Local Horse Trainer Dies at 57
Photo of trainer Chuck Simon via the New York Racing Association/Adam Coglianese
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Chuck Simon, a horse trainer and Saratoga Springs native, died last Sunday of cancer at Saratoga Hospital. He was 57.
During his more than 20-year career, Simon won over 350 races and earned $11 million in purses. In a statement, the New York Racing Association (NYRA) called Simon “one of racing’s most knowledgeable and passionate advocates.”
As a teenager, Simon accompanied his father to the Saratoga Race Course and soon decided that he wanted to work in the horseracing industry.
“When you’re growing up in Saratoga, you don’t realize that everyone does not have what you have,” Simon told Trainer Magazine in 2020. “Not every place has a racetrack right in the backyard.”
A graduate of Saratoga Central Catholic High School, Simon earned a B.S. in Animal Science from the University of Arizona’s Race Track Industry Program, where future Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher was a classmate. During a summer break, Simon interned at Yonkers Raceway, where he returned after graduation to work full-time as an assistant racing secretary.
Simon spent nearly 6 years assisting Hall of Fame legend H. Allen Jerkens before opening his own barn in 1999.
Training primarily for Ken and Sarah Ramsey, Simon won his first stakes at the Saratoga Race Course in 2000, when Saratoga Sunrise took the West Point Handicap. He was a regular every summer at the Spa through 2007.
Since 2020, Simon was host of the podcast network “Going in Circles.” He also did consulting work for the Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association in South Florida.