ROCK SPRINGS — It started raining cats and dogs Saturday morning, so the horses didn’t race at Sweetwater Downs. 

The cancellation was a rare pause in an otherwise packed weekend for Mike McKell, a Utah state senator representing District 25 who moonlights as one of the busiest horse owners on the Wyoming circuit. He’s got six horses racing this year and, by his own count, at least 50.

“That’s like asking a woman her age,” McKell said when pressed for an exact number, before landing on “at least 50” and leaving it there.

For McKell, horse racing was never on his mind when he was growing up. His father raced horses at Wyoming Downs when McKell was a kid, and McKell swore for years he’d never get into it himself. Then his father’s health started to fail about a decade ago, and he changed his mind.

“I thought, you know, I’m going to get him excited again,” he said. He bought a couple of racehorses in California and the rest is history. 

A Barn Full of Characters

McKell’s farm in Fort Bridger is home to more than 40 pregnant mares, 16 of them on-site, some carrying embryos as recipient mares under Wyoming’s breeder program. He’s also got a soft spot for a good name.

One of his favorite horses, a colt, is named Fort Bridger, after the town where he was born, and another colt called Red Desert. And then there’s the fillies he’s had some of the most fun naming: She Plays Dirty, So Hot It Hurts and Hot and Scandalous, the last of which he expects to eventually race at Sweetwater Downs.

“I try to give them names that stand out,” McKell said. “Keeps it fun.”

The Program Behind the Growth

Underneath the humor, McKell gets serious when the topic turns to Wyoming’s breeder incentive program, which he credits with turning the state into one of the most competitive racing circuits in the country.

“I think this is the cowboy state, and arguably, this is the best, one of the best breeder programs in the country,” McKell said.

He said the program has made it financially realistic for Wyoming breeders to pay for access to top stallions, something that used to be out of reach. McKell believes Wyoming-bred quarter horses now rank with the best in the country, on par with Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico. The state’s thoroughbred breeding is still behind Kentucky, but gaining ground fast, according to McKell.

Sweetwater Downs, operated by Eugene Joyce, a partner at Wyoming Horse Racing LLC, sits at the center of that growth. McKell called it the richest meet in Wyoming, with this year’s futurity final expected to carry a purse of roughly $300,000.

“That is huge,” McKell said. “It puts Wyoming racing on the map.”

4 a.m. Starts and Live Streams

Rain delays aside, McKell’s race weekends run early. His trainer, who also oversees dozens of other horses in the barn, was up and working by 4  a.m. Saturday, McKell said, well before the skies opened up. Veterinarians check every horse before it’s cleared to run, and any horse that isn’t sound gets scratched, usually at the trainer’s or owner’s own call.

“These are like our kids,” McKell said. “We’re really, really careful.”

McKell said he tries to watch every one of his horses run, whether he’s trackside or catching the live stream from out of town.

He described the ownership community at Sweetwater Downs as close-knit, with owners filling up local hotels and restaurants for the length of the meet.

He singled out jockey Juan Pulido, who he called one of the best quarter horse riders in the country racing at Sweetwater Downs as a sign of how far the meet has come.

The One That Got Away

McKell was asked about his most memorable race and he didn’t hesitate. A horse named Rlh FourontheFloor led the field for the first 320 yards of a 400-yard race at the Champion of Champions in Los Alamitos before fading to 11th, one spot outside the cut.

“It was so cool,” McKell said of watching the horse run against what he called two of the fastest horses on the planet at one of the most prestigious races in the world. 

He’s still chasing that kind of moment.

“I’m an optimist,” McKell said. “Every time I have a horse on the track, I’m convinced I’m going to win.”