Mike Nance's guest appearances

Mike Nance

Winning Ponies

Mike Maloney

Keith Jones

James Ross

Dave Johnson

Steve Anderson

Peter Lee

Gary Johnson

Steve Pierson

Chad Brown

Ryan Martin

James Scully

Barry Pearl

Eric Reed

Bob Roberts

Wendy Davis

OwlTail

Dan Moore

Midwest trainer Mike Nance “blames” his family for his successful 25-year career in horse racing. But it wasn’t because they bought him a pony. One of the favorite weekend destinations of the Nance family was an afternoon at Ellis Park Racetrack, so the seed was firmly planted in young Michael. By the ripe age of five, the Evansville, Ind. native was fairly adept at interpreting the racing form. The racetrack was his heaven, and he loved every minute of it. When he was 8-years old, Nance was hopping on city buses by himself to catch Ellis’ weekend cards. Instead of “playing baseball as I told my Mom,” he was armed with a pocket full of money earned from doing odd jobs and ready for a run to the track. “Of course I couldn’t bet (legally),” recalls Nance. But I hung around with these old guys who’d place bets for me. I’d have five dollars, and if I didn’t win, I was out for the day.” He won more often than not, and the races, the horses, and the excitement were in his blood. Horse racing remained a constant interest, but it was in his sophomore year of high school that Busler’s Training Center in Evansville placed an ad for summer maintenance staff. “I saw there were horses involved,” recalls Nance “and I applied immediately and got the job.” After a month of mowing lawns and anything else required, he asked owner, Randall Busler if he could work with the horses. Busler saw the young man’s passion, and placed him under the wing of resident trainer Jim Tulley. Much to Mike’s delight he was promoted to cleaning stalls and within a couple of weeks, was given a horse named Great Republic to hot-walk. A year later, this horse would turn out to be his first to gallop. In the interim, Tulley sent Nance on a race day trip to Ellis Park as a groom with Not’s Mistake. From then on, the die was cast. Busler’s proved to be the equivalent of a high school education for Nance. “My books are still in the locker!” he states, as if that’s impeded his career.

'Winning Ponies' welcomes trainer Mike Nance and handicapper Dan Moore