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March 10 2026

Census – The Best of the Rest

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By: Wesley Faulkenberry

Every sport has legendary rivalries. Ali had titanic clashes with Joe Frazier. Those Brady-Manning games are still the stuff of legend. Michael Jordan had the Pistons and their Jordan Rules. Secretariat had Sham, running right there with him on every leg of the Triple Crown, and Man o’ War had Upset. Steeplechase great Flatterer? He had a 16-hand chesnut with a big white blaze named Census.

Census was foaled at Elmendorf Farm, sired by Speak John out of Rhinestone II. He had the pedigree for distance and his damsire, Never Say Die, had won the Epsom Derby. After some success on the flat under “Pancho” Martin, Census caught the eye of Leo O’Brien, a trainer who scouted potential ‘chasers on the flat. O’Brien inspired Henry G. Wood to buy Census for $20,000 and to hire Janet Elliot to train him. Elliot, who had recently gone off on her own after spending a decade with Jonathan Sheppard, had never met Wood, but he still sent her the horse.

The new partnership of Henry Wood, Janet Elliot, and Census went to the starting line near the end of the 1982 season. He lost his first two races by a combined fifty-five lengths; but did find his primary rider, Jeff Teter. If Wood had any doubts about his new purchase, they were soon put to rest as Census won two of his last three races to conclude his rookie campaign over jumps with five starts and two wins.

The 1983 season opened at Aiken where Census was named to the Imperial Cup. He finished second to the veteran team of John Cushman and Thrice Worthy. Afterwards, owner Henry Wood decided that it was his turn. He rode Census in an amateur race at Atlanta and guided his mount home a winner. Now, Wood set his eyes on the big prize for amateurs: the Iroquois Steeplechase.

Team Census arrived in Nashville and Wood got the leg up. With half a mile to run, it was still anyone’s race. Princely Mint came up and took the lead from Census. Then The Hall of Famer stormed past them at the top of Heartbreak Hill. Census battled back and reclaimed the lead at the last fence. Double Reefed tried to run him down with a furious effort, but Wood and Census held on to win.

The victory came with a realization for Henry Wood. He had purchased Census to ride in amateur races, but the class he had shown in winning the Iroquois demonstrated a high degree of talent. Two weeks after the Iroquois, and one day before Census’ next race, his friend George Chase called him.

“I had heard that Census was for sale. Henry bought the horse originally to ride for his own enjoyment, but now he felt he was doing the horse an injustice and he was thinking of selling, following his impressive win in the Iroquois. We talked things over, agreed on a price, and I immediately got on the phone to Janet Elliot. I told her about the transaction and that I would rush my silks to her by overnight mail.” George Chase recalled the story for American Steeplechasing 1986.

With Jeff Teter now in Chase’s green and orange check silks, the duo continued to finish in the money at the stakes races of the summer and fall, but could not make it to the winner’s circles. For the Colonial Cup, won by rival Flatterer, The Daily Racing Form notes that Census did “prove much the best of the others.” Census Won only two races in his second year, though one was the prestigious and lucrative Iroquois. Nevertheless, Census showed that he was more than ready to play with the big boys.

The 1984 season began in Palm Beach, Florida. Census finished fourth as the top weight in the Sotheby Cup. He then won a flat race at Camden before heading to Atlanta to face Flatterer, the defending champion. Flatterer raced to the front and Census made a strong effort to close in the stretch, but came up short.

After victories in the Pillar Stakes and the Iroquois, Team Census went to the Hard Scuffle steeplechase, for another showdown with Flatterer. Halfway through, the two went into their own match race, with Flatterer just ahead of Census. Census and Teter dug into their reserves, and edged the champion by a half a length, handing Flatterer his first defeat in nearly a year.

At Saratoga the New York Turf Writers Cup became the rubber match between Flatterer and Census. As they rounded the clubhouse turn, Flatterer and Census jumped the last four fences together, but Flatterer jumped the last better and was able to press his advantage for another win. Less than a month later, Census was again prepared to face Flatterer in the Brook Handicap. As they had done before, Census and Teter made their move late, but Flatterer and Fishback held them off for the win.

Team Census remained undaunted. They won the Temple Gwathmey and a warmup race at Great Meadow, then hit the road for Camden to face Flatterer for the fifth time that season.

In the Colonial Cup, the two distanced themselves from the rest of the field and jumped the last fence side-by-side. Flatterer pulled away from Census in the stretch to win by one and a quarter lengths. Flatterer set a new course record of 5:09 during their struggle. As had often been reported, the charts declared Census “much the best of the others at the wire.”

The victory secured a second Eclipse Award for Flatterer, but Team Census did not come away with nothing. Census’ season earnings of $125,885 topped Flatterer’s $120,342. Jeff Teter also secured his first jockey championship with twenty-five jump wins to Jerry Fishback’s sixteen.

Reflecting on the season and the rivalry, Sheppard cited Flatterer as a superior jumper to Census and emphasized Flatterer’s versatility as a runner, able to win from the front or coming off the pace, as reasons for his success. Sheppard also had high praise for his star’s rival: “Census stays forever. He never gives up. You can never say you have him beat, because he always comes back at you.” Bill Pape offered his own interpretation: “Census has a heart as big as he is, but he lacks Flatterer’s acceleration.”

George Chase was pleased with his star’s performance: “[Janet and Jeff] did wonderful jobs with Census and deserve all the credit. We accomplished even more than we set out to do and I just sat back and enjoyed every minute of it.” Janet was effusive in her praise for Census: “It was such a pleasure handling Census. He is such a darling, easy to work with and there isn’t a gamer Jumper in America. He gives you his all every time out.” Jeff Teter also gave credit to Census: “Riding Census to win those stakes were the peaks in the season and winning the Bollinger Cup was a fantastic topper for me.”

Hindsight reveals a sad truth about the 1984 Colonial Cup: it was the last time that Flatterer and Census would face one another on the racetrack. After cooling out, Census came up lame. “It was his right front. His tendon wasn’t bowed out, but there was heat. At first, we thought it was a check ligament. An ultrasound scan, though, indicated that it was a high bow.” Janet recalled. Census underwent a split tendon surgery, followed by a long rehab schedule until he recovered enough to resume normal training. The 1985 season was off the table.

Census mounted a slow comeback tour in 1986. Now often carrying the highest weight in the field, he failed to win in his first five races but was often placed. When he and Charlie Fenwick failed to win the Iroquois, that familiar phrase is in the charts: “Finished with great courage to be much the best of the others.”

Census was never one to let close defeats get him down. If the old familiar places weren’t working, how about something new? Saratoga was somewhat familiar, but the A.P. Smithwick Memorial was new ground. Bolstered by a nice rest, the team decided to go for it.

As they had so many times, Census and Teter made their move coming to the last fence. They blew by Polar Parallel and set their sights squarely on La Sauteur. They headed him at the final fence, then Census jumped poorly, and La Sauteur pulled away. But as Sheppard said, “you can never say you have him beat.” Census battled back in the final stretch, securing his comeback win.

Plans for the Turf Writers were scrubbed when Census was found to be lame behind. This proved to be a minor injury, and, after a tune-up race, he returned for the Temple Gwathmey. Census and Teter showed their stamina when they wore down Tostadero in the stretch to win by a neck.

Come October, all eyes were set firmly on a new race at Fair Hill: The Breeders’ Cup Steeplechase with a $250,000 purse. Like the Colonial Cup, it was run as a weight-for-age. The 156-pound impost suited the three-time defending champion Flatterer well, and it suited his challenger Census just fine.

Flatterer was the early betting favorite, with Census second. Then, race-caller Tony Bentley shocked the crowd when he announced that Flatterer had been scratched. That morning, he had come up lame. Census became the 3-2 favorite. When the news of Flatterer’s withdrawal reached Jeff Teter, he had mixed emotions. “Sure, I now have a better shot, but at the same time I feel that Flatterer obviously belongs here and that a blanket is kind of thrown on the day without him.”

Census found himself a spot near the front and tucked in as he liked. He avoided a near disaster when Mr. Asia fell right in front of him but slid inside to stay on his feet. As the second circuit began Census decided he was ready to go to the front. “He nearly pulled me out of the saddle,” Teter said. “I didn’t want the lead so early because Census often gets lackadaisical when he’s in front.” But his fears were soon put to rest. Census was “jumping as well as he’s ever jumped.” In the stretch Teter peeked back. He saw Kesslin mounting a heavy charge. “I hoped the finish would come as soon as possible.” When it did come, it was Census one-and-a-half lengths ahead of Kesslin.

George Chase summed up his star’s comeback season: “The ever lovin’ care that Janet Elliot and her assistants gave Census, after the surgery on his leg, made it all possible. To come back and win the Breeders’ Cup, was an achievement beyond my wildest dreams.”

Census suffered from a lingering soundness problem that held him out for the 1986 season. Flatterer conducted his 1987 campaign without his rival. At the second running of the Breeders’ Cup, Flatterer was pulled up with a bowed tendon. His racing career was over.

Census went back into training for the 1988 season. After finishing third in a flat race, Team Census set their eyes on the Breeders’ Cup. Census went off as the 2-1 favorite, but he got lost in the shuffle, was never a factor, and finished ninth.

Setting the disappointment of the Breeders’ Cup behind them, they turned their eyes to Camden and the Colonial Cup. As was their strategy, Census and Teter tucked in behind the pace setter. They were well positioned coming into the final turn and tried to make their move but couldn’t get there. Census tired and gave way before Jimmy Lorenzo blew by the field to win. Census finished fourth.

As he turned eleven, he prepared for another campaign with George Chase, Janet Elliot, and Jeff Teter. He opened the season with a flat race at Camden, finishing second. Afterwards, Census won a handicap at the Gold Cup meet in his tried-and-true style: coming off the pace to win it at the last. The win pushed his earnings to $426,524. With his nineteenth victory, he had secured his crown as the NSA’s leading earner. Census continued to train for the 1989 season, but it would prove to be his final race.

Reflecting on the careers of Census and Flatterer reveals similarities and differences in their lives. Census was unimpressive on the flat and was sold to be a steeplechaser where it took him years to become a star. Flatterer was equally unimpressive on the flat, but took the steeplechase world by storm, becoming an instant star. When he was led off the Fair Hill course and into retirement, it was not a storybook end, but he enjoyed a storybook ending. Hunting and dressage, a big field to run around in, and an induction into the Hall of Fame.

Census would not get his storybook ending. It was a normal morning workout at Saratoga, Summer 1989. Janet was in the lead, Jeff Teter on Census in the middle, with Mary Walsh behind them.

“Mary started screaming ‘Janet! Janet!’ because she could see [Census] start to wobble and then down he went. I can still remember the exact spot on the track. We shipped him to my farm, and he’s buried there.” Janet remembered the day with crystal clarity. “For us that was the deepest of valleys.”

Such was the unceremonious end for the NSA’s, then, all-time leading earner.

Every sport has its GOAT (Greatest of All Time). Every GOAT has its challenger. It is the challenger’s role to push the GOAT to greater and greater heights, and oftentimes when we look back, we start to realize just how great the challenger truly was in his own right.

He was the kind of horse who is born just once in a decade. Unfortunately, he was born at the same time as a horse who is born just once in a century. His name was Census, and he is the best of the rest.

November 5 2025

The Winding Road of Raymond G. Woolfe

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By Wesley Faulkenberry

Author’s Note: This article would not have been possible without the insight and assistance provided by Tudy Bunn (née Woolfe), I am indebted to her generosity to help tell the story of her father Ray Woolfe and the Colonial Cup.

On November 23, thousands of people will descend upon Springdale Race Course for the 50^th Running of the Marion duPont Scott Colonial Cup, presented by Mullikin Law. The races were created in 1970 as a means of boosting American steeplechasing during a time when its future seemed uncertain, and they proved an immediate success with the horse community. The Colonial Cup helped lift steeplechasing out of the dark days of the early ‘70s by proving that the sport did not need to rely on the big tracks of the north, who had so recently banished steeplechasing, to sustain it.

Today the Colonial Cup is most associated with Mrs. Marion duPont Scott, for whom the headline race is named. If anything, this honor undersells her contributions. She was the last private owner of Springdale Race Course, purchasing it from the estate of Mrs. Florence Clark and saving it from an uncertain fate. Mrs. Scott was the one who covered the international invitees’ travel expenses so that they could attend the Colonial Cup. It was Mrs. Scott who covered the Colonial Cup’s financial shortfall every year until her death. After her death, she bequeathed Springdale Race Course to the state of South Carolina exclusively for equine use in perpetuity, preserving the historic track for future generations.

However, Mrs. Scott did not do it alone. She relied heavily on her right hand man, who was just as instrumental to the success of the Colonial Cup, but has not gotten the same recognition: Raymond G. Woolfe.

It was Woolfe, with his knowledge gained from his time as an amateur jockey and a trainer, who was tapped to run Springdale Race Course after the death of founder Harry Kirkover. It was Woolfe who presented the idea to Mrs. Scott about having a fall race. It was Woolfe who got the state to sponsor the races. It was Woolfe who designed the fences that would be used, and laid out the track for the races. Mrs. Scott paid for it, but Ray Woolfe built it.

Raymond George Woolfe was born in Westfield, New Jersey on November 10, 1909. His father, George Woolfe, was a steamfitter in New York City, but he was killed when Ray was just two years old, leaving his mother Theresa to raise Ray and his older brother Webb alone. With support from her brothers, and Ray who modeled sailor suits for the Altmann’s Department Store, his mother managed.

Small for his age, the young Ray Woolfe struggled to make friends and was a frequent target of teasing and bullying. Concerned for her young son, Theresa asked a family friend to take Ray on an outing to his workplace: a nearby encampment of the 102^nd Cavalry Regiment. The decision was one that would go on to shape Ray’s life.

The bond was immediate and deep between Woolfe and the Essex Troop. He became a daily fixture among their ranks both after school and on weekends. As great as the troopers were to the boy, it was the horses that really drew him in. He did anything and everything he could, from mucking stalls to shining boots, to stay close to the horses. The troopers were so taken with the boy that they soon made him their regimental mascot, providing him with his own uniform and assigned him his own horse: a pony named Cricket.

This arrangement continued until Woolfe turned eighteen. Then, one of the regiment’s officers reached out to a horseman in Aiken, SC and asked him if he might have a place for a promising young rider. Soon after, Woolfe received a letter inviting him to stay in Aiken under the tutelage of Thomas Hitchcock, Sr. Hitchcock taught Woolfe everything he knew about steeplechase, building off of what the troopers of the 102^nd had already taught him about horsemanship. He taught Woolfe how to examine a Thoroughbred, how to judge its conformation and soundness, and how to condition it to run over fences. His son

Raymond (Raymie) Woolfe, Jr., later said “Dad quoted Hitchcock to me like most fathers quote the Bible.” It opened Woolfe’s eyes to new opportunities beyond just riding races, and he saw a real future for himself as a trainer of steeplechase horses.

However, wise old Thomas Hitchcock pointed out a problem in Woolfe’s plan. If he wanted to be a trainer, he had to ride as an amateur. During the Great Depression, the steeplechasing world was still very much divided by class. The social elite who rode as amateurs, for sport rather than for pay, looked down their noses at the professionals who rode for money, considered little better than mercenaries. If Woolfe rode as a professional, he would make money, but the stigma meant he might not be able to achieve his true goal to work as a trainer. If he rode as a gentleman jockey, he might not be paid, but he would stand a chance of becoming a trainer down the road.

Woolfe made his decision, and joined the ranks of the fabled gentleman jockeys to chase his dream. (Although Raymie recalled that his father once told him “Gentleman jockeys took money under the table, professional jockeys took money over the table, and amateur jockeys were too dumb to take any at all.”)

So, Mr. Raymond G. Woolfe began to appear on the race cards printed in programs at the hunt meets around America. In time he established himself as one of the top riders on the circuit, winning the amateur jockey championship in 1938 and 1939. By the early 1940s Ray Woolfe shifted from riding to his true dream, training steeplechasers. His big break came in 1943 when he became the trainer for Mrs. Marion duPont Scott and her powerful Montpelier stable. In this capacity, he trained two of Mrs. Scott’s steeplechase champions, Shipboard in 1956 and Benguala in 1960, as well as numerous other stakes winners.

Since the early 1940s Woolfe moved his winter base to Camden, SC where he stabled and trained at the Springdale Training Center. He became close friends with Carolina Cup founder Harry Kirkover and soon helped him with running the track and organizing the races. When Kirkover died in 1958, the Carolina Cup Committee asked Woolfe to serve as the manager of the Carolina Cup as well as Springdale Race Course and Training Center. He accepted and would serve in this post until his death.

It was in this capacity that Ray Woolfe conceptualized the Colonial Cup during the summer of 1968. To help pay for the race, he planned on the sponsorship of private donors. Woolfe reached out to Lieutenant Governor John West to ask if donations to the race could be tax deductible if it was an official state sponsored event. When he got the affirmative on that idea, he went to Mrs. Scott who gave her blessing. With the backing of Mrs. Scott and Lt. Gov. West, the state of South Carolina agreed to sponsor the inaugural running of the Colonial Cup steeplechase in 1970 as an official event in South Carolina’s Tricentennial Celebration.

Woolfe lined up seventy-seven sponsors at $3,000.00 each, but the real kicker would come during a meeting of the state’s Tricentennial sports committee.

“One of the PGA officials asked the committee chairman if the Tricentennial would put up a purse in six figures for a golf tournament. When the chairman said no, the PGA man replied, ‘Well, if you don’t have a golf tournament for six figures, you’d better come up with some different kind of tournament.’ He sounded so much like a horseman that it made me think I’d have to come up with a six-figure purse for the Colonial Cup. There was already a $50,000 steeplechase, the Temple Gwathmey, and it wouldn’t be different to have another race worth $50,000.”

Thus, he decided the Colonial Cup should have a $100,000 purse, making it the first $100,000 steeplechase race in North America and the second richest in the world behind only the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris. Their hard work paid off on November 14, 1970 when twenty-two horses, thirteen American and nine foreign, went to the post in the inaugural running of the Colonial Cup. The race was won by Top Bid and proved Woolfe’s beliefs that it was these country hunt meetings, not the major tracks, that formed the backbone of American steeplechasing.

Ray Woolfe continued to run Springdale and nurture the Colonial Cup, the Carolina Cup, and the Training Center. On August 9, 1975, Ray Woolfe died of a heart attack at his home at just sixty-seven years old. His death left a deep void at Springdale Race Course. When the Carolina Cup Committee met to choose a successor, Mrs. Scott stood up, and in an uncharacteristically loud voice, declared “No one can ever replace Ray Woolfe.” Nevertheless, his close friend Dale Thiel was chosen to succeed Ray as Director.

The Colonial Cup would run for forty-six years, crowning twenty-seven of its winners as Champions, before it was discontinued after 2016. It briefly returned on the same day as the Carolina Cup in 2018, then lay dormant until its return last year.

Hopefully, this time it’s here to stay.

The first time I met with Ray’s daughter, Tudy, we stood in what is now the Austin and Sally Brown Founders Room and discussed the Cup. She remembered the room as the old Cup office, built at her father’s request, and recalled her time working for the Cup and for her father. She told us about how she used to lick stamps in Mr. Kirkover’s ballroom, hand address envelopes in the basement of the Court Inn, and sit behind her desk in that small office looking out at Springdale. It was one of these times that Ray began to think aloud what a shame it was that the property hosted just one race a year. He thought about how Springdale helped open the steeplechase season in March with the Carolina Cup and wondered if one day it might close the season in November.

More than fifty years later, the Colonial Cup will close out the National Steeplechase Association’s 2025 racing season. The second race of the day will be the Raymond G. Woolfe Memorial.

“I don’t think a man ever loved steeplechasing like my Dad. Steeplechasing is a consummate passion, yet some of the people in it don’t seem to give a damn. My father was one of the people who gave a damn, so were Mrs. Scott and Harry Kirkover…” – Raymond (Raymie) G. Woolfe, Jr.

July 24 2025

A totally unnecessary, but long overdue, remembrance of Jonathan Sheppard

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by Wesley Faulkenberry

A few days before the last Carolina Cup, John Cushman stopped in to pick up his race tickets. When he did, I caught up with him and we had a nice chat about the museum. He asked what plans we had to further memorialize Jonathan Sheppard. We had our exhibit about him, and we had a program ad at the Cup after he passed, but as we spoke it became clear that we had failed to give Jonathan Sheppard his due. Now, I will do my best to rectify that mistake.

Unlike seemingly everyone else in the horse world, I never had the privilege to meet Jonathan (I learned some time ago that if you just say Jonathan everyone in the horse world intuitively understands who you are talking about). The last time he came to the National Steeplechase Museum I was just a part-time intern and was not in on the day he visited. During his visit he spoke with Toby Edwards and Hope Cooper, took them to his houses here in Camden, and gave permission for the museum to take everything out of them and make a new exhibit. I was one of the people that brought the collection to the museum and catalogued it (it totals over 500 items), but, in that whole process, I never did meet the man.

As I sat down to write this, I struggled to come up with something to say. What can I say about Jonathan that the people who actually knew him haven’t already said far better? I could tell you that Jonathan won 1,150 jump races during his career that spanned almost fifty-five years, but the extent of his full race record will likely never be known, as prior to 1972 the NSA listed only the winning trainer of a race, leaving off all others. I could say that he won $24,902,442 off those jump races, more than any other trainer in history. I could tell you that he won the Trainer’s Championship by money won twenty-nine times, with twenty-six Championships by races won. I could tell you about his streak of eighteen consecutive Trainer’s Championships by money won, snapped only by his own disciple, Janet Elliot. I have never even attempted to figure out how many stakes winners he trained, but suffice it to say “a lot” would probably qualify as a correct answer. I could tell you he won an inconceivable fifteen Colonial Cups, nearly a third of every running of that race. I could tell you he won the New York Turf Writer’s Cup so many times that the race now bears his name. I could tell you he won a race at Saratoga every year for forty-seven straight years. I could tell you that he trained fifteen Eclipse Award winners, thirteen steeplechase and two on the flat. I could tell you that he trained two horses who are now enshrined alongside him in the Hall of Fame: Cafe Prince and Flatterer. I could tell you that he was the recipient of steeplechasing’s highest honor, the F. Ambrose Clark Award in 2013.

However, the chances are if you’re reading this you likely already knew all of that. Because you knew Jonathan the man better than I did.

One thing that few people talked much about was Jonathan’s breeding operations. Jonathan, alongside longtime friend and business partner Bill Pape, was one of the few people who actually set out to breed chasers. The most successful horse to come out of this arrangement is unquestionably a dark bay gelding, foaled in 1979, named Flatterer. Second on the list would be Divine Fortune, 2013’s Champion Steeplechaser, and winner of six stakes races over his career. Lap of the Gods is the only Sheppard bred that I know of still running, though he has not appeared on an NSA entry form in 2025. I’m sure someone with better knowledge of the horses currently in training will prove me wrong though.

Another old friend and business partner of Jonathan’s is George Strawbridge. Jonathan approached Strawbridge in the early 1960s and helped him get into the jumping game. Disaster struck almost immediately. After the first race of a horse Strawbridge had purchased for $15,000, Jonathan called him and told him: “The whole thing is my fault. I put the bandages on too tightly and the foot boots were wrong. His legs are now terrible, he’ll never race again, and your entire investment is now worthless.”

Sixty years later, Strawbridge sits second on the NSA’s all-time earnings list with over $9,000,000. I think the appraisal of the investment as worthless may have been premature.

While Jonathan was always quick to compliment his jockeys, and he certainly had some good ones in his barn, and the quality of horses his owners provided him, he was modest about his own abilities. When discussing his horses’ success he would say “Hopefully my training helps, too.” An observer once noted that he was the only trainer schooling his horses in a torrential rain and asked him if that told him anything. Sheppard remarked “sure, it tells me that maybe I’m wrong and everybody else is right.” Another time, when talking about training he offered the pearl: “You put a part of yourself into every horse you train. I suppose it’s 50% guesswork and the successful trainers get it right most of the time.”

What does all this say about Jonathan? The statistics are plain to see. But Jonathan is more than just statistics. Jonathan left behind a legacy greater than most sportsmen can ever dream of. It is greater than the profuse praise and lists of career records recorded in the numerous annals of American Steeplechasing. It is the legacy of countless hours of training, of innumerable early mornings, and late nights. It is a legacy measured not in number of races won, awards received, or championships earned. It is the legacy instead measured in number of lives touched and impacted. It is a legacy of redefining the word “Greatness” in a sport older than the nation in which it is run. It is a legacy that lives on in the hearts and minds of all members of the family of the sport of Steeplechase. It is a legacy of raising a bar so high it may never be topped.

When Marion duPont Scott died in 1983, she was said to have been the heart and soul of American steeplechasing. Far be it for me, to try to take one of that grand lady’s titles. However, I think it is fair to say that Jonathan, a son of England, was very the spirit of American steeplechasing. He embodied all that is good and noble in the sport: optimism, perseverance, dedication, and a quiet humility.

He will be missed, but Jonathan Sheppard will never be forgotten.

“The only goal I’ve had really is to do the best I can with what I’ve got, not specifically to be leading trainer every year or set records. Take it day by day, do the best you can and at the end of the year, you look and say, ‘That’s good, leading trainer.’” – Jonathan Sheppard