Winning Ponies

Chris Block grew up in the business with his parents, who have been involved in racing and breeding for about 40 years. My dad loved racing and ran a few down at Fairmount when I was a kid. I insisted he takes me every time he went. I loved the horses and the races. The more I went, I knew I'd get involved in racing. At one time Chris thought about being a jockey. He worked three summers as a groom for the Bill Mott stable in Illinois, Minnesota and Kentucky before taking out his trainer's license in 1989. He spent the following year training at the Kentucky Training Center, then brought six horses to Chicago and has trained there ever since. His stable size is about 40 horses and races at Chicago-area tracks Arlington Park and Hawthorne. His best horses to date: Ioya Two, winner of the 2001 Modesty Handicap at Arlington Park as well as four other stakes; multiple stakes winner and million-dollar-plus earner Mystery Giver and Vacare, who provided him with his first grade 1 victory when she won Keeneland's 200