Learning from one of the greatest trainers in the history of the sport, Nancy Johansson knows all about horsemanship. And hard work.
By Perry Lefko / Photos by Vicki Wright
In the midst of a four-day run, in which he won a slew of major stakes races at various tracks across North America, Hall of Fame trainer Jimmy Takter put aside his own accomplishments to heap praise on his daughter Nancy Johansson. JK Shesalady, whom Nancy trains with her husband Marcus, had just scorched the surface at Mohawk Racetrack, winning the $480,000 Shes A Great Lady final in a stakes-record time of 1:50.1, which also tied the track, Canadian and World Record time for two-year-old filly pacers.
“I’m so proud of her and Marcus (son-in-law, Johansson),” the Takter patriarch said. “They do a tremendous job with small material. Nancy’s been with me all her life and she’s starting to get confidence. That’s a big thing in this game. She believes in herself, she’s a very talented young girl and I think she’s going to be on top of this business for a long time.”
It is never easy following a famous parent in a similar line of work, even more so when the business is traditionally male oriented, but that hasn’t been an issue so far for Nancy, who is proving the ‘Takter Factor’ isn’t limited solely to her father. Nancy has only been training full-time since the fall of 2012, but the 33-year-old has proven her ability to produce a good horse.
In 2013, in her first full season, her horses captured $716,434 in purse earnings. Much of it came from Western Vintage, a two-year-old pacing colt who won five of eight starts and banked $326,375. Perry Soderberg, who does bloodstock work for several clients, including Takter, paid only $7,000 for the son of Western Ideal, who wasn’t particularly big and had a scar on one of his ankles. He then sold an interest in him to Canadian Marvin Katz.
In 2014, Nancy is already heading towards the $1 million mark in stable earnings, highlighted by JK Shesalady, a full-sister to 2014 North America Cup winner JK Endofanera. Bred and owned by brothers Alan, Steven and Ronnie Katz, who race as the 3 Brothers Stables, the two-year-old Art Major filly has won more than $325,000 and is undefeated in her first six starts.
“I’ve followed her since she was about a year old and she’s always been in the barn, has always been very interested, and is a hard worker,” Soderberg said of Nancy. “Even when she worked for her dad, she was doing everything as good as you can in this business, so I’m not surprised by her success. She gets things done.”
A self-admitted “daddy’s girl” who recalled watching the baby races at the Meadowlands at the age of eight, Nancy learned about horses working for her father as a groom.
“I went with him everywhere. Wherever he went to race, I came along with him,” she said. “I’ve always had a love for horses and took care of them in the summer when I had a break from school, and it just came naturally. In my Dad’s barn the caretakers are very involved in the training because he trains in really big sets. Being his daughter, I got a little extra insight.”
Among the horses she took care of were: Tom Ridge, who broke the all-age World Record for trotters when he recorded a mile in 1:50.2 in the World Trotting Derby at Duquoin State Fair in 2004; Muscle Massive, who won the 2010 Hambletonian and earned in excess of $1.2 million in his career; Thatsnotmyname, who won the $437,000 Marie Annabelle at the Meadowlands in 2010; Leader Of The Gang, who won the Yonkers Trot in 2011; and Passionate Glide, who won the Hambletonian Oaks and more than $2.1 million.
“A lot of the horses that my Dad had, he made them great,” she said. “I took care of a filly my dad bought for $3,700, Flamingo Bingo, and she ended up trotting in 1:55.3 in 2005 when that time was really good. (She ended up earning $168,798.) I also took care of a horse called Global Glide that my Dad bought for $6,000 and he made almost $600,000. People always want to assume my Dad has only these very expensive six-figure yearlings that turn out to be good, but a lot of these are average, run-of-the-mill horses that go through the yearling sales for $20,000 or $30,000 and everybody forgets their price tags because they make hundreds of thousands of dollars. I think you need to take care of all horses and train them to their capability.”
Prior to opening their own public stable, Nancy and Marcus trained some horses, including one, a $4,000 claimer called Mane Sail. The pacing mare raced twice for them at Freehold in March, 2005 and posted a win and a second. Marcus drove in both races.
“I was on maternity leave with my daughter and I was going crazy out of my mind, so we bought a $4,000 claimer just so I would have something to do during the day,” she recalled with a laugh. “Sitting at home and not really doing anything doesn’t suit my personality. We’ve had a few horses on the side.”
When she and Marcus decided to train full-time, they had to hustle for clients.
“Without a doubt, nobody is going to give you anything for free,” she said. “You have to work hard for everything.”
She texted Soderberg, whom she has known for more than 30 years and is the Godfather of her daughter Ella, shortly after he purchased Western Vintage at the Lexington Sale. She asked to train the horse even though she wasn’t actively involved in training at the time. Soderberg turned the colt out for a month or so and then transferred him to Nancy when she decided to train full-time. In January, 2013, Soderberg purchased the three-year-old colt Rocky Mountain Guy at a sale and gave it to Nancy to train. The horse had one win in 16 lifetime starts at that point, and registered a win in his second start with Nancy and Marcus training… in 1:52.2 at The Meadowlands. Two months later, with Marcus in the bike, he lowered his record to 1:51.2.
Western Vintage debuted at the Meadowlands in June and won his first four starts and five of his first six. High hopes for a fall campaign ended prematurely because of a throat infection.
“I thought it was a great idea (to give her the colt to train),” Soderberg said. “This horse wasn’t on anybody’s list to train. I didn’t know how good he would be. He might have gotten lost in a big barn such as Jimmy’s or someone else. Who knows? But the timing made sense to give her a shot. I’ve always had full confidence in her no matter what she does. When I bought him I didn’t expect him to be one of the best horses in the country (for a $7,000 purchase). He was very, very fast and explosive as a two-year-old and very mature, and I think Nancy and Marcus contributed a lot to get him where he was and (driver) Yannick Gingras did a great job.”
Johansson’s work made an impression on the Katz brothers, who gave her four yearlings, including JK Shesalady. The others are JKKissesfromheaven, JK Lol and JK Allnitelong.
“We wanted a young trainer that we felt was up-and-coming and she fit our bill,” they said. “She comes from a good family, she was doing well and we wanted to be in a small barn. We’ve had women trainers our whole lives.”
“I’m from Sweden and there’s a lot more women in the business and they continue to do well,” Soderberg said. “It wouldn’t make a difference to me personally (hiring a woman trainer versus a man). I think some people think it’s even an advantage.”
Within the last decade or so, women trainers have started to become more prominent with the likes of Linda Toscano and Casie Coleman.
“I think women have very good hands on horses,” Nancy said. “Maybe they tend to be a little bit gentler with the horses. I think the opportunity has arisen more. In this day and age, women get a little bit more respect than they would have in the ‘50s. You’d never seen any women trainers then. It’s just the way the culture was. I don’t see any reason why women wouldn’t do well training horses.”
Nancy and Marcus have more than 15 horses in their stable at White Birch Farm Training Centre in Allentown, New Jersey. Some of their other horses who have made impressions are two-year-old trotting colt Cruzado Dela Noche, who was third in the final of the Peter Haughton, and won a Pennsylvania Sires Stakes race in August; and two-year-old pacing colt Freedomformysoul, who equaled a track record at Saratoga, winning a New York Sires Stakes event in 1:53.3. Jimmy owns an interest in that horse.
“Obviously it’s exciting (training on a full-time basis),” Nancy said. “It’s something you’ve worked for your entire life to do. I kind of grew up in this environment, so I’m pretty prepared for anything that gets thrown at me because I’ve seen it thrown at my Dad before. I’ve seen how he’s reacted to things before. That’s been helpful. It’s exciting, but it’s also a lot of hard work when you work at it all the time.
“I don’t really feel it’s been hard (to follow her famous father),” she added. “A lot of people within the industry have a lot of respect for me. They’ve seen me work very hard to get to where I am – and I’ve taken care of a lot of good horses before – so in that case I didn’t come from nowhere. I’ve done a lot of work, so I think people respect that. People in our business appreciate the ones who work hard.
“People ask me, ‘Does your Dad come to your stable a lot?’ We never really ever talk about the horses. We talk about the children or other things. If there was ever a time I needed some help or something, I’m sure he’d be the first one to give me a hand. But he leaves me alone. He lets me make my own mistakes. That’s kind of been his own philosophy my entire life.”
“Being Jimmy’s daughter, she might have had a little bit of an advantage (starting out) and some things are a disadvantage because the pressure is on quite a bit, but she’s done everything on her own - her and Marcus,” Soderberg said.
She faced her father in this year’s Hambletonian in which he had three starters in the field of ten, and won with Trixton, whom he drove. Nancy’s starter, Resolve, owned by Hans Enggren, placed fifth at odds of 48/1. It likely won’t be the last time the Takters face one another. And it probably won’t be long before the tables are turned.
