Michael Dickinson: Comeback Due to Unfinished Business?

On August 3, 2015, Michael Dickinson pulled a Brett Favre or if you prefer, a Michael Jordan by announcing that he would come out of retirement to once again train racehorses at his Tapeta Farm in North East, Maryland, nearly eight years after saddling his last starter on Dec. 8, 2007 at Turfway Park.

After listening to Dickinson and reading his resume’ it makes one believe this Brit suffers from perfectionism. At an early age he became a champion amateur rider, but after ten years as a professional jockey unable to attain greatness, he turned to training thoroughbreds. Earning the “Mad Genius” moniker due to his unorthodox training methods and the well documented way he made Da Hoss a Breeders’ Cup Champion again in 1998, two years after having done the same in 1996.  Winning a classic race in the states still escaped him over the next nine (9) years.

In 2004 Tapit, Dickinson’s only Kentucky Derby starter finished ninth when sent off as the 6-1 third betting choice. This writer has a vivid memory of seeing Dickinson the morning of the Derby, walking the Churchill Downs dirt course with a measuring stick, trying to determine which path would best serve his three-year-old that afternoon. Can’t help but think with Tapit’s extreme success at stud, that Dickinson may be haunted by his failure to deliver on that first Saturday in May in 2004.

Maybe seeing the Triple Crown success of Bob Baffert eats at Dickinson? He claims that during his travels throughout the world while promoting his Tapeta Footings track surface business, he gathered many new ideas for training thoroughbreds. That and his love of horses influenced his decision to train again. Or from a horse racing fan point of view, his master plan to revolutionize the racing industry via Tapeta, which proved to be as accepting in the U.S. as the LaserDisc was in 1978, forced him back into training?

Regardless of Dickinson’s motive, it’s been seven months since his planned return to training in the Fall of 2015, but not one runner has surfaced at a North American track with Michael Dickinson listed as trainer. Maybe his self-imposed training limit of 20-30 horses at Tapeta Farm, has had him busy learning those new methods to make a triumphant return to racing come Breeders’ Cup 2016 or hit the 2017 Derby Trail? Stay tuned.