{"id":496072,"date":"2025-10-13T12:02:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T12:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/496072\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T12:02:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T12:02:13","slug":"perseverance-pays-off-for-veteran-trainer-campbell-breeders-cup-hopeful-patriot-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/496072\/","title":{"rendered":"Perseverance Pays Off for Veteran Trainer Campbell, Breeders\u2019 Cup Hopeful Patriot Spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mike Campbell<\/a>\u2019s gut told him he would eventually follow the lead of his grandfather and father by becoming a trainer. The former jockey never anticipated the awful turn that would lead him to that second career and now a second trip to the Breeders\u2019 Cup World Championships.<\/p>\n

Patriot Spirit<\/a><\/strong>, one of only 10 horses overseen by the 75-year-old Campbell, earned an automatic, fees-paid berth in the $2 million Cygames Breeders\u2019 Cup Sprint<\/a>\u00a0on Nov. 1 at Del Mar<\/a> when he recently won the Vosburgh Stakes Presented by Army Mule<\/a> at Aqueduct<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Campbell treasures the opportunity to take on the world\u2019s best, knowing how far he has come since a 1974 riding accident at Oaklawn Park<\/a> left him nearly paralyzed and struggling for survival.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a well sought-after jockey one day and the next day I was fighting for my life,\u201d he said. \u201cOne is as high as you can get. The other is as low as you can get.\u201d<\/p>\n

Campbell had assumed an inside position as the race unfolded when his mount got spooked, sending horse and rider into the rail. \u201cI wrapped around it like a noodle,\u201d he recalled. \u201cI just broke everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was in and out of hospitals for a year, fighting for all he was worth with the unfailing support of his wife, Janice, and other family members. The steep uphill climb to recovery was set back when a bone infection developed as a result of the compound fracture he suffered in his right leg.<\/p>\n

Janice was in a hospital hallway when she overheard two doctors discussing the case. \u201cOh my God, this kid might lose his leg over this infection,\u201d she heard one say.<\/p>\n

The mental anguish Campbell endured was as severe as his physical pain. With his right arm all but paralyzed, he could not believe that, in an instant, a promising career had been destroyed.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou go to that place of feeling sorry for yourself,\u201d Janice said. \u201cWho wouldn\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n

One day, a physician decided it was time to give Campbell some perspective on his situation, bad as it was. He assisted him into a wheelchair and guided him down the hall, taking him to peer in at another young patient.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was riding a motorcycle without a helmet,\u201d the doctor told him. \u201cHe is going to be a vegetable for the rest of his life. You have a life to live.\u201d<\/p>\n

From that point, Campbell worked harder than ever to reclaim his life. His broken body recovered ever so slowly. While he still harbors the infection that threatened his leg, treatment rendered it dormant. Once released from the hospital, he required another full year of recuperation at his parents\u2019 Wisconsin farm.<\/p>\n

The path forward was clear. He began training in 1976 and became the leading trainer at Thistledown\u2019s Summit meet the following year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was headed for a really good career [as a jockey] and I got short-changed. We all have destinies in life,\u201d Campbell said wistfully.<\/p>\n

Twin sons Jesse and Joel picked up the mantle and enjoyed fine riding careers. Jesse won 2,337 races according to Equibase statistics, highlighted by the 2013 Queen\u2019s Plate aboard Midnight Aria at Woodbine<\/a>. He was aboard for his father\u2019s first Breeders\u2019 Cup horse, 68-1 Private Prospect, who finished ninth in the 2014 Juvenile.<\/p>\n

Prospects are much brighter for Patriot Spirit, purchased on behalf of long-time client George Mellon for $235,000 at the 2023 OBS March 2-year-olds in training sale.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the moment I bought him,\u201d Campbell said, \u201cI knew he was special.\u201d<\/p>\n

The swift 4-year-old son of Constitution has long been a work in progress. He was often his own worst enemy.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was always that kind of horse that when he broke, he wanted to be up in there,\u201d the trainer noted. \u201cIf something hooked him, he was perfectly willing to go with them. And to be a good racehorse, you can\u2019t do that. You have to be able to manage the horse during the course of the race.\u201d<\/p>\n

With experience, age, and extreme patience on the part of his handlers, Patriot Spirit has come around. Still, jockey Javier Castellano<\/a> was urged to maintain a snug hold in the early stages of the Vosburgh. The colt responded by stalking the leader in second before Castellano unleashed his abundant speed and he won the Grade 3 race by a length and a half for his first graded-stakes victory.<\/p>\n

Patriot Spirit takes consecutive wins into the Breeders\u2019 Cup, having controlled the seven-furlong Reigh Count Stakes by four lengths on July 26 at Colonial Downs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t imagine that he could be doing any better than he is now,\u201d Campbell said.<\/p>\n

Despite his travails as a young man, the same might be said for the aging trainer.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mike Campbell\u2019s gut told him he would eventually follow the lead of his grandfather and father by becoming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":496073,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-496072","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-racing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115366759274080774","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}