A few minutes with… Tana Aubrey
Trombetta assistant talks racing life
Press Release
July 21, 2026
by Emily Fewster, Maryland Jockey Club
Most days early in the week, you can look up at the half-mile pole at Laurel Park, where Tana Aubrey, the assistant to trainer Michael Trombetta, sits in a chair, keeping an ever-watchful eye.
If you don’t see her, you can listen for her voice during a loose horse or track emergency. From her vantage point, she’s often heard keeping the riders safe, calling out where they need to go and what they need to do to stay out of harm’s way.
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Walking up the hill, I was greeted with a smile and a wave, despite it being the busiest time of the year and in the middle of training hours.
After catching up for a moment, I asked about Tana’s early days at the racetrack.
“My first job was walking at Pimlico for Charlie Lewis with a work permit,” she said. “I was only 15. My dad owned a couple of horses, and my uncle trained. I really liked horses when I was younger. I had a pony, did 4-H, and all the pony things.”
Between training sets, Tana also shared that she “groomed for Franny Campitelli, starting on the pony. I also worked for Joe Devereux at times, even going to California for him.”
After leaving California, she returned to Maryland. “When I got back, I spent some time working for Ann Merryman before starting here.”
I asked what it was like to work with Team Trombetta.
“I think I’ve been here now 27 years,” she said. “The stable wasn’t that big when I started. I don’t think Mike was even training full time yet. The barn started growing, started expanding slowly. It really started with only 8 to 15 horses.”
Her smile widened. “After Sweetnorthernsaint [second in the 2006 Preakness Stakes], things really started expanding. 2007 was our first Saratoga meet. There were only 10 or 12 horses. It was fun and a different atmosphere.”
I asked about her long-time position as assistant trainer. I found it very interesting to learn that Tana didn’t have strong aspirations to become an assistant. “It was like I gradually just fell into the official assistant job.”
She raised her hands a little. “I was doing a lot of those things anyway,” she said with a laugh. “There’s so much that goes into being an assistant, including all kinds of horse and people management, and other things like matching horses and people in sets. It’s also about managing and shipping the runners. It’s a lot of horse care and a lot of people care. Mike told me once early on that you can’t micromanage. You have to pick your battles, or you will drive yourself crazy. A lot of the help has been here a long time. They make it easier when they become a team.”
A lot of effort goes into finishing the day’s training.
“I think sometimes women and women’s intuition help,” she admitted. “It’s that strong insight, and women are just more detail-oriented. It’s like matching riders to horses, and what a difference that can make. It is so satisfying to see horses succeed and to notice the little details and changes that make it work. I have given up on watching the clock, unless I have to be somewhere. I just keep going and get things finished.”
She smiled. “I like walking around when everything’s quiet and just watching the horses. You can really tell a lot when they are relaxed and just standing in their stalls.”
Gazing across the racetrack, Tana said quietly, “Hopefully, we can find a strong group for the next generation. It’s a lot of work. It’s cool. The world has opened up a lot. There weren’t very many women when I started, but there are a lot more now.”
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