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Kent Molinaro

Kent Molinaro Born: September, 1954 Corona, California

• Kent's parents have been longtime owners in Northern California and he developed an interest in the game at an early age.
   
• As a teenager, he worked as a groom for trainer Dusty Robson, who trained the family horses. Later Kent served a brief stint as a groom for Hall-of-Fame trainer Jack Van Berg.
   
• Molinaro officially took out his trainer's license in 1986 when he claimed United Victory at Bay Meadows. His first win came on January 28, 1987 with United Victory, just the second time he ran that horse back.
   
• In 1995, Kent claimed Alki Joe, who went on to win the '95 California Cup Starter Handicap under his care. In 1996, Alki Joe added another stakes win in the Harvest Handicap at the Big Fresno Fair.
   
• In 1997, Kent campaigned perhaps his best horse, Profound Secret. The gray-coated sophomore captured the James F. Lyttle Memorial Handicap at Santa Rosa during the summer fair circuit.
   
• In 1998 Molinaro enjoyed another successful season. Training primarily for himself and his parents, Carol and Robert, he posted 23 victories. Among those wins were a pair of stakes victories on the summer fair circuit.
   
• He saddled Profound Secret for a very game victory in the Governor's Handicap at Sacramento and No Explanation for his win in the Bulldog Stakes at the Big Fresno Fair.
   
• Molinaro is held in utmost esteem by his peers and the public for his claiming acumen. He has proven to be unusually prolific in winning first time out with his acquisitions.
   
• 1999 started out very well for Kent as he tied for fourth in the winter/spring standings at Bay Meadows with 10 victories. Those ten victories came from only 28 starters, a remarkable winning percentage of over 35%.
   
• Came to California in the late 1960s and never left. Started as a groom at Bay Meadows and went on to work in various capacities for trainers Jerry Dutton and Jerry Fanning before taking out his trainer's license in 1979.
   
• Success did not come quickly as he compiled no more than 16 wins in any of his first six years of training. Had breakout year in 1985 when he won 56 races – only three shy of the grand total of 59 races he won during his first six years of training.
   
• Won 117 races and saw his horses top the $1 million mark in earnings in 1986, a year in which he earned his first training titles at Golden Gate Fields and Bay Meadows.
   
• Credits Novel Sprite, whom he claimed for $16,000, with putting him on the map. Novel Sprite went on to earn more than $400,000 and was named national Claimer of the Year for 1986. Novel Sprite was also his first stakes winner
   
• Shares the Northern California record for most wins on a single card, five, with Ace Gibson and Walter Greenman. Hollendorfer has won five races on a card twice – at Golden Gate Fields on May 1, 1986, and at Bay Meadows on Jan. 23, 1997. Greenman established the record at Bay Meadows on Nov. 25, 1970, and Gibson equaled the mark at Golden Gate Fields on Feb. 24, 1971.
   
• In 1996, he had a streak of eight consecutive winners.
   
• His wife, Janet, is also his chief assistant at the barn