Trainer Devon Gittens with his first “big horse” as a trainer, stakes-winner Purrsistent, owned and bred by Dr. Betty Hughes. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Winnipeg Free Press)
By G.S. Thompson
Following up with trainer Devon Gittens after his successful 2025 seasons at Assiniboia Downs and Woodbine, he is now racing at Aqueduct.
The 41-year-old trainer from Barbados started training horses at Assiniboia Downs in 2019 and immediately showed the talent that has now taken him to Woodbine and most recently to Aqueduct in New York, where he has a 20-horse stable competing against some of the best trainers in North America.
Gittens recently completed his first full season at Woodbine, where he was training a string for Canada’s leading owner, Bruno Schickedanz, who captured his 11th consecutive Woodbine owners’ title.
Schickedanz won 79 races during the 2025 season, a large number of which came courtesy of Gittens, who finished fifth in the Woodbine trainer standings with a record of 38-37-20 for purse earnings of $901,674.
The journey from Gemswick, Barbados to Aqueduct in New York has been one of patience, hard work, and an almost supernatural ability to know when a horse is physically and mentally ready to run. For 14 years, Gittens exercised horses for almost every top trainer at Assiniboia Downs, including the late Ardell Sayler, and Rob Atras, the latter of whom also successfully made the move to the New York circuit about 10 years ago.
Gittens exercised champions including Escape Clause, Balooga Bull, and Magic D’Oro at Assiniboia Downs, to name a few, and learned to recognize talent and readiness in a racehorse. That knowledge has served him well.
When he finally took out his trainer’s license in 2019, Gittens won with both of his horses. Longtime Manitoba owner-breeders Dr. Betty Hughes and Frank Johnson took notice and gave Gittens a shot with horses by their relatively unknown stallion Vengeful Wildcat, a decision that would prove transformative for all parties.
Gittens traveled back and forth from Woodbine to Assiniboia Downs during the 2025 season, compiling a record of 13-19-11 locally, highlighted by 2-year-old Mighty Mikee, who won the CTHS Sales Stakes and the Buffalo Stakes by an astounding 17¾ lengths, the largest winning margin in North America that day. The promising colt, bred by Larry Falloon and owned in partnership with Anne Champion and Mclaren Racing.
Mighty Mikee wins the $40,000 CTHS Sales Stakes. Shavon Belle up. (Jason Halstead / Assiniboia Photo)
Mighty Mikee was given the winter off, but the same can’t be said for Gittens, who is showing no signs of slowing down. He’s started nine horses at Aqueduct so far this winter and already has a second and three thirds running against trainers like Brad Cox, who has won 11 Breeders’ Cup races. Cox claimed a horse named Tabloid Material from Gittens on January 3 for $20,000. We’ll certainly be watching that horse with great interest!
Gittens has spent most of his life with horses and clearly has a natural talent for preparing a horse not only to run, but to want to run and win. One of the most talented trainers we’ve ever seen at the Downs with first-time starters, Gittens started out as a teenager in Barbados getting on horses in pastures and went on to work at the racetrack there before finding his way to Canada in 2006, thanks to an invitation from Assiniboia Downs CEO Darren Dunn.
“I’m very lucky to have these horses now,” Gittens said. “I want to say thanks to Betty and Frank for giving me a chance in the beginning. In Barbados it’s much more difficult to get started.”
From exercising horses in the early morning mist at Assiniboia Downs to conditioning a 20-horse string for Canada’s leading owner at one of racing’s most prestigious facilities, Gittens has proven that talent and patience create their own opportunities.
The kid from Barbados who started by climbing on horses in pastures is now competing at the highest level of North American racing.
And he’s just getting started.