen. She piloted trotter A Penny Earned to victory in a RUS race that went for a purse of $27,500 before a packed house in New Jersey. Michelle went on to guide Kyle Spagnola-trained trotter The Franchise to a RUS win on her “home field” here at Saratoga in October of ‘16.

While her RUS days are behind her, Crawford has become more and more involved with the horses in the stable that she runs with her husband. In fact, Brett will tell you that she does most of the barn’s heavy lifting. Michelle performs most of the dayto- day duties in the barn, setting up equipment, jogging and even shoeing the horses herself. With Brett

focusing more on driving and because when members of their stable would travel out of town to race she would do the shipping, Michelle became the stable’s official trainer this season. She and Brett continue to run the barn together but Michelle is now the trainer of the stable with the second highest winning percentage of any barn at Saratoga thus far in ‘19.

Though it don’t necessarily feature one star that stands out more than others, the Crawford stable has found success with a host of different horses this season. They span the class ranks from bottom to top. They’ll have a maiden like Franky Two Times, who is owned by Brett and Michelle, prevail one day, and win a New York Sire Stake Excelsior race with three year old filly Chase You the next. Chase You went coast-to-coast on Tuesday

evening at Yonkers, cruising to a decisive score in her $15,000 division of the Excelsior A’s.

While they don’t have a win in an Open this year, they have had a pacer, Nitro Glistening, and a trotter, Windsun Missile, propel into Open company for the first time and enjoy some success. A longshot in their tries, Nitro Glistening owns a secondplace finish in the Saturday feature this season while Windsun Missile was the runner-up in back-to-back installments of the Sunday afternoon Open Trot.

When I asked Michelle Crawford what her favorite part of being a trainer is, her answer was immediate.

“The horses,” she told me. “They are our pets and I just love them to death. I spend as much time as I can in the barn with them, sometimes until the early hours of the

morning. I just love them.”

And that love, combined with ability and allaround horseperson-ship has led Michelle Crawford to an over-.400 training average in this her “freshman” season as a trainer. She’s the official leader of the barn now but make no mistake, Michelle Crawford has been an integral member of the Brett Crawford stable dating back close to ten years now. While Brett currently sits in the top ten in the driver standings, Michelle Crawford’s name sits in the top ten among local trainers, the first time she has seen her name there in what has already been a long-term love affair with horses and horse racing, one that has spanned the continents.

Live racing takes place every Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday afternoon starting at 12:00 Noon and on Saturday evening beginning at 6:45pm.