On the Rise: Danielle Bricker

In this monthly feature, BloodHorse will profile racing personalities under the age of 40 who are making names for themselves in the Thoroughbred industry. Danielle Bricker, 31, the assistant racing manager for Mike Repole's stable since January 2022, paved herself a path in racing by doggedly pursuing a passion for horses, which began during childhood while riding hunters. When her gut told her to switch majors from nursing to equine business while attending the University of Kentucky, the Smithtown, N.Y., native soon found her way to the sales grounds for a job showing horses to prospective buyers for Chris Baccari of Baccari Bloodstock. Then, after stints with renowned bloodstock agents Donato Lanni and Liz Crow, she moved on to the racetrack phase of her career and worked for trainer Todd Pletcher. In her current position with Repole, Bricker already has seen herself as part of a team with two champions in 2022, Forte and Nest. Forte is the Kentucky Derby (G1) morning-line favorite. Bricker was interviewed April 15, and her answers are edited for clarity and space. BloodHorse: Whom do you consider your primary mentors? Danielle Bricker: When I was working the sales for Chris Baccari, I met (bloodstock agent) Donato Lanni and I started shadowing Donato and working the sales for him. When I was at a crossroads, deciding what I wanted to do (in the horse industry), Donato said to me, 'You should go to the racetrack.' I ended up going to the track in 2016. Todd (Pletcher) gave me a lot of opportunities to grow in his stable. I started as hotwalker and moved up very quickly to a foreman. Then I started doing all the sales (short-listing horses) for him, yearlings and 2-year-olds, and I went over to Europe a few times for sales there. Todd has been a huge mentor to me. He and I got along very well. I was asking him about everything and anything, and he was never, 'This is a stupid question.' If I ever have questions about what I'm doing with my life, I will call Todd because I know he will help me. BH: You left Todd after 3 1/2 years. Why? DB: I was tired of moving so much. I was doing New York, Kentucky, and Florida. It was burning me out. I never had the sense of home and it was starting to get to me. I just wanted to call somewhere home. I continued doing the sales for Todd. I joked with him when I said I was leaving, 'I'm leaving you full-time, but I'm actually never leaving you.' BH: How did you secure your position as assistant racing manager to owner Mike Repole? DB: I spoke to Mike at Breeders' Cup Del Mar (in November 2021). I asked him if I could send him a business proposal. I came up with a business proposal—this is what I think I can do for you, this is what I can help you with, these are my strengths—and read it about one thousand times before I actually sent it. On Jan. 18th of 2022, I got hired as a part-time employee for a trial period of three to four months. Basically, at Day 2, I realized this was a full-time position. There were a lot of horses in the stable and organizing everything was a lot. April 18th of last year, I got hired officially full-time. BH: What are some of your responsibilities? DB: Right now we have 271 horses, and that ranges from babies to stallions, so there is constantly action. Did a horse breeze? Did a mare get bred? Did a foal get born? Did this one go to the clinic? I do all the updates on that for our (internal) website so that everyone knows what is going on. When I'm in Saratoga, I go to the barn each morning and get videos of the breezers. I also (handle the) naming (process), which is stressful because Mike basically likes to wait until a horse is loading into the gate to pick a name. We rank the horses who need names by what kind of category they are in—are they good?, are they outstanding?, are they average? We don't want to waste a great name on not such a good horse. On race days, it's very busy because we don't go anywhere with a small group. There is at least 30 of us. Some races, there can be 50 or 70 of us. There's a lot of stuff that goes into the back end of it, getting tickets, paddock passes, and I work with Mike's (executive) assistant Erin (Short) on dinner reservations. I also get Mike to his interviews. I wear a lot of hats. BH: Repole brings a high level of energy to everything he does. What's it like to work with him? DB: It's fun. Every day is different. The stable, obviously, like every other stable, has its highs and lows. But we laugh and have so much fun and celebrate hard when we win and when we lose, we're like, 'It's OK, we will get them next time.' Mike continues to drive me and make me better. He tells me, 'I want to challenge you.' He pushes all of us and calls us the 'Misfit' Team—Ed Rosen (general manager) and Jim Martin (racing manager) and myself. Ed and Jim are in their 70s and I'm in my 30s. There's so many different personalities, but somehow it works. BH: So far, what has been your most memorable experience on the job? DB: I really enjoy being at the barn, so when I'm in Saratoga and can be there every day, I get to know the horses really well. After the races, I would walk the shedrow and hang out with some of the horses. To be with Nest, a filly who is just so good and ran against the boys, watching her run, I would just shake. I cried after some of her races when she won because I was so proud of her. It's the same with Forte—and I hate to be a cliche because they are the best horses in our stable—but Forte didn't cost that much ($110,000 Keeneland yearling) and it's proof a price tag doesn't matter. It's amazing coming into this stable at the time I did and this is what I'm surrounded by. Mike and I joke all the time. I tell him his luck changed since I joined the stable, and he tells me my luck has changed since I joined the stable. Fountain of Youth Day happened to land on my birthday. Mike told me my birthday present was to walk in Forte (into the winner's circle). I will never forget that. Not sure how I did it because I was so excited, and the adrenaline was rushing. I felt like I was on a boat in rough seas—my hands were shaking, and I had sea legs. I told myself, 'Don't trip' because I'm the clumsiest person in the world, but everyone survived, and it was great.