Susan started riding ponies at the young age of four, quickly got hooked, took lessons and showed jumpers by age eight. She had her own horses at age 10 and competed during all of her school years. Her family moved to the country and just happened to be down the street from a half-mile training center. Intent on learning how to gallop racehorses, Susan managed to convince a trainer to allow her to work for free afterschool and on weekends.

She cleaned stalls and groomed in exchange for the opportunity. Susan started breezing horses by age 16 and fell in love with racing.

The trainer Susan worked for was also a veterinarian, Dr. Paul E. Truitt, who put strong emphasis on every aspect of racing and caretaking. She worked for him for about four years. During that time, Susan also worked the sales showing yearlings at Keeneland and OBS as well as two-year-olds in training and breezed horses for the sales. The experiences were priceless.

Susan went to Virginia Intermont College to satisfy her father’s requests for a formal college education and while she took two horses with her to ride in the Hunter/Jumper divisions, she missed racing terribly. Upon graduation, she promptly returned to racing, and took her trainer’s test at the age of 19.

Continuing her journey, Susan flew to Kildare in Ireland for the summer at age 20 and worked at the Curragh for top trainer Liam Brown. That same summer, she also traveled to England and worked for John Hills in Lambourn.

Susan moved to Dubai in 1991, where she spent almost six years working for HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum as an assistant trainer under Dubai’s four-time champion trainer Satish Seemar–with over 120 horses–before being offered a training position with His Royal Highness in 1997.

She was their first licensed female trainer with over 60 horses, both Thoroughbreds and Arabian endurance athletes, in her care for three racing seasons. The latter were trained to compete in 100 mile endurance races in the desert. That responsibility posed its own set of unique challenges and conditioning methods, but was an excellent knowledge builder.

Susan also rode and competed as a rider, becoming one of the first female endurance riders in the middle east.

In 2000, she returned to the United States, purchased Point Of View Farm in Ohio, and organized her own public racing stable. With Turfway Park now open year-round for training, her operation is based permanently at the Florence, KY track with the ability to race in several surrounding states.

Susan Anderson also currently serves on the Ohio HBPA Board of Directors.