Michael J. Trombetta

Mike Trombetta, who left the construction business to begin training full time in 2005, oversees a large stable recognizable up and down the East Coast.

Trombetta, a current member of the MTHA Board of Directors, keeps horses at two Maryland locations—Laurel Park and Fair Hill Training Center—and also at Gulfstream Park in Florida. He spent a lot of time around the racetrack as a youngster because his father owned Thoroughbreds, and he started working on the backstretch at the age of 15. Trombetta went from hot walker to groom while working at Pimlico Race Course and the Maryland State Fair at Timonium, and by age 18 had obtained his trainer’s license.

Trombetta maintained a small stable at Pimlico while assisting his brother in the construction business before he dove in full time. Aside from clients that include Larry Johnson and Live Oak Plantation, he also has a family operation called R.D.M. Racing Stable.

As of October 2020, Trombetta, whose horses have won multiple graded stakes, was about 100 wins shy of the 2,000 mark with earnings of more than $63 million. In 2020 he won the Grade 1 Forego Stakes in New York with Win Win Win.

Trombetta first ran for the MTHA Board of Directors to put his many years of experience in racing to good use for benefit of fellow horsemen.

“I think big-picture issue for us is the transition that is part of the redevelopment plan of Laurel and Pimlico and implementing what lies ahead for the future of those two facilities,” Trombetta said. “It is a huge undertaking and we have a long way to go. But hopefully as a group we can come up with good ideas and work though all of it.”

Trombetta said another objective is to rebound from a shutdown that greatly impacted racing opportunities and purse revenue.

“Obviously there was a huge curve ball with the COVID-19 crisis but getting back up and running and working again on a normal basis is a huge plus,” he said. “We need to build on that and get back to as full a race schedule as possible for everybody’s benefit.”