Retired trainer Howard Wolfendale passes * The Racing Biz

Retired trainer Howard Wolfendale passes

Won over 1,500 races

The Biz
July 3, 2026

Trainer Howard Wolfendale, one of Maryland’s leading conditioners for decades, died July 2 at age 69 from complications of a stroke he suffered the previous week.

His death was first reported by the Daily Racing Form.

“The best horseman I’ve ever known. We will all love and miss you forever,” his daughter Maggie Wolfendale, an analyst at the NYRA tracks, posted on X.

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“A terribly sad and sudden end,” Maggie Wolfendale’s husband, trainer Tom Morley, added, also on X. “A heck of a horseman and grandfather to Grace and Willow.”

*Howard Wolfendale celebrated the 1,500th win of his training career in 2015. Photo by Jim McCue, Maryland Jockey Club.*

Born in Pittsburgh, Wolfendale launched his training career in 1977. His first starter, Red Lace, won a claiming event at Laurel Park in Wolfendale’s first-ever start on November 17, 1977. His final win came almost exactly 42 years later – on Nov. 14, 2019 – when Miners Quest won an $8,000 claimer, also at Laurel.

Wolfendale retired from training in 2020.

Over his career, Wolfendale won 1,525 races from 7,124 starts while his trainees earned more than $22.1 million in purses. Wolfendale won at least 53 races each year from 2001-2008 and had a strike rate of 21% or higher each year. He finished in the top 100 in wins nationally six times during that period and ranked 78^th in the nation in earnings in 2006, when his runners won 115 races and earned just shy of $2 million.

Though he was often considered a claiming trainer, he had his greatest success with a homebred for owner-breeders Mike Zanella and Chip Reed. That runner was Bold Affair, a Maryland-bred daughter of Two Punch. Under Wolfendale’s care, Bold Affair won 12 of 19 starts, including nine stakes victories, and earned $719,540.

He worked closely throughout his career with his wife, Tammy, who was an exercise rider and one of his key owners. In addition to Tammy and his daughter Maggie, Wolfendale is survived by his brother, Ross, and granddaughters Grace and Willow.