Born: 04/10/74, Schuyler, Nebraska
Resides: Schuyler, Nebraska
Family: Cyndi, wife
Mac enjoyed not only an excellent Oaklawn Park meeting in 2009, but that success continued through the summer.
“I raced at Oaklawn, then Arlington Park, Canterbury and Remington. I am pleased with my year,” said the trainer.
At Canterbury, he won the training title for a sixth time.
Finishing well up in the standings at Oaklawn last year, he sent out nine winners from 90 starters.
“We got beat in a number of photos. We finished with 17 seconds,” he recalled.
His big moment at Oaklawn last year was winning the 49th running of the $300,000 Rebel Stakes with Win Willy.
Win Willy got off to a good start at Oaklawn this year, when on January 21 he won an excellent optional allowance event going a mile.
“Our colt will likely run in the Razorback on March 6 and we hope the Oaklawn Handicap on April 3,” said Mac.
Mac is son of the veteran trainer Hugh Robertson.
“My father trains at the Chicago tracks. As a young man I helped him around the barn. I went off to college at the University of Nebraska. One day I left college and showed up at the track wanting to quit school and go to work. Dad wasn’t happy, but let me do as I wished,” remembers Mac.
Mac is usually in the thick of competition at Canterbury.
“After Oaklawn each year, a number of my horses go to dad. I will take part of his and some of the two-year olds,” mentioned Robertson.
Mac first went up there with five head and did well.
“So the next year I took 10, then 15. I just kept adding on and doing well,” said Robertson. “I have had some nice horses here at Oaklawn. Celluloid Hero and Smoke Smoke Smoke were among them. Celluloid Hero won the 2006 Dixieland at Oaklawn,”
At Canterbury, of late, Mac won the Shot of Gold Stakes and the Ten Thousand Lakes with Vazandari, the Canterbury Lassie with Bountempo and the Hoist Her Flag with Sparkling Sabia.
A horse to watch in Mac’s care now is Esperamos.
“We have been waiting on him since his last start, and last win, at Oaklawn in February, two years ago,” reflected Mac.
It was the finale of his five-race win streak for Robertson and owner Joseph Novogratz.
In Mac’s current care is the filly Spectaculous, a 3-year-old daughter of Bertrando.
“We’ll see how she fits here,” avowed Robertson. “She won a couple last summer at Canterbury before being humbled at Arlington by She Be Wild,”
She Be Wild, of course, went on to win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies en route to capturing an Eclipse Award.
“Horses really do well at Oaklawn Park, especially from mid-March to mid-April. You can just see them bloom. I love getting them ready here,” said Mac.