For a Thoroughbred racing trainer, every day is a learning experience if you're willing to be taught. At least that is the mindset for 35-year-old Will Walden, who has already experienced some of the sports greatest thrills in his young career that began in 2022.
It would appear he's taking those daily lessons to heart as his first half of 2026—winning at 28% and 53% in the money—finds him just five wins and a half-million dollars in earnings off his career-best full-year numbers set in 2025.
One of the horses who has taught him many lessons is Minaret Station. The son of Instilled Regard gave Walden many firsts in 2024: his first OXO Equine-owned runner to arrive in his barn, his first graded stakes winner at Keeneland, and his first Breeders' Cup qualifier. However, Minaret Station's career has been a series of ups and downs that at times has been frustrating, but has forced the young trainer to exhibit an ability for patience.
Now having the horse fully healthy, Walden hopes patience is rewarded July 11 as Minaret Station seeks a return to the graded winner's circle in the $250,000 Bowling Green Stakes (G2T) at Saratoga Race Course.
"I love this horse, always have," Walden said. "He's meant so much to this barn's journey along the way. It's now our job to find out exactly what he wants to do so we can do our part to help him."
In his third start at 2 and first against winners, Minaret Station burst on the scene with an eye-catching victory at odds of 38-1 in the 2024 Bourbon Stakes (G2T) at Keeneland, closing from second-last in the field of 12 to win by 1 1/2 lengths.
Dreams started flowing as the race clinched Walden's first Breeders' Cup entrant through an automatic berth from the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win And You're In. Except, it was not to be. During travel to Del Mar for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T), Minaret Station developed swelling in his pasterns and was scratched.
Having already planned to give him a winter break after the Breeders' Cup, Walden and OXO gave the colt time to recover before returning to training in the spring. Luckily, the colt showed the talent was still there as he returned from a near nine-month layoff to win the American Derby at Churchill Downs.
Seemingly back on track, Minaret Station shipped to Saratoga for the summer with lofty expectations for the second half of the season. But after his second work following his arrival, he went back to the sidelines with another "tedious and annoying" injury.
"It's frustrating, but it's the game," Walden said of the starting and stopping. "Good horses are so hard to come by. When you feel like you found one—you discovered one, you feel like you've got a handle on what he wants to do and you sync up—for something trivial to come up and derail that, it's frustrating."
Walden met with OXO's Larry Best and Don Chatlos to decide what to do next. The team agreed it wanted to give Minaret Station one more shot at racing, but did not want to continue the on-track, off-track cycle. Instead, they decided to end the 3-year-old campaign and give the colt a solid six months out in the field to recover, grow, and develop.
That decision turned out to be right call. After the American Derby represented Minaret Station's only race in an almost 19-month span, the Bowling Green will now be his third start in 2 1/2 months. Despite all the time off, he's still showing the talent of a horse with graded potential.
In his April 30 return, the Opening Verse Stakes at Churchill Downs, he closed from last to finish fourth, beaten just a length. One month later in the May 30 Arlington Stakes (G3T), he closed from second-last to finish second by three-quarters of a length. Both races were won by Lagynos, who is currently at the top of his game with a five-race win streak that includes four graded triumphs.
"That's why patience is such a strong tool to have in this game," Walden said. "It's something that if you don't have it, you'll learn it. If you can't learn it, you won't be here. I've had to learn it the hard way, and am still learning it on a daily basis.
"Each one of these guys (horses) shows me a new way to be patient, it seems like week in and week out. But ultimately, the past is the past and we're not worried about that. We're worried about what's on the horizon for Minaret Station."
On the immediate horizon is Saturday's test over 1 3/8 miles. Because of his absence at the track, Walden has still yet to attempt a distance beyond 1 1/16 miles with Minaret Station even though he's always believed he'd be better going longer.
"I've got it in my head that he's been doing what he's been doing at a distance he doesn't prefer," Walden said. "I think we'll find out, get an honest read this weekend. I think positionally, he should be a little better placed than he is going the mile or mile-and-a-sixteenth.
"He has that methodical, rhythmic stride where he's not overwhelmed with a ton of speed, and that's been him since he was 2. Positionally, the way he gets compromised and leaves himself with so much to do in the shorter races, I wonder if he's a little bit closer at the quarter-pole, with the same turn of foot, can he finish the job?"
Walden's belief in Minaret Station's ability going long also rests in the pedigree created by OXO. A homebred by Taylor Made stallion Instilled Regard, who OXO campaigned to win the 1 1/4-mile Manhattan Stakes (G1T) in 2020, he is out of four-time graded stakes winner Beau Recall, who was also grade 1-placed five times.
"Instilled Regard won the Manhattan and proved he wanted to go a little bit longer than typical on the dirt," Walden said. "Then I think the tenacity comes from the mother's side. She was salt of the earth; extremely hard-knocking, consistent graded stakes filly through and through.
"I think that combination just blessed (Minaret Station) with an unbelievable amount of talent. We felt like we saw that from the beginning as a 2-year-old. He gave it to us as a 2-year-old, he gave it to us as a 3-year-old, and now he's giving it to us as a 4-year-old."
A victory Saturday will help ease all the frustrations that may have come last year. Still, at the end of the day, Walden tends to keep a more positive outlook on the hurdles he encountered not just with Minaret Station, but any horse under his care.
"Ultimately, these are good things," Walden said about facing these challenges early in his career. "We want to come out here, and we want to be educated. We want to learn, we want to grow, we want to get better. If you don't have these horses teaching you how to do the job right and how to get better, then you're going to stay where you are and become extinct.
"Even though it is frustrating, I have a large amount of gratitude for the horses that force me to think outside the box and figure something else out. It unlocks a new door as far as our ability as a barn and my ability as a trainer. I'm forever grateful for that."
