John M. Veitch

John M. Veitch (born June 27, 1945 in Lexington, Kentucky) is an American Hall of Fame Thoroughbred horse trainer whose family has been part of the horse training business for three generations.

The son of U.S. Racing Hall of Fame trainer Sylvester Veitch, John had been an assistant to Elliott Burch at Rokeby Stables before going on his own in 1974. In 1976 he began working for Calumet Farm. From the beginning of his career through the end of 2003, Veitch won 410 races out of 2,340 starts and made $20,097,980.00. He also won 76 graded stakes from 401 starts and 93 of 500 starts since 1976 all in "black type" races, a special designation given to the top three finishers in Stakes races.

Veitch trained four champions: Our Mims, champion three-year-old filly of 1977; Alydar who defeated Affirmed three times, notably in the 1977 Champagne Stakes and because of disqualification in the 1978 Travers Stakes. Alydar also won the Flamingo Stakes, Blue Grass Stakes, Arlington Classic, and won the Whitney Handicap by 10 lengths. Davona Dale, champion three-year-old filly of 1978, won all the races associated with the old and later versions of the Filly Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, taking the Kentucky Oaks, Black-Eyed Susan Stakes, Acorn Stakes, Mother Goose Stakes, and Coaching Club American Oaks; Before Dawn [ http://breeding.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=32461 online accessed 2 July 2006 ] won the Spinaway Stakes, and Matron Stakes, amongst others and was champion two-year-old filly of 1981; and Sunshine Forever [ http://www.oldfriendsequine.org/bio-sunshine.shtml online accessed 2 July 2006 ] won the Budweiser International, and the Turf Classic Invitational Stakes, and was the champion turf male in 1988. John Veitch trained all of these horses during his time at Calumet Farms.

Veitch also trained horses for John W. Galbreath at Darby Dan Farm [ http://www.darbydan.com/ online accessed 2 July 2006 ] and Frances Genter Stable, among others. Veitch's horse Proud Truth [ http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/todaysnews/newsview.asp?recno=58539&subsec=6 online accessed 2 July 2006 ] won the Breeders' Cup Classic in 1985. Other horses he trained include Plenty of Grace, Love You Heart, Brian's Time, and Dr. Carter. Other races won by Veitch include the Yellow Ribbon Stakes, the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes (three times), the Florida Derby (twice), the Delaware Handicap, and the Flower Bowl Invitational Stakes. He also spent a year in Saudi Arabia learning new training techniques.

Retired from training in 2003, Veitch holds the position of chief state steward of the Kentucky Horseracing Authority [ http://www.khra.ky.gov/ online accessed 2 July 2006 ] .

In 2007, he was elected to the United States' Racing Hall of Fame.

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