Richard E. Mandella

Birthdate: November 5, 1950

Birthplace: Altadena, Cal.

Residence: Pasadena, Cal.

Family: Wife, Randi; son, Gary (also a trainer); daughter, Andrea

Mandella worked for his father, Gene, a blacksmith in Beaumont, Cal., and broke and galloped horses at Connie Ring’s neighboring Three Rings Ranch while in high school. He then worked for Farrell Jones on his California ranch and assisted Lefty Nickerson in New York before training privately for Roger Braugh in 1974. He opened a public stable in California in 1976 and since that time has won 17 $1-million races.

Nobody is happier when Santa Anita Park hosts the Breeders’ Cup World Championships than Racing Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella. In 2003, Mandella saddled winners of four of the eight Breeders’ Cup races, including the Breeders' Cup Classic (Grade 1) with Pleasantly Perfect, for earnings of $4,564,040—considered one of the sport’s greatest single-day achievements.

Mandella was almost as good in the 1993 Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita, winning two Breeders’ Cup races and two other stakes for earnings of $1,697,500. In 2012, Mandella trained Beholder to a Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies win and the title as champion 2-year-old filly. In 2013, Beholder had another championship season that culiminated with a victory in the Breeders' Cup Distaff. Beholder had to miss most of 2014 due to multiple mishaps but returned in 2015 with an undefeated season, winning three Grade 1 stakes including the Pacific Classic against the boys. Scratched just days before a showdown with American Pharoah in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, Beholder returned to training and won the 2016 Vanity Mile before finishing second in three straight races, twice to Stellar Wind and once to California Chrome. She then competed in her third Breeders' Cup race and won for the third time after a stirring stretch battle with previously unbeaten Songbird.

In 2019, Mandella-trained Omaha Beach emerged as a leading Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve contender with wins in the Rebel Stakes and Arkansas Derby, giving the Hall of Famer a good chance at scoring his first classic win.

Known for his dry wit and self-deprecating sense of humor, Mandella has served on many industry organizations and committees.