Mike Campbell's 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' Cup World Championships.
Patriot Spirit, one of only 10 horses overseen by the 75-year-old Campbell, earned an automatic, fees-paid berth in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint Nov. 1 at Del Mar when he recently won the Vosburgh Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct.
Campbell treasures the opportunity to take on the world's best, knowing how far he has come since a 1974 riding accident at Oaklawn Park that left him nearly paralyzed and struggling for survival.
"I was a well sought-after jockey one day and the next day I was fighting for my life," he said. "One is as high as you can get. The other is as low as you can get."
Campbell had assumed an inside position as the race unfolded when his mount got spooked, sending horse and rider into the rail. "I wrapped around it like a noodle," he recalled. "I just broke everything."
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.
Janice was in a hospital hallway when she overheard two doctors discussing the case. "Oh my God, this kid might lose his leg over this infection," she heard one say.
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.
"You go to that place of feeling sorry for yourself," Janice said. "Who wouldn't?"
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.
"He was riding a motorcycle without a helmet," the doctor told him. "He is going to be a vegetable for the rest of his life. You have a life to live."
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' Wisconsin farm.
The path forward was clear. He began training in 1976 and became the leading trainer at Thistledown's Summit meet the following year.
"I was headed for a really good career (as a jockey) and I got short-changed. We all have destinies in life," Campbell said wistfully.
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's Plate aboard Midnight Aria at Woodbine. He was aboard for his father's first Breeders' Cup horse, 68-1 Private Prospect, who finished ninth in the 2014 Juvenile (G1).
Prospects are much brighter for Patriot Spirit, purchased on behalf of long-time client George Mellon for $235,000 at the 2023 Ocala Breeders' Sales March 2-Year-Olds in Training sale.
"From the moment I bought him," Campbell said, "I knew he was special."
The swift 4-year-old son of Constitution has long been a work in progress. He was often his own worst enemy.
"He was always that kind of horse that when he broke, he wanted to be up in there," the trainer noted. "If something hooked him, he was perfectly willing to go with them. And to be a good racehorse, you can't do that. You have to be able to manage the horse during the course of the race."
With experience, age, and extreme patience on the part of his handlers, Patriot Spirit has come around. Still, jockey Javier Castellano 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 mount's abundant speed, and he won the grade 3 race by a length and a half for his first graded stakes victory.
Patriot Spirit takes consecutive wins into the Breeders' Cup, having controlled the seven-furlong Reigh Count Stakes by 4 lengths on July 26 at Colonial Downs.
"I can't imagine that he could be doing any better than he is now," Campbell said.
Despite his travails as a young man, the same might be said for the aging trainer.
