It was a never to ever forget day at Caymanas Park on Wednesday for trainer Steven Todd who saddled his 100th winner after Dreaming Of Magic won the opening event. Dreaming Of Magic , who is also owned by Todd, won a maiden special weight event for native-bred two-year-olds over five furlongs (1000m) round by five-and-a-half lengths in the hands of jockey Jemar Jackson.

The bay filly won ahead of stable companion She’s A Banker (Paul Francis) and A Seh Soup (Anthony Thomas) in 1:01.3, with the one-two finish making it even more memorable for the young conditioner.

“Fantastic feeling. I mean, it is very nice to reach such a milestone in your career. I am so happy, really happy saddling 100 winners since I have started my career. It (my career) has been good so far as I started off a bit slow, is to be expected, but things got going since last year and I have been able to keep the momentum this season. Everyone can expect a lot more hard work from me to continue getting more winners as we go along,” Todd said on his day of achievement.

Last year Todd saddled 31 winners from 290 starts with earnings of over $16.14 million to finish seventh on the trainer’s list. Only the two top trainers, champion Wayne DaCosta (72) and Anthony Nunes (53), saddled more winners than Todd, who was voted as the most improved trainer.

So far, this season, Todd has saddled 28 winners and based on winners only, he is third on the list behind DaCosta (62) and Nunes (59), while on earnings Todd is in fifth place.

Todd shared his story on how he developed his love for horses and began to train.

“I loved horse racing from I was a baby. I had a particular love to be around horses. I especially loved to watch them win. My father (Richard), at that time, was winning a number of races and it was very exciting and pleasurable for me to see them run. I therefore grew up with a bred-in-the-bone desire to become a trainer like my father.

“After leaving college, I did a couple of things while trying to figure out what I really wanted to do professionally. At one point I went to flight school to learn how to fly aeroplanes. I also went to university but did not finish, as I became immersed in my first love — horse racing. That was the preferred choice, much to the dislike of my mother, but it was that natural inclination that resides in me that led to the final decision.

“Sometime in 2000, I saw where it was possible for me to become a trainer and so I started to focus my attention more on this field of endeavour. Taking the plunge, I started to learn more from my father and it got to the point, gradually, where I became my father’s assistant trainer.

“Following the completion of that period, I was accepted for the trainer’s course and attended the Jamaica Racing Commission (JRC) Trainers’ Training Programme and graduated in 2011,” he informed.

Steven, although making rapid progress, still has a long way to go to catch his father. Richard Todd has saddled, according to the lastest statistics, 802 winners.