Trainer Bios

G. R. "Rusty" Arnold II

Born: March 26, 1955, in Paris, Kentucky

Record at Keeneland

Total Wins: 303

Stakes Wins: 24

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

Keeneland's second-leading trainer by wins (303) behind Bill Mott (306).

Won eight races during the 2024 Fall Meet capped by a three-win day that included two stakes victories: the Bank of America Valley View (G2) with Poolside With Slim (IRE) and the Myrtlewood with Echo Sound.

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: the Shakertown (G2) during five-day Summer Meet and the Woodford (G2) Presented by Keeneland Select 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 exceed $86.5 million with 1,957 wins through Dec. 16, 2024.

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, works at WinStar 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 roles have included escorting horses to the track while riding the stable pony. They were married in 1996.