'Too Stubborn To Quit': Trainer David Duggan Enjoying Career Resurgence In New York

Trainer David Duggan has celebrated a career revival over the past three years, and looks to keep that momentum going this spring with a bustling stable of competitive horses, including three stakes-level trainees that have proven themselves this winter at Aqueduct Racetrack.

While many with Irish heritage have taken Sunday off to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, the hardworking Duggan spent his day as he usually does, exercising and caring for his horses at his Belmont Park barn. Coincidently, Sunday is also his wife Lara’s birthday.

“We’ll be celebrating Lara’s birthday more than anything,” said Duggan, with a laugh.

Duggan, who enjoyed two of his best years in earnings to date in 2022 and 2023, has gotten off to a strong start in 2024, scoring five wins through 26 starts with 10 other on-the-board finishes, good for an in-the-money rate of nearly 58 percent.

“If you had told me that number five years ago, I wouldn’t have believed it,” Duggan said, with a smile. “It’s been a long road, but I have been too blunt and too stubborn to quit. There’s always pathways to success, but you find them in small places sometimes.”

The road to consistent success has been a long one for Duggan, who was born and grew up in Tipperary, Ireland. The 55-year-old conditioner, who manages his stable with Lara, first began riding horses in his native Ireland where his family had ties to horse racing.

“I grew up with farm life and my uncle introduced me to jump racing – he was a permit trainer and had a couple of horses,” said Duggan. “That led to me be a rider, and I was a jockey for six or seven years.”

During his tenure as a rider, Duggan traveled the world to ride horses mostly on the flat, and over jumps in the latter part of his riding career. His life took an unexpected turn when he suffered an injury that brought his time as a jockey to an end.

“I was traveling and riding in Germany, France, India, when I was 17 and 18. I was in Australia for two years. My bags were always packed and ready to go,” said Duggan. “I did well for several years, but I had a bad fall and a head injury, so I left for California for a sabbatical and never went back.”

The Duggans moved to California in 1993 and he began working for Hall of Famer Neil Drysdale. After 18 months in California, he moved to the Empire State to work for John Kimmel for five years ahead of a move back to California to work for Eoin Harty. But a boost to New York’s purses led Duggan to return to New York in 2005, and allowed the seasoned horseman to venture out on his own for the first time as a trainer.

“We stumbled our way through it and Lara’s been along for most of the journey,” said Duggan. “When they added the casinos in New York, I figured we could make a living here. We did OK for a while, but then we crashed and burned.”

For his first four seasons, Duggan got off to a strong start and steadily improved his earnings each year, posting his best year to date in 2008 with 23 wins from 134 starts and more than $1 million in earnings. But from there, his annual earnings fell with each year, banking less than $300,000 in 2012 before rising slightly and falling again to less than $200,000 in 2016. Duggan said by that point his operation was at a crossroads.

“We got back on it again like a surfboard,” said Duggan. “Five or six years ago, we were in the back of Linda Rice’s barn and we didn’t have anything. We were at a point where you ask if you should continue doing this or get the hell out of it.”

While Duggan scraped his way through the next few years and contemplated giving up his training operation, his determination and hard work were rewarded handsomely when a horse almost as well-traveled as him stepped into his barn in 2020.

The gray gelding Drafted, who had spent over three years racing in Dubai, may have appeared to some as having left his best form overseas as his tenure with Duggan got off to a rocky start. Drafted had won two Group 3 sprints at Meydan and had previously run in Kentucky, California and England. The then 7-year-old struggled in his first eight tries for Duggan, missing the winner’s circle but showed signs of life when hitting the board in a pair of Listed stakes at the Big A.

February 2022 proved a turning point for both the gelding and for Duggan when Drafted posted his first win in nearly three years with a 4 1/2-length romp in the Grade 3 Toboggan at Aqueduct. That race was the start of something special for the Duggan team, who went on to celebrate additional wins in the Grade 3 Runhappy at Belmont Park, the Mr. Prospector at Monmouth Park and the Gravesend at Aqueduct along with four other stakes placings with Drafted. The gelding banked just shy of $500,000 for his last connections.

Drafted retired in July, and has since been adopted out by New Vocations Racehorse Adoption, who recently posted and update on “X” [formerly known as Twitter] to say the now 10-year-old is on target to compete in the Retired Racehorse Project’s Thoroughbred Makeover this fall.

“Drafted put me back on the map,” said Duggan. “He was always the quietest horse in the barn, and they’re doing so well with him now in retirement. Isn’t that such a great story?”

Shortly after the start of Drafted’s run of success, Duggan’s expert handling of the gelding drew the attention of several new clients, as well as Clear Stars Stables, who turned over several of their trainees’ care to him once conditioner Rick Schosberg retired.

With a barn now full of quality, talented stock, Duggan has continued to enjoy success at the highest level in New York, including a stakes triumph with Ken Wheeler, Jr.’s New York-bred Kant Hurry Love in the Dancin Renee in June at Belmont, where she defeated the Tom Morley-trained Grannys Connection by a nose. The 5-year-old Kant Hurry Love has gone on to hit the board in four additional stakes, including a last-out second by a nose to Hot Fudge in the Correction on March 9 here with regular pilot Trevor McCarthy aboard.

“Trevor said it took him three days to recover,” said Duggan, with a laugh. “Look, we did the same thing to Morley with Grannys Connection, so I was due a bit of payback. Respect to the winner – it was a great horse race.”

Duggan added Kant Hurry Love is targeting the six-furlong Primonetta on April 13 at Laurel Park, with a long-term goal of a return to the Dancin Renee at Belmont at the Big A and the Union Avenue this summer at Saratoga Race Course, the latter of which she finished second in last year.

There is also hope for the next generation of runners for Duggan, as promising newly-turned 3-year-old New York-bred fillies Walk With Me and Sunday Girl have their sights set on stakes engagements at Aqueduct.

Walk With Me demonstrated her precocity with a gritty head score on debut in November here, and followed with a valiant second-place finish in the $500,000 NYSSS Fifth Avenue in December, where she banked $100,000 for the effort. Last-out, she was fourth in the state-bred Maddie May after a bumpy start and troubled trip to finish well behind the victorious My Mane Squeeze, who has won three consecutive state-bred stakes.

“She’s doing very well,” said Duggan. “She’ll run in an allowance race on the 7th. She ran into a buzzsaw last time and she was a little immature. But, she’s got time.”

As for Sunday Girl, a romping debut winner against state-breds on February 10, the daughter of Central Banker has the lucrative option of targeting the $200,000 NYSSS Park Avenue on April 14 due to her sire being nominated to the program.

“We’ll go there next,” said Duggan. “She was sharp and she’s a nice filly. That Stallion race fits in her schedule nicely.”

With his newfound success in New York and his ability to stay competitive in one of racing’s most difficult and prestigious racing circuits, Duggan said he is thankful for the support of his clients, and for the added benefits of the New York-bred program.

“The more I look at it and the more I absorb it, this program is giving people in the second tier more opportunity to accumulate money and to buy more horses,” said Duggan.

After thousands of miles traveled and nearly 1,500 starts completed under his watchful eye, Duggan humbly sums up his career resurgence to the most respected ranks of the sport.

“We’re a sustainable stable right now and that’s all you can ask for,” said Duggan. “Isn’t it nice to be competitive in these races and to be having this conversation?”