A native of Lexington who relocated to Middleburg, Va. more than a decade ago, Madison Meyers dreamed of returning home and running a horse she trained at Keeneland. That dream became reality Oct. 10 when Desvio, a 4-year-old Yoshida gelding, broke from the gate in the 1 1/2-mile Sycamore Stakes (G2T).
However, Meyers never would have guessed that her first starter at the track would also be her first winner. Desvio stormed home beneath Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez to give his trainer her first graded success by a half-length.
Meyers currently has about 30 horses in training, stabled between Middleburg Training Center in Virginia and Laurel Park in Maryland, with an additional 25 younger horses in the breaking process for herself and other clients.
Following the career milestone, Meyers spoke with BloodHorse about Desvio, the beginning of her training career, her relationship with Desvio's owners Robert Bonnie (Bonnie Rye Stable) and his mother Cornelia "Nina" Bonnie (Stonelea Stables), and more.
BloodHorse: What was the experience like winning a graded stakes at Keeneland?
Madison Meyers: Surreal is probably the best way to describe it. We felt like (Desvio) was in really good form and should put in a good performance. I don't even think I had wrapped my head around if he were to go down and win it. We would have been thrilled just to get a piece of it and seen him show up on a big stage, but to have him pull it off was huge.
BH: When did Desvio first come on your radar as a really good one? What makes him special?
MM: I really liked him as a youngster. He was a bit of a handful and really needed to be gelded. He was sent to me just to break and Virginia certify. The guy that owned him ended up in a situation where he needed to get him sold. I had breezed him a few times and was starting to really like him. I just thought if I could help get this guy out of his situation and find a way to keep this horse in the barn, that would be great.
Pretty early on, he started giving me clues. He did everything right, but I really wanted to geld him because of behavioral stuff, but you could tell he had ability.
BH: How did your relationship come to be with Desvio's owners?
MM: Funny enough, Robert Bonnie and his wife Julie actually live right down the street from us in Middleburg. When we moved to Middleburg about 12 years ago, we rented a barn apartment from Julie and Robert for a little while our place we rented was getting refinished. The lease came up on that a year later and we ended up just moving back to their farm. We lived in the tenant house on their property for probably six years, so we got to be good friends with them.
I actually had met his mother, Mrs. Bonnie, years ago. When I was at Churchill Downs, I worked for her vet. We used to go and do farm calls at her farm.
BH: You're from Lexington, so there was probably a lot of exposure to horses growing up, but how did you come to work with them?
MM: My mom had riding horses and I grew up just doing backyard stuff riding-wise. I got into polo pretty heavily through a friend throughout high school. My dad (Roy Meyers) was actually a bloodstock agent until the mid-'90s, so I had been around the track and around the sales and that side of things with him. I just always loved horses, no matter what they were doing or what discipline.
When I moved to Louisville, I was working for a vet at Churchill and doing polo. I ended up getting a job with Niall O'Callaghan—riding the pony, pulling the manes, and that kind of thing—at HighPointe Training Center. Then eventually started galloping.
BH: Is there anything you learned from your polo background that has helped translate into your training career?
MM: It's really different, but one thing would be the fitness level of the horses. Polo ponies, at a high level, have to be very, very fit. A little bit from the feeding side because you're trying to keep good condition on them while having them fit as a fiddle. Also, I made a lot of connections in the racing world through polo. With Lexington and Louisville polo clubs, there was a lot of crossover with the racehorse world, so I met a lot of people through polo.
BH: You only had a handful of starts from 2014-16, but since you've been gradually increasing your numbers. What led to your growth?
MM: We started off with just a couple of horses that we (her and husband Kieran Norris) owned ourselves and were more dabbling in it. I actually had a MagnaWave business and was magnawaving for people at training centers, farms, steeplechase horses, and at Laurel Park. We had a couple horses that we trained on the side.
Around 2016, Wayne and Cathy Sweezey (of Timber Town Stables) came to me through a mutual friend and they sent me a horse (New Saloon) and asked if we wanted to train. I was a little bit nervous to take on a horse that we didn't own; it wasn't my full-time job. That was really fun, and he was my first winner outside of steeplechasing.
From there, we started to get a few more. We got some yearlings to break. We sort of went toward the breaking side, but as we went along, we started picking up momentum with the race horses. We really started trying to focus on that side of things. We still do break babies as well, horses for us to train, and some outside horses still, but really trying to pick it up on the training side. As things got busier, I was able to take that jump into going full-time. For the most part, I think every year we've picked up the number of starts, wins, and ownership. Just getting more horses in the barn.
BH: What does it mean to you, being from Lexington, getting your first graded win at Keeneland?
MM: It meant everything to me. I always thought, "I wish we had a horse good enough to go take a swing at Kentucky. At what point will we have something we can take down there?" It's been a dream of mine to go to either Keeneland or Churchill and have a runner. To take our first one down and win a graded stakes was just unbelievable.
BH: What makes the mid-Atlantic region a good place to be set up as you're growing your training career?
MM: It was just kind of circumstance that we ended up here, but it's worked really well. There are so many tracks in an easy shipping distance. It makes it really easy to spot horses and find something for them at any level. It's easy to get to New York, Monmouth, Delaware, Laurel. We have a string at Laurel as well as the barns at Middleburg Training Center. It really is just a nice, easy place to operate out of. There's a heavy turf influence in the mid-Atlantic, and our stable tends to be turf-heavy. That is helpful to us as well.
BH: Desvio was bred in Kentucky, but is Virginia Certified. How big of a benefit is that program now that Colonial Downs is becoming a more lucrative meet?
MM: It's huge. It's been huge for our business, bringing in nicer and nicer babies every year. When the program first started, I don't think people were sending their best yearlings to be certified, but the quality of stock has gone up exponentially since the program started. It makes so much sense if you plan on running anywhere in the Mid-Atlantic to have them certified. We've been full since around September with babies. I think most people around here are filling up. It's kept a lot of people in business.
It certainly gave us a boost, and we made a lot of contacts through the Virginia Certified program as well. With that, and the extra money coming in with Churchill owning Colonial, the racing is a lot more competitive. The Virginia certified races have become a lot more competitive. It's tough, but that's a good thing. Colonial was definitely tougher this year than in years past, but it's high-caliber racing. It's nice to come and run for big money on a beautiful turf course.
BH: Desvio has the graded stakes win under his belt now. What's next for him?
MM: We'll probably have a chat about that later in the week. We usually give him about a week and then figure out what direction we want to go. That being said, it's mid-October and there's only a couple options left for him. The other option is probably to put him away off of a big win and bring him back for an exciting spring campaign. Maybe have the Elkhorn on his radar, take him back down to Keeneland now that we know he likes it. Something like that.
BH: Not to get too far ahead, but the Breeders' Cup Turf will be at Keeneland in the fall of 2026. He's shown an affinity for that course now. Anything brewing in the back of your mind, thinking about that?
MM: If I told you no, I'd be lying. I think any time you have an opportunity for something like that, everybody is going to try and work toward it.
You have to dream big, right?
