Former Pletcher Assistant Amelia Green Sends out Winner in Her First Try

[Wandering Eyes]

Amelia Green, 31, whose most recent racetrack job was as an assistant trainer to Todd Pletcher, wasted no time getting her own training career off to a fast as she won Sunday's first race at Aqueduct with her first ever starter. The win came with On Command (Omaha Beach) in a maiden special weight race.

Green, a native of England, has served in several roles in racing, as a jockey, exercise rider, foreman and traveling assistant. One of her first stops in the U.S. was to work as an assistant trainer in California to George Papaprodromou. Most recently, she was in charge of Pletcher's string at Keeneland. Green also worked for trainer Sir Henry Cecil for four years, riding races for him as an apprentice. In the U.S., she rode from 2013 through 2015 and had nine winners from 148 starters. She took out her U.S. trainer's license shortly after this year's Breeders' Cup.

“I don't think it's quite hit me yet,” she said. “It doesn't feel real yet. It is starting to hit me now I guess. Mostly, it was a relief. I am very happy for the owners [Lucky Hat Racing LLC and V Hop Racing] and the filly herself. She ran very well. I was quietly confident with her coming into this race. I didn't want to say anything out loud, but she had been training very well the last couple of weeks, so I was confident in the way she was coming into it and how everything was aligning and going right. But you never know until the final moment if it is actually going to end the way you hope it does.”

Green is based at Belmont and plans to follow the New York circuit. She said she currently has four horses with “a couple more coming in this week.”

“This filly winning will hopefully help me get some more clientele,” she said.

To have someone like Pletcher as a mentor certainly helps.

“He led by example with his dedication to his craft,” she said. “If you're there every day and you put in the work, you're going to get rewarded for it. If you work hard, you're always going to do well.”

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