Neil J. Howard

Born: Feb. 23, 1949, Riverdale, N.Y.                          Residence: Louisville, Ky.

Family: wife Susan, whom he met at the racetrack when she was galloping horses for Hall of Fame trainer P.G. Johnson; grown children Ashleigh and Jared

    Racing Background: Involved with hunter/jumpers as a teen, Howard had his first exposure to racing in the late 1960s after two years in the Navy, when he visited Waterford Park in West Virginia in search of show prospects … He gained his initial racetrack experience in 1969 working for trainer John Cotter, and later worked for such prominent horsemen as Joe Cantey and Hall of Famers Woody Stephens and Mack Miller … After seven years with Miller (leaving as stable foreman), Howard went out on his own in the spring of 1979 and saddled his first winner, Knock Knock Bird, to a $43.60 payoff at River Downs on May 27, 1979

    Racing Career: Represented by his first stakes winner on Nov. 8, 1980 when Hasty Tam triumphed in the Ohio Open Championship Handicap at Beulah Park. Has since won more than 160 stakes races … In 1984, Howard went to work as a private trainer for Will Farish's Lane's End Farm … Has developed many stakes winners for Lane's End, including Mineshaft, whose seven stakes victories in 2003 earned him Horse of the Year honors and the Eclipse Award as champion older male. Four of those victories were in Grade 1 races: Pimlico Special, Suburban, Woodward and Jockey Club Gold Cup ... First gained national attention in 1990 with Dogwood Stable's Summer Squall (co-bred and co-owned by Farish) won 13 of 20 starts, including the Preakness Stakes. Dogwood had purchased the colt from Lane’s End and had him broken by their trainer, but Dogwood’s managing partner, Cot Campbell, asked Farish if Howard could train the colt. Summer Squall retired with more than $1.8 million in earnings ... Trained Mambo in Seattle, who lost the 2008 Travers Stakes by a nose; Grasshopper, surprise second-place finisher to Street Sense in the 2007 Travers and winner of the 2008 Mineshaft Handicap ... Other major stakes winners trained by Howard include 2000 Kentucky Oaks and Mother Goose winner Secret Status; Prospectors Delite (Ashland and the Acorn in 1992), Runup the Colors (Delaware Oaks and Alabama), Shadow Cast (2005 Personal Ensign), America Alive (2005 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic), Tomisue's Delight (Personal Ensign and Ruffian), Grand Jewel (Lexington and the Fayette), and multiple stakes winners Dove Hunt, Weekend Delight, Midway Road and Alumni Hall … Howard has been the leading trainer at Churchill Downs twice (once was a tie) and at Keeneland once (in a tie) ... Has a string of 20 based year round at Keeneland Race Course with assistant Joseph DeSantis and another division of 25 at Fair Grounds in the winter and Churchill Downs the remainder of the year where his assistant is Richard Giannini ... While Lane's End remains his largest client, he no longer serves as their private trainer. In fact, his best runners in 2010 are owned by Dogwood Stable ... Atoned, a Breeders' Cup Mile prospect, most recently finished third in the Turfway Park Fall Championship (G3) and earlier in the year Lou Brissie, by top Dogwood runner Limehouse, won the Kentucky Juvenile Stakes (G3).

Tied for eighth in Keeneland career stakes victories with 19 and ranks ninth by wins with 154.