Training since 1975, George “Rusty” Arnold II begins the Spring Meet as Keeneland’s all-time leading trainer with 309 victories here among his 2,000 career wins — a milestone he reached March 14 at Gulfstream Park. While reaching 2,000 wins was a major event, Arnold said it did not compare to the occasion when he became Keeneland’s all-time leader in October.

“The younger guys are going to pass my record, but I got there (atop the list of all-time Keeneland trainers by wins),” Arnold said. “I am proud and that is enough for me. Getting by Wayne (Lukas, who won 296 Keeneland races) was such a huge deal. I had talked to him about it. I don’t have a Hall of Fame career and I know it. To get compared on the record books to (Racing Hall of Famers) Wayne and Billy Mott (second with 308 Keeneland wins) is a big deal. I didn’t do it in the whole world, but I did it here. That was a lot more important to me than 2,000 wins. We thought we could get it done several years ago and sort of aimed for it.”

A native of Paris, Kentucky, Arnold learned his trade from his late father, a Keeneland-based trainer, and grew up working on the family’s Thoroughbred farm. He eventually became an exercise rider and took pre-veterinary courses at the University of Kentucky before scoring his first training win in 1975. While Arnold typically sends divisions to Florida for the winter and Saratoga Race Course and Churchill Downs during the year, his operation has been based at Keeneland’s year-round Rice Road stable area adjacent to the track since the barns were completed in 1982.

Trainers now have more than 100 horses under their direction, but Arnold’s achievements have come with a stable that has averaged 30. He readily acknowledges that his time with the Keeneland title will not last long. 

“Billy Mott still has a lot of horses, but he wasn’t running as many as he used to so we ground it out and got him,” he said. “He might go past me on opening day (when he has starters in four races), but we have (the wins record) for whatever time we have it for. We got there. For one given day, we were there. I was born and raised here and remember my first win here.”

Arnold credits his wife, Sarah, for much of his success.

“She has been a key part since the late ’80s so she has been there for almost all the wins,” he said. “She galloped a lot of the good horses. When she decided not to ride anymore, she rode the lead pony. That gave me (an on-track) perspective that I couldn’t get. She has a great opinion about horses. I probably would be lost without her opinion.”

Arnold will begin his quest to add to his Keeneland total on Friday’s opening day with three entrants, including LNJ Foxwoods’ Zeppelin in the $600,000 UK HealthCare Transylvania (G3) going a mile and a sixteenth on the turf.

“He is doing very well and is a horse I think the world of,” Arnold said of Zeppelin, who finished third going a mile this winter at Gulfstream in the Colonel Liam (L) and the Dania Beach (L). “I think he will be better going a mile and a quarter or longer — distance runs in his family. I am excited about the summer, and I think he will get better as the year goes on.”

On Saturday, Arnold has Bregman Family Racing’s To a Flame set to go in the $500,000 Appalachian (G2) Presented by Japan Racing Association and Calumet Farm’s Track Mate in the $350,000 Commonwealth (G3).

“We planned on this race all along with her,” Arnold said of To a Flame, who returned to the races after a six-month layoff with an allowance victory at Gulfstream on March 7. 

To a Flame has won two of three starts with the lone setback a third-place finish in the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies (L) last August.

Track Mate, who breezed 3 furlongs in :35.20 Tuesday morning here, will be making his first start since a runner-up finish in the Pelican (L) at Tampa Bay Downs on Feb. 7.

“He didn’t get away very good at Tampa, but he ran well,” Arnold said. “He has been training well, and we will see how he fits.”