Michael Matz
Birth Date: January 23, 1951
Birth Place: Reading, PA
STATISTICS: | STARTS | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | MONEY |
2017 | 225 | 37 | 30 | 30 | $1,767,197 |
CAREER | 4,804 | 721 | 651 | 643 | $39,398,145 |
2017 SEASON: won 10 races from 58 starters in Maryland … five of those wins came from 17 starters at Laurel’s summer meet to go along with $171,162 in purse earnings … won a pair of Virginia-bred stakes at Laurel with Queen Caroline in the Nellie Mae Cox and Brookmeade … reached $1 million in purse earnings for the 16th consecutive year … won the Forward Gal (G2) and Charles Town Oaks (G3) with Tequilita.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: won 12 races from 53 starters in Maryland in 2016…best finish came during the Preakness Meet at Pimlico, where he tied for fifth with six wins and ranked eighth in purse earnings ($218,230)…won the Hilltop with Gone Away, the Nellie Mae Cox for Virginia-breds with Queen Caroline and the Smart Halo with subsequent Grade 3 winner Tequilita, who was bred and is owned by his wife, Dorothy...won the 2006 Florida Derby (G1) and Kentucky Derby (G1) with ill-fated Barbaro, who broke down in the Preakness (G1) and was euthanized in January 2007 following numerous complications from his injury…Barbaro’s first stakes win came in the 2015 Laurel Futurity…also won the 2012 Belmont (G1) with Union Rags…has won multiple graded stakes with Batique, Political Attack, Kicken Kris, Visionaire, Somali Lemonade and Hard Not to Like…won the 2006 Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) with Round Pond…was a six-time U.S. national champion show jumper on the equestrian circuit, winning at least one major show jumping event for 20 consecutive years…represented the USA at the Olympic and Pan American Games…chosen to carry the American flag during closing ceremonies of the 1996 Olympics…inducted into Show Jumping Hall of Fame in 2006…first win came with Don Gato on Aug. 22, 1997 at Monmouth Park.
PERSONAL: based at the Fair Hill Training Center…wife, Dorothy, is the granddaughter of Robert Kleberg, former owner of legendary King Ranch in Kingsville, Texas, and the daughter of prominent owner-breeder Helen Groves…he and Dorothy not only survived the fiery crash of United flight 232 in Sioux City, Iowa on July 19, 1989 but saved the lives of four young children including three siblings traveling alone.