Concealed Identity. Photo by Jim McCue, Maryland Jockey Club.
Today in Racing History is an occasional feature focusing on some of racing history’s interesting, important, or unusual events.
December 18, 2010
by Richard Hackerman
On December 18, 2010, Concealed Identity lodged a three wide bid between rivals on the turn, dueled to mid-stretch then edged away under jockey J.D. Acosta to win the Maryland Juvenile Championship Stakes at Laurel Park for trainer Eddie Gaudet, wife Linda, and longtime client Morris Bailey. Five months later Concealed Identity punched his ticket to the Preakness with a win in Pimlico’s Federico Tesio Stakes.
Concealed Identity would be Eddie Gaudet’s only Preakness starter in a training career that spanned more than 50 years.
Eddie Gaudet, now 84, rode his first horse when he was 11 years old, at a county fair near his home in Leominster, Mass. He’s won many of Maryland’s big races, including the 1971 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes as a trainer with At Arms Length and the 1991 General George Stakes with Star Touch. Other notable horses trained by Gaudet include stake winners Alleged Impression, Marine Command and King of Fools.
Gaudet has always been known for his friendly and talkative nature. In 1993, President Clinton’s mother, Virginia Kelley, visited Laurel Park. Gaudet tipped her on his horse Yen of the Irish. She put a wager on Yen of the Irish, who won and paid $7.
A younger Eddie Gaudet at Pimlico.
Eddie Gaudet retired at the end of 2011 with 1,735 winners from 11,613 starters, with earnings over $23 million.
Gaudet saddled most of those winners himself. An insomniac, he once saddled horses at Pimlico, Delaware Park, Philadelphia Park and Garden State Park on the same day. He arrived home early that morning, slept for 45 minutes, got up, and attended to the horses on his farm.
Eddie Gaudet learned about horses on the hard-knocking Massachusetts circuit, was a jockey winning races in Florida in the 1950s, and won his first race as a trainer in 1959. He retired at the end of 2011, turning things over to his wife Linda and daughter Lacey. His daughter Gabby is now an analyst for the Maryland Jockey Club and each week contributes her longshots and exotic selections to The Racing Biz.
On many racedays, you can find Gaudet in the clubhouse at Laurel with wife Linda and their many friends.
SOURCES
- Concealed Identity, Equibase
- President’s mom wins at races, Wilmington Star-News, January 24, 1993.
- Ex-St. Mary’s Standout Gabby Gaudet now analyst for Maryland Jockey Club, Pressbox Online, May 14, 2013.
- Gaudet’s horse could be Jersey Derby sleeper, Philadelphia Inquirer, May 27, 1994.
- At 81, trainer Eddie Gaudet putting his stable in the hands of wife and daughter, Baltimore Sun, December 31, 2011.
- Edmond Gaudet, Equibase
