|
Year
|
Starts
|
1st
|
2nd
|
3rd
|
Earnings
|
W rank
|
W %
|
ITM %
|
|
2007-2008 meet
|
97
|
17
|
13
|
8
|
$200,798
|
9th
|
17.5
|
39.2
|
Greg Griffith finished the 2007-2008 Tampa Bay Downs meet as the ninth leading trainer overall. He has been conditioning Thoroughbreds since the early 1980s, and the New York native gained an interest in horse racing through his family. “My grandfather galloped horses, my father was a NYRA (New York Racing Association) official, my brother and three cousins rode races,” laughs Griffith. “It was always in my blood.”
Griffith
began training at Tampa Bay Downs, and says that his favorite horse that he’s ever trained is Dirtymoposse, who until 2007 held two track records at Tampa Bay Downs. Dirtymoposse is a homebred of Griffith’s who, among his other feats, captured the Reappeal Stakes at Calder Race Course on May 13, 2006. Griffith and his wife Donna are longtime fans of NASCAR, and Dirtymoposse was called after famed NASCAR driver Dale Earnheardt, Jr.’s nickname for his friends and admirers.
Griffith
says that his favorite moment at the Oldsmar oval came on February 24th of this year when his charge Son of Greatness won the seventh race in a dead heat for owner George Steinbrenner’s Kinsman Farm. “That was a very important moment for Kinsman because it was the first win for their homebred stallion (Crown Delite). Even though he won it in a dead heat, it was a great, important moment for both Kinsman and me.”
Griffith
is quick to give credit to everyone involved in his training operation. “Everyone, from the grooms to the blacksmith to the exercise riders and my son Dennis and especially my wife are the keys to my success. Especially my wife, Donna—she’s the main reason we do well.” Griffith says that he used to be a NASCAR enthusiast in his spare time, but nowadays he has few free moments. “It’s all horses all the time.”