From Selling Newspapers at Saratoga to Being in the Winner’s Circle

Saratoga Spring native Jennifer Paragallo wins her first race at Saratoga Race Course as trainer following a horse racing path that started with selling the Daily Racing Form and newspapers.

Jennifer Paragallo’s career path in horse racing may be an atypical one, but the path has recently become a winning one.

Paragallo won her first race as a trainer at Saratoga Race Course on Friday when Dunedin Causeway took the lead inside the sixteenth pole before inching away to a three-quarter length margin in the maiden claiming race.

“A win anywhere, regardless of the track, is special,” she said with a hoarse and raspy voice from shouting with excitement. “Though, a win at Saratoga is special. This one is my biggest deal because it’s home. Being from Saratoga and growing up here, this means the world to me.”

Paragallo’s world in horse racing started as a child when she was selling the Daily Racing Form and other newspapers with her mother outside the track. During that time, she became familiar with jockeys and their agents, as well as trainers and other horsemen.

Entering her teenage years, Paragallo evolved into a dedicated fan of the sport, which part of it was reflected constantly watching the first Breeders’ Cup on her recorded VHS tape before it broke from overuse.

By the time Paragallo entered Saratoga Springs High School in the late 1980s, she had aspirations of going to the “big leagues” at Belmont Park and Aqueduct where she could gallop horses. However, she never realized that Saratoga was always the place to be.

“When I was a kid, I knew that Saratoga was big, but I couldn’t wait to leave,” she said. “I never knew this was the big leagues, and I’ve been to a lot of tracks all over the country –California, Florida, Arkansas, Texas, Indiana, New Jersey and Delaware. There is no place like Saratoga.”

Once Paragallo left Saratoga Springs in 1991, she started galloping horses for trainers that included Mike Daggett, Mike Sedlacek, and Terri Pompey. After galloping horses for a few years, Paragallo wanted to follow her dream of becoming a jockey.

During the Oaklawn Park meet in 1994 while riding under her maiden name Jennifer Robinson, Paragallo had just five mounts during that meet with none of them finishing in the money.

Once the Oaklawn Park meet ended, Paragrallo migrated to Finger Lakes where she was getting closer to her first victory with three second-place finishes. With no Winner Circle appearance, she ended that year with a second-place and third-place finish at Aqueduct.

With more riding opportunities in 1995 at Atlantic City, Paragallo finally won her first race aboard Prize Writer in a claiming race. Just over a week later, she guided Delightful Marine to his first victory after 41 attempts as a maiden.

That was the last winner for Paragallo as she finished her jockey career at Hoosier Park on Oct. 15, 1995 due to limited opportunities and other challenges.

“I was bound and determined to be some great jockey,” she said. “I didn’t plan to quit. I was making a decent living, but I was fighting my weight. It was probably not in my cards to be a jockey because I wasn’t naturally light.”

Paragallo came back to New York as an exercise rider for a plethora of trainers that include Hall of Famers Bill Mott and Nick Zito for the next two decades. 

Paragallo eventually transitioned into an assistant trainer with her early opportunity coming from Bruce Brown in 2009. During her 4½ years with Brown, she took care of the 30 horses that he stabled at Saratoga once the Oklahoma Training Track opened in the spring.

During her time with Brown, Paragallo traveled to Santa Anita for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Spring with Spring to the Sky and Churchill Downs for Breeders’ Cup Mile with Compliance Officer. She also went to Woodbine for the graded stakes races with New York-bred Strong Impact and Night Officer.

“This was an important part of me,” Paragallo said. “Bruce is the easiest-going and simple kind of guy. He was one of the best bosses that I had. There is so much [public relations] at Saratoga. He liked how I handled that.”

Paragallo made the decision to become a trainer in late 2022. About three months since her first starter at Tampa Bay Downs, she won her first race with Redzilla on Mar. 4, and that followed with a victory from Mylastredcent and another win from Redzilla.

Now, she has just five horses at Barn 42 at Saratoga. Four of those horses are still looking for their first wins: Althena, Devil of Ramadi, Fire Baron, and Theregoesmymiracle.

Though, Paragallo wasn’t the only trainer who earned her first Saratoga win based at Barn 42. In fact, she gave up one of her stalls for Kathleen O’Connell, who also picked up her first Saratoga victory – and her 2,500th career win – with Thirty Thou Kelvin in Wednesday’s allowance race.

Paragallo likes the manageable stable size that is supported by just her exercise rider and roommate Makaia Carpenter, as well as and her assistant and groom Richie Suttle, who once had his lone stakes win with Dontletthebigonego in the Grade 3 Lafayette Stakes and his only Saratoga victory with Momsmercedes in a maiden race – both in 1998.

“We have a small team. We’re best friends,” Paragallo said. “My friends are my team. We’re working with horses every day – inside and out. We get up 4:30 in the morning and stay until noon. It doesn’t matter if it is hot out, cold out, or raining. We enjoy this small stable.”

 Even with the support of her team, Paragallo knows that being a trainer is still a lifelong learning experience, especially since that has been reinforced by the late Hall of Fame trainer H. Allen Jerkens and his former assistant Chuck Simon, also a Saratoga Springs native.

“I’m still on a learning curve,” Paragallo said. “Jerkens trained horses for more than 50 years. He said you never stop learning. Even Chuck said that you never stop learning.”

“I am a little thick-headed,” she added. “Sometimes, you don’t always see stuff when you are in the moment,” she added. “I might be overtraining. I might be overreading. I might be trying too hard sometimes. When you are trying to force something, you cannot make it happen. I understanding these things. No one teaches you these things.”

While Paragallo never had intention of training horses, she has embraced this part of her career path, but she had never forgotten about being a fan of horse racing, especially at Saratoga.

“They say, ‘Do what you love and you will never work a day in your life.’ I’m living my dream. I don’t want to miss a moment with my horses. Coming to Saratoga, I am still a fan. This is where I fell in love with the sport.”