Will Walden’s story is a remarkable one. After battling substance abuse issues for over a decade, he’s sober and just finished his first year as a coach, winning 22% of the starters . But the success of his stable extends beyond trips to the winner’s circle. Walden’s team is comprised of individuals also steeped in addiction, and the team works together to not only create winners, but to support each other.
Afterward an inspirational video about Walden’s story produced by Katie Petrunyak of TDN, the team from the podcast TDN Writers’ Room presented by Keeneland want to hear more. Walden is this week’s Green Group Guest of the week.
Walden said of some of his worst days: “I was miserable and wanted to be clean and sober. “But I’m not. I had been kicked out of the house a few weeks before, and I had basically accepted the fact that one day I would die of a drug addiction. It’s a pretty sad state to be in.
But eventually something happened, and after working at Wendy’s, where he proved to himself and others that he could go to work and be responsible, Walden, the Chairman’s son. and WinStar CEO, Elliott Walden, decided to fulfill his long-held dream of becoming a coach. He soon discovered that being with the horses every day was a powerful tool to keep both him and his staff on track.
“It’s hard to put into words what these horses do inside,” said Walden. “I will give it to you this way. When these people started working with the horses, I told them, you wouldn’t be able to tell the date or time. It can happen in two weeks. It can happen in a day, it can happen in four months. But that horse will look you straight in the eye and you will have this feeling inside that animal accepts you for who you are and exactly where you are and doesn’t care about your past, doesn’t care about your future, but accept you for who you are. And that’s what addiction and alcoholism is a long-lost feeling.
Walden’s interviews with TDN are not his first. Since opening the stables, he has been open about his past, never shying away from the ugliest details. Why?
“I really don’t like bringing up the past all the time and talking about it, but if there’s a possibility that someone out there is listening and going through it and don’t think anyone can empathize with it, don’t think so. have anyone else been there, don’t think anyone else is eating out of the trash or has gone to jail as well, they can hear it from me or they can hear it from one of the people mine,” he said. “We were in the same place. You wouldn’t think it because of what our lives look like now and what we have to do every day. But I can promise you, we were there and there were millions of hands reaching out and grabbing me as I sunk in it. I want to give back and help as many people as possible, because there are so many people who have spent time in their day, time away from family, away from children, away from work, their lifestyle, you have to do. What help rescue me. And if I can do it for just one person, it’s worth it.”
On the track, Walden’s stable seems to aim for bigger and better things. He started his first horses on September 5, 2022 and finished the year with nine wins from 41 starts. In December, he won his first bet race when Kate’s Kingdom beat My Charmer S. at Turfway Park.
Elsewhere on the podcast, also sponsored by cooler, the end of the alley, Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, XBTV and https://www.threechimneys.com/ Purebred West PointZoe Cadman, Randy Moss and Bill Finley discussed Remarkable safety record Santa Anita achieved in 2022 and what could soon be back for coach Rick Dutrow. The team also looked at a picture of a 3-year-old foal and the depth of Brad Cox’s stable.
