Trainer Jesse "Sonny" Wigginton

Born: 12/11/34, Lexington, Kentucky

Resides: Lexington, Kentucky

Family: Lydia, wife 

Sonny, a high percentage trainer at Oaklawn, is here with 11 horses. It is unlikely any regular trainer owns a better Spa in-the-money percent the last dozen meetings than this affable Kentuckian. 

 “I have been training some 40 years,” he commented on a recent morning. 

Not too long ago, Wigginton won some important races with the South American imports Paranoide and Pancho Press. He has won stakes with Bidis and Powder. One of Sonny's best ever was the Argentinean sprinter Gold Spring.  

"Gold Spring was as good as I've had," smiled Sonny. "He turned out to be an excellent sire." 

In addition to the aforementioned, other horses to have raced well at Oaklawn for Sonny include My Sweet Lass, Russian Emperor, Jake The Flake, Dr. Right, Martyr's Glory, Panama Riddle, Wickedly Wild, Fight For Three, Hold The Truth and Bat-Que.            

Three years ago at Oaklawn, Wigginton had the bitter misfortune to lose the promising filly Puffy Shirt to a racing accident. “The filly was leading the field when suddenly she went down with a broken a shoulder. All efforts to save her were futile,” he recalled. 

Sonny insists such mishaps are the hardest things to accept in horse training. 

“The racing game is ups and downs, not much even keel,” he avowed. “Only a week before, we had been offered $500,000 for Puffy Shirt and had turned it down.” 

Sonny grew up around horses. His father, Jesse Wigginton, Jr., managed a farm in Kentucky. 

“Dad trained several breeds of horse,” told Sonny, “but I have always been a thoroughbred man.”           

Sonny’s mentor was the late Douglas M. Davis, Jr., who on three occasions led trainers at Oaklawn. 

“Davis was a top trainer. He trained every horse in his barn, from the stakes runner to the lower rung claimer,” recalled Sonny.   

After being asked the best advice he received as a young horsemen, Wigginton though a few seconds, then answered, “It came from T. Alie Grissom. He said to never fall in love with any of your horses; to keep them healthy, happy, racing fit and run them where they belonged.”

Sonny used to carry stables of 16 and 17 horses. However, in recent years, 10 and 11 are more like it.               

“This is the time of year when trainers are bringing horses to the races just hoping there is something exceptional among those untested. For me, maybe there is another Bidis, Powder, or Gold Spring, among the young ones I have. That is the charm – the appeal – of this business. Certainly it can be one of the ‘ups’”.