David G. Donk

Born and raised near Finger Lakes Racetrack, David grew up across the street from a Thoroughbred farm where his family boarded horses. He worked at Finger Lakes as a teenager on weekends and during the summers. He was introduced to racing by his father who has owned racehorses since 1968. David worked for the late Hall of Fame trainer Woody Stephens in Florida during the winter of 1984-85 and continued his apprenticeship with Stephens until 1990. David started his own stable in late 1990. Henry de Kwiatkkowski was one of his first clients and together they won three stakes during the first year of their partnership. Since then, David has won many New York and Grade 1 stakes races and is considered one of New York’s top trainers. David lives in Floral Park with his wife Fay and son Paul Ryan and daughter Holly Rae. His father owned and raced horses at Finger Lakes from the time Donk was eight years old ... That's where he learned to love the sport. He also trained as a blacksmith. He took out his own trainer’s license in 1980 at Finger Lakes, then moved to take a job as an assistant to the legendary Woody Stephens in 1984 ... As a Stephens’ assistant, Donk was part of Stephens' final two Belmont victories and worked with Forty Niner, Danzig Connection, Stephan's Odyssey and numerous other stakes winners. He stayed with the Hall-of-Famer until Woody reduced his stable and moved to Kentucky in 1991 Donk started out with several allowance horses formerly trained by Stephens. “Jim Ryan and Henryk de Kwiatkowski were good to me and showed faith in me. I went to Keeneland and then came back to Belmont with Lech and Sabina, who were allowance horses for Woody when I got them. Lech won the Lexington at Keeneland and Sabina won the Hall of Fame at Saratoga, and since those are both graded races, it was a big push for me.'' ... Donk currently has 38 horses stabled at Belmont. “I have a lot of nice, solid horses, and have been having the most success on the grass,” he said. “I have some very good clients – people I’ve been associated with a long time.” ... He saddled Ordway to run third in the 1996 Juvenile, and multiple stakes winner Awad ran the Turf three consecutive years, 1995 through 1997 ... His best finish was a sixth in 1995 ... While he’s not been in the national spotlight, he has sent out numerous stakes winners in recent years, including G2 Dixie Stakes winner Pays to Dream; multiple stakes winner Fishy Advice; and multiple graded-stakes winner Sharp Performance, G3 winner Strike The Bell, multiple stake winner Hessonite... Lifetime, Donk has saddled 49 stakes winners, 24 graded, with his trainees earning over $20 million ... “I’ve had some nice stakes horses in recent years, but not Breeders’ Cup caliber,” he said ... Donk’s most notable horse was the venerable Awad, a four-time G1 winner who raced for seven years and earned over $3.2 million. Eleven of his 14 lifetime wins came in stakes races. His victory in the G1 Arlington Million in 1995 gave both Donk and jockey Eddie Maple their first $1 million score. Awad made 70 starts from two to eight and the Maryland-bred set two course records, running 10 furlongs at Arlington in 1:58.69 and 12 furlongs at Saratoga in 2:23.20. He’s been one of the retired stars at Old Friends, the Thoroughbred retirement facility in Georgetown, Ky., since 2006 ... “I’ve not been to Kentucky since he retired there, but I stay in touch and have friends that have gone to see him. He’s doing quite well,” he said. Another one of Donk’s trainees, Courageous Comet, transitioned from a not-so-spectacular racehorse to an appearance in this summer’s Olympics. First purchased at auction in Saratoga Springs by Donk, the horse was Becky Older’s mount in the Three-Day Event ... He said Courageous Comet was sold after being sent to trainer Kathy Mastin and racing at Finger Lakes, "not too successfully" ... A New York-bred, Courageous Comet is now worth more than the $77,000 he earned on the track. The nearly white, 12-year-old gelding finished second in this year's Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event in Lexington to earn a trip to Hong Kong for the Olympics.