before they win
the belmont
shelley bunning

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Aired August 17, 2018

Before the cheering throngs at Churchill Downs or Belmont or Saratoga watch young Thoroughbred racehorses charge from the starting gates, Shelley Bunning and her team at Timber Town Stables welcomed many of them into the world as newborn foals. 

One of the youngest female Farm Managers at one of the greatest Thoroughbred racing broodmare operations in the US, Elise’s guest today is Shelley Bunning. Known for her utter devotion to the horses in her care and for her expertise, professionalism, and her readiness to mentor others, Shelley still retains the wonder of a former horse-crazy girl as she oversees multi-million dollar racing mares like Havre de Grace, Plum Pretty, Songbird, and Groupie Doll. 

  As a young girl in England, Shelley knew that she wanted to work with horses and understood that it would take hard work, dedication, and an unrelenting drive to learn. At 16, she left home and took a job in a Newmarket racing yard handling young Thoroughbreds born, bred, and trained to run. 

This episode, Shelley talks about her experience at Timber Town Stables, working with the racing world’s finest multi-million dollar broodmares, what it’s like to foal out and raise champions like Belmont winner Tonalist, and how it feels to watch "her” young horses race for the first time. Join Shelley and Elise as they explore the heart-warming and sometimes exhausting broodmare and foaling side of Thoroughbred racing.