Page 136 - April_2023

how much sacrifice there was in stopping doing something that you love and have always done to raise us in sports and childhood,” adds Justin.
“Truthfully, I consider my biggest success to be having a really great family,” Mike says. “We raised two really good boys and in turn, they’re raising four really good grandchildren for us.”
Mike and Linda manage to spend time with those grandkids in their “off time.” Linda takes them on a summer beach vacation in Florida each year, but lounging on the beach isn’t something Mike particularly enjoys. “He doesn’t do well with spare time,” Linda says with a smile. “He’s never going to retire; he’s got to be doing something!”
Along with the time she spends with
Cody and Justin and their families, Linda also participates in various partnerships with other ladies, including the Lucky Ladies and the Lucky Six. “Mike buys two or three horses for each group each year at the sales and the nice thing about it is it takes all the pressure off of us; Mike makes the decisions regarding the horses, and we’ve had a lot of success and followers,” she says.
Among Mike’s “doing something” activities is team roping, which he took up following his good friend’s advice after his December 2015 stage-four throat cancer diagnosis. “When I got done with
my treatments, I had lost so much weight and so much strength that I was as weak as a kitten,” he says. “One day, G.R. Carter told me to get on a horse he had tied to his trailer and rope a few. It was such good exercise and I thought, ‘This would be good to help build my strength back up.’ I’ve really enjoyed it, so I’ve been roping ever since and have met a lot of really good people at the ropings.”
Along with continuing in their racing endeavors and hobbies, Mike and Linda have a list of improvements they want to make at their new place in the not-too-distant future. “It’s just a never-ending deal,” Mike says. “You always find something else to renovate.”
And they recently acquired a group of “ eternally grateful for that; things could have broodmares and brought their first baby home from
HIS SPECIAL EYE
Along with his special knack for producing winning runners, Mike is known for his special eye for selecting winners-to-be. “Most of the owners ask his opinion on their potential purchases or actually ask him to choose their next year’s crop for them at the sales,” Linda says. “He’s always been really good at it. He has picked out horses like FDD Dynasty and lots of others that cost quite a bit and won a lot, and horses that didn’t cost a lot but still won a lot.”
He picked out DM Streakn Thru Fire, who cost just $5,000 and ran out $658,763 between 2010 and 2015 with 31-8-4-7. The 2008 gelding (Walk Thru Fire-Sashay N Six, Sixarun) qualified for the All American Futurity-G1 and ran third in the Texas Classic Futurity-G1, then at 3 finished third in the Rainbow Derby-G1 and qualified for the All American Derby-G1. At 4 he ran third in the All American Gold Cup-G3 and won the Lovington Stakes-G2 at Zia Park, running second in the Zia Park Championship-G1. At 5 he ran third in the Remington Park Distance Challenge-G3, first in the Zia Park Championship-G1 and third in the Championship At Sunland Park Stakes-G1. At 6, he won the All American Gold Cup-G1.
Mike’s excellent picks also include his
sister Cindy Cochran, who has handled the operation’s bookkeeping duties for the last
20 years and keeps things computerized and running smoothly. “She’s such a vital person in our business; she’s our go-to person and we don’t know what we’d do without her,” Linda says.
Another of Mike’s outstanding selections was G.R. Carter Jr. as his lead jockey. “I got to know Mike mainly around Ruidoso when he started back to training in 1999,” G.R. says.
“I rode a handful there for him then, and then in fall 2002 he asked me if I’d come to El Paso and ride the winter for him. That’s when I went on that big run where I won six Championship
to dominate like that was that Mike gave me the opportunity to ride year-round: El Paso in the
winter, Remington in the spring, Ruidoso in the summer and then Lone Star and Los Alamitos in the fall. So, I was able to cover all the big races.
“I won my 2000th race and my 3000th
race and also broke the wins record on horses
of his. I rode the last official race of my career for him,” G.R. continues. “My plan was to retire—the second time—at the end of 2018.
I got to the end of the year and Flash And Roll was the fastest qualifier and the favorite in the Los Alamitos 2 Million, and she jumped up and won it pretty handy for us. I had a couple other races to run the next weekend at Sunland for Mike and it was a horse that we knew probably didn’t have much chance to win. Mike knew I wouldn’t ask him to not ride that other horse, so he called and asked if I wanted the 2 Million to be my last official race. How many jockeys can say that their last race and their last win was the Los Alamitos 2 Million Futurity? Mike made that possible and it’s pretty special to me.”
Perhaps even more valuable to their family than his training and selection abilities with horses and employees is Mike’s special eye
for the needs of each member of their family. “Justin was a high school State Champion Bull Rider and also rode some PBR and NFR, and both he and Cody played a lot of school sports,” Linda says. “Mike was very athletic growing up. He was quarterback of his football team and
ran track and played basketball, and he always encouraged our sons to do the same; he wanted to be a part of that with them.”
Cody and Justin value those years in the ’90s when Mike suspended his training operation
to shoe, and when Linda had long before given up her ophthalmology goal, and they were able to spend more time together as a family. “The training business is very hard on families,” Cody says. “I think we switched schools three times my freshman year of high school. Mom and Dad wanted to give us more stability and I’m
turned out very differently for me.”
“I think for a while, we didn’t really have
any idea what was going on but then realized
Jockey titles in a row.
“What changed where I had the opportunity
the breeding farm. “We named him Asher after our new farm in our new hometown of Asher,” Linda says. “He’s pretty special around here!”
“Truthfully, I consider my biggest success to be having a really great family.” – Mike Joiner
134 SPEEDHORSE April 2023
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