Trainer Bios

Mike Stidham

Born: Dec. 18, 1957, in Neptune, New Jersey

Record at Keeneland

Total Wins: 60

Stakes Wins: 8

Career Firsts

First Grade 1 Win: 1994 Coaching Club American Oaks at Belmont Park with Two Altazano

First Stakes Win: 1980 Independence at Louisiana Downs with Me Good Man

First Graded Stakes Win: 1988 John B. Campbell (G3) at Pimlico with Manzotti

First Career Win: Jan. 25, 1980, at Florida Downs with Kim's Pet

Starters in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes

Year	Horse	Finish
2011	Willcox Inn	8th

At Keeneland

Won first Keeneland race during the 1998 Fall Meet.

First Keeneland stakes win was the 2000 Appalachian with Impending Bear. He won the race the following year with Bold Answer.

Trained Upperline to win the 2012 Grey Goose Bewitch (G3) and Rood & Riddle Dowager. He co-owned Upperline with Stone Farm, John H. Adger and Oakcrest Farm.

Trained Grade 1 winners Her Emmynency (2015 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup) and Zipessa (2017 First Lady).

Career

North American career earnings exceed $81 million with 2,310 wins through Nov. 28, 2023.

In 2021, he sent out Mystic Guide to win the $12 million Dubai World Cup (G1) Sponsored by Emirates Airline.

Won 2,000th race on Nov. 27, 2019, at Fair Grounds with Lem Me Tel Ya.

Won 1,000th race on Feb. 1, 2008, at Sam Houston Race Park with Exoteric.

Click here for his Equibase career record.

Background

Mike’s late father, George Stidham, was a jockey and trainer. He served as Racing Hall of Fame jockey Bill Hartack’s business manager and part-time agent before he became a trainer.

Mike spent two years in college, setting his sights on becoming a veterinarian before deciding to become a trainer. He worked for his father in South Florida and began training on his own at Tampa Bay Downs in 1978 when his father sent him there with a string of horses. Stidham saddled his first career winner in 1980 before moving to California in the early 1980s to train for Elmendorf Farm when it was owned by Maxwell Gluck. He returned to Florida after two years and became the private trainer for the LaCroix family’s Meadowbrook Farm.