Fifteen horses.One stakes win.A Grade 1 placing.
The record
Ten weeks between his first win and a Grade 1 placing.
First career win
Tom Ridge Stakes
- Presque Isle Downs · Irad Ortiz Jr. up
- Won by 2¼ lengths
- Black type, first time out of the gate as a winner
June 30, 2025
Eight months in
Grade 1 placing
- Franklin-Simpson Stakes, Kentucky Downs
- Second, beaten a neck
- $400,000 purse
September 6, 2025
Golden Afternoon
$1,000,000+
- Career earnings, passed September 2026
- A total spanning his years in Carlo Vaccarezza’s barn as well as Nick’s
- Stakes winner · Grade 1 runner-up
September 5, 2026
His first starter ran fourth in a Grade 3.
See the official recordSomebody in this barn is always convinced you brought mints.
Selected starts
Every start- 1st
Military CruiserMaiden Special Weight
Churchill Downs
1stGolden AfternoonFranklin-Simpson Stakes (G1T)
Kentucky Downs
Beaten a neck in a Grade 1, eight months after Nick took the licence in his own name. Worth a $400,000 payday.
2ndGolden AfternoonTom Ridge Stakes
Presque Isle Downs · 6 furlongs · Irad Ortiz Jr.
Won by 2 1/4 lengths — Nick's first career win and first stakes win, from his 12th starter.
1st
Four of 32 starts as of 27 FEB 2026. The whole table is on the stable page, and the authoritative record is the official profile.
The operation
He works all 15 himself.
He sets every horse’s work himself and he is at the barn before light. When you call about your horse you are talking to the person who was standing at its stall that morning.
The string runs at Keeneland, Churchill Downs, Ellis Park and Kentucky Downs, and winters in South Florida.
Every other trainer asks you to inquire.
Ours prints the bill. The three ways into a horse, what a day rate covers, what gets billed on top of it, and how the trainer is paid — in writing, before you call rather than after.
How ownership worksWork together
Own the next one.
A small string, and Nick is the one you deal with. The next step is a conversation and a morning at the barn. Training starts before light. Wear boots.
Last start September 5, 2026
