Every trainer has had one. Not always the winningest horse. Not always the most expensive one. Not even always the easiest. Sometimes the favorite is the horse who made them work harder, think differently, or become better at the job.
In a barn full of client horses, sale horses, prospects, futurity hopefuls, and seasoned show horses, “favorite” can be a complicated word. Trainers are not supposed to play favorites. Their job is to give every horse a fair shot, every owner honest effort, and every customer the same professional standard.
But, ask them privately, and most will admit there are horses who just get to them in a different way.
“I don’t think your favorite is always the best horse,” one trainer told us. “Sometimes it’s the one you had to figure out. The one who made you lose sleep. The one who taught you the most.”
That is often where favoritism begins — not with perfection, but with history.
A favorite horse may be the one who dragged a trainer through the mud for months before finally trusting them. It may be the one who rose to the occasion at the right moment. It may be the horse who packed a youth kid safely around the pen, or the one who gave a trainer their first major win. It may be the one who never won the biggest trophy, but showed up every day with the same honest expression.
“You’re not supposed to say you have favorites,” one trainer admits. “But of course you do. Some horses just become part of your life.”
Still, in a professional barn, favoritism has to be handled carefully. Trainers cannot let affection interfere with fairness, business, or good judgment. A favorite may get extra attention, but every horse still has to be fed, ridden, conditioned, cared for, and represented honestly.
It becomes even harder when the favorite is owned by a client. Trainers may ride, campaign, and care for a horse for years, only to have the owner decide to sell, move barns, retire the horse, or take it home. That is part of the business, but it doesn’t always make it easy.
“The hardest ones are the ones you know better than anyone, but they aren’t yours,” one trainer says. “You know their little habits, what they like, what worries them, how they feel when they’re just a little off. Then one day, they’re gone. You have to be professional about it, but it still hurts.”
Some trainers go to great lengths to keep a favorite in the barn. They may try to buy the horse themselves, help find a lease situation, arrange a breeding agreement, or search for the perfect new owner instead of simply chasing the highest offer.
“I’ve talked people out of selling one too fast,” one trainer says. “Not because I was trying to control the situation, but because I knew the horse had more to give. Sometimes you just know a horse is special before everyone else sees it.”
Another trainer says they once helped place a favorite with a longtime customer at a lower price because the match mattered more than the money.
“I knew that horse would have a great life there,” the trainer says. “Could he have sold for more? Probably. But there are times when the right home is worth more than the biggest check.”
So, what kind of special treatment do favorites get?
The answers are usually small but revealing. The favorite may get the best stall, the extra flake of hay, the longer grooming session, or the first blanket adjustment when the weather changes. They may get turned out in the best paddock or ridden at the time of day when the trainer knows they feel best. They may get a softer schedule, more hand-walking, or a few extra minutes of attention after everyone else is done.
“One of mine always got his own kind of peppermints,” one trainer admitted. “It sounds ridiculous, but he knew. He would hear the wrapper from across the barn.”
Another trainer laughs when asked whether favorites get special treatment.
“Yes,” the trainer says. “Do I admit that to everyone? No. But yes. They might get the better stall fan or the extra bath or the good hay pile. It’s never anything that takes away from another horse, but they get spoiled a little.”
That may be the real distinction. Favoritism in a good barn is not about neglecting the others. It is about understanding one horse so deeply that the relationship becomes part of the training.
“When I think about quitting, I think about the horses like that,” one trainer says. “They’re the reason you keep doing it. They remind you that it’s not just a business.”
Favorites can complicate things. They can make selling harder. They can make goodbyes worse. They can blur the line between professional judgment and personal attachment.
But they also keep trainers human. Because beneath the schedules, show records, sale videos, futurity checks, and client calls, most trainers started for the same reason: at some point, one horse made them feel something they could not quite explain.
And if they are lucky, a few horses still do.
Stayed tuned for Part 2 of this fun series: How Anonymous Trainers Handle Their Favorite Clients
