At Sacco barn, keeping it all in the family
Father-son duo mark 2nd, 3rd generations in the business
The Biz
September 9, 2026
For Gregg Sacco, having his son Will working alongside him is equal parts pride, practicality and, occasionally, patience.
The two are father and son, but at the barn they are also trainer and assistant trainer, sharing decisions, responsibilities and the inevitable disagreements that come with working side by side.
“We do butt heads on certain things,” Gregg Sacco said. “But Will is a big asset. He’s willing to learn from the ground up.”
The Saccos appeared on the Aug. 27 episode of the Midlantic Racing Today podcast.
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Learning from the ground up, Will has done.
The 25-year-old has spent the better part of the last eight years learning the business, starting with the basics — walking hots, grooming horses, and learning all the million little things that go into caring for horses — before becoming his father’s assistant. The last two winters, he also had strings of his own in New York, giving him a chance to make decisions without his father there to lean on.
“It’s been a steady process of just learning the business and the ins and outs of the day-to-day morning work,” Will said. “It’s a lot different than the afternoon. It’s not always the wins and the losses. A lot of everything leads up to those wins through the morning.”
Yet though Will is a third-generation Thoroughbred horsemen, his path wasn’t preordained. At least, not in Gregg’s mind.
Gregg, who began training in 1988, has won 928 races and more than $28.7 million in purses. His résumé includes nine graded stakes victories, highlighted by Mind Control’s Grade 1 wins in the 2018 Hopeful Stakes and 2019 H. Allen Jerkens Stakes.
He knew the business well enough to know how difficult it could be.
“I didn’t necessarily want him to go into it,” Gregg said. “It’s grueling. It’s very demanding. I thought he might have other interests.”
But Will had ideas of his own. While attending the University of Kentucky, he decided he wanted to come home and work with his father. He left school, and the apprenticeship began.
Gregg quickly saw something in him.
“Not because he’s my son; he’s a natural,” Gregg said. “You have to know how to work with people. He’s great at the sales. He enjoys it. He has a true passion for our business.”
That passion comes honestly.
The Sacco family has been involved in New Jersey racing for generations. Gregg’s grandfather, an Italian immigrant, built Monmouth Stud in West Long Branch, just a few miles from Monmouth Park. Gregg’s father and uncles worked with racehorses and polo ponies, and Gregg grew up around the sport.
Now the tradition is being passed to Will.
“It’s a lot of pride,” Will said. “To think that I’ll be starting a career and, whenever I do, that my grandfather started, and he passed his love and passion for the sport and the horses down to my dad.”
The Saccos currently operate primarily from Delaware Park, where Gregg said the setup has worked well after the family spent the last two years moving between Delaware, New York and Tampa. Will’s presence has made the nomadic nature of the business more manageable.
“I probably couldn’t have done it without him,” Gregg said.
Their barn typically carries 25 to 30 horses, with an emphasis on developing young horses into stakes performers. That requires patience — and plenty of it. Several youngsters this summer needed time away because of shin or maturity issues, slowing the barn’s progress before the older horses began to hit their stride.
The Saccos responded the way horsemen have to respond.
“You just turn the page,” Gregg said.
Will is learning that lesson, too. Some days bring victories; others bring injuries, disappointments or races that don’t unfold as expected. The answer is to make adjustments, keep working and move on.
Eventually, Gregg expects, Will will have a barn of his own.
For now, though, they are building one together — one horse, one morning and one resolved disagreement at a time.
RECENT BARN HIGHLIGHTS
- Sent out four consecutive winners Aug. 20-22 with Bad Boy Butch winning at Colonial Downs Aug. 20, followed by Social Fortress at Delaware Park the next day and Unbridled Justice (Delaware) and Duboff (Monmouth Park) on Aug. 22.
- Saddled Crazy Mason to a fourth-place finish – beaten less than a length – in the Grade 1 Forego.
- Has five wins from 35 starts with purse earnings of $191,200 at the current Delaware meet. The purse earnings put the barn 18th in the current standings.
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