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George Arnold II
Trainer Bios

G. R. "Rusty" Arnold II

Born: March 26, 1955, in Paris, Kentucky

Record at Keeneland

Total Wins: 294
Stakes Wins: 22

Career Firsts

First Grade 1 Win: 1982 Haskell Invitational Handicap at Monmouth Park with Wavering Monarch
First Stakes Win: 1976 Neptune at River Downs with Fleeting North
First Graded Stakes Win: 1982 Barbara Fritchie (G3) at Bowie with The Wheel Turns
First Career Win: July 25, 1975, at Delaware Park with La Yo Quiero

Starters in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes


Year

Horse

Finish

2017

Wild Shot

7th

2016

Star Hill

5th

1992

Colony Light

10th

1989

Tricky Creek

3rd

1989

Feather Ridge

4th

1986

The Flats

7th

1982

Wavering Monarch

3rd

At Keeneland


Third-leading trainer by Keeneland wins (294) behind Bill Mott (302) and D. Wayne Lukas (296). 

Leading trainer three times: Spring 1985, Spring 1986 and Fall 1987.

13 wins during the 1986 Spring Meet set a record for the season that lasted until Frank Brothers saddled 14 winners during the 1999 Spring Meet.

Two wins in Juddmonte Spinster (G1): Clear Mandate (1997) and Romantic Vision (2017).

Two wins in Central Bank Ashland (G1): Karlovy Vary (2012) and Weep No More (2016).

Other Grade 1 winners are Wicked Style (2007 Breeders’ Futurity), Karelian (2010 Maker’s Mark Mile) and Centre Court (2013 Jenny Wiley).

In 2020 won two stakes with Leinster: Shakertown (G2) during five-day Summer Meet and Woodford (G2) Presented by Keeneland Select during the Fall Meet.

Won the 2021 Rubicon Valley View (G3) with Navratilova during the Fall Meet.

Trained Divine Warning, who won seven races from 13 starts on Keeneland’s turf course, with two seconds, two thirds and two fourths. Divine Warning won at least one race during five consecutive Keeneland meets, from the spring of 1991 through the spring of 1993.

Career


North American career earnings of $82 million with 1,917 wins through Nov. 28, 2023.

Click here for his Equibase career record.

Background


Rusty represents the third generation of his family in the Central Kentucky Thoroughbred industry. His grandfather James Russell was the broodmare foreman at Elmendorf Farm. His father, the late George R. Arnold Sr., co-owned Fair Acres Farm; bred horses to race or sell; and trained at Keeneland. Rusty’s brother, Terry, manages Dixiana Farm.

While growing up, Rusty worked on the family farm on weekends and during summers. He began breaking yearlings and went to work for trainer Eugene Euster. While attending the University of Kentucky, he took pre-veterinary classes but the race track held more appeal for him. He galloped horses for Euster and became his assistant trainer. By 1975, he had gone out on his own.

Rusty went to New York in 1980 and received a break in 1985 when he was named to train a division of John Ed Anthony’s Loblolly Farm after Shug McGaughey left to train for the Phipps family. More recently, he has enjoyed success while training for G. Watts Humphrey Jr.

His wife, Sarah, a former exercise rider, works with him in their training operation. Her role includes escorting the horses to the track while riding the stable pony. They were married in 1996.