Lacey A. Gaudet

Lacey Gaudet grew up with horses at her family’s farm in Upper Marlboro, Md., and now is at the helm of one of the largest stables at Laurel Park.

Gaudet’s mother, Linda, and her late father, Eddie, for many years had a large stable at Bowie. The operation moved to Laurel when the training center was shuttered in 2015.

Linda Gaudet gave up training in 2016 and turned the operation over to her daughter, who got her license in 2007. Horses trained by Lacey Gaudet have earned about $5.5 million dollars, and the stable has grown to 40 horses.

Gaudet was an assistant to her father during the summer when he was based at Monmouth Park. She has worked for trainers Helen Pitts in Florida and Tom Albertrani and Allen Iwinski in New York. She later oversaw the stable at the Monmouth and Delaware Park when her father was unable to do so.

Gaudet and her mother race under the name Team Gaudet, and they have had success cultivating new owners and claiming horses. One of those horses is John Jones, who Gaudet claimed for $25,000 for owner Matthew Schera. The gelding won the Mister Diz Stakes at Laurel Park is his next start, has won the Jennings Handicap at Laurel twice and was approaching $600,000 in earnings as of late October.

Gaudet is an advocate of cooperation and following through on initiatives that are in the best interest of Maryland racing.

“We need unity among all parties,” Gaudet said. “We need everybody working together and taking responsibility to better horse racing in Maryland. I think it’s important having some fresh minds on the MTHA Board of Directors and thinking up ways to make our product relevant and keep it relevant.

“A lot of good things have been bounced around by the board. One reason I want to be on the board is to get those things done.”