Equine Herpes Virus

A Keener Impact

Leading trainer Dee Keener continues to set the pace as one of the industry’s leading conditioners, while his wife, Wendy, is a respected breeder and owner who has served in pivotal regulatory roles that have helped shaped Oklahoma’s racing industry. 

Dee Keener is a man who speaks in humble tones and thinks in fast strides. From mornings with his wife, Wendy, at their Inola, Oklahoma ranch to the electric atmosphere of Remington Park, Keener has risen to the top of the trainer ranks with an ironclad principle: let the horses do the talking. 

On the track, his runners speak with a roar. As the All-Time winningest Paint and Appaloosa trainer in history, having surpassed the legendary Lewis Wartchow, Keener’s dominance with mixed-breeds is nearly unparalleled. According to Equibase, his mixed-breed ledger alone accounts for 629 wins and a staggering earnings total of $9,925,463.

His success is equally formidable on the Quarter Horse front, where he has recorded 412 victories and finishing in the money an additional 709 times, amassing over $7.6 million earnings. Currently, Keener is riding a hot hand as he chases a fourth consecutive training title at Remington Park. He remains the man to beat in Oklahoma. In 2025, he shattered the Remington Park record for the most wins in a single mixed-breed season with 54 victories. Dee was also a leading owner at Remington Park last year with Jay Ross under the name of 918 Bloodstock. He is the man to catch this year at Remington Park. 

Despite holding the credentials to lead a classroom, Keener graduated from Northeastern State University with a degree in elementary education, his heart has always been firmly with the horses. He followed a path paved by paternal advice, earning a safety net of sorts through education before pursuing his life’s work as a trainer, ultimately trading chalkboards for the stable.

“I went to college at Northeastern State University and got a degree in
 elementary education, but I never pursued it,” shared Keener. “I went straight into training horses right after
  I got out of college. I was rodeoing through that time, but my dad always told me to go to school and get a degree and then you can do anything you want to do after that. ‘Get an education first,’ he always said.”

Inola Roots
Long before the record-breaking seasons and Grade 1 wins, the Keener story began simply enough. It was during his early days galloping horses that Keener’s profession and personal life intersected. While galloping horses for his future father-in-law, Keener met his wife, Wendy Ingersoll Keener. Married 31 years this June, the Keeners have two sons, Razz, 26, and Radley, 21.

“My dad trained and I galloped for him and Wendy’s dad also trained and I galloped for him and that’s how I met Wendy.”

Wendy notes that their path in the Quarter Horse industry may not have been the original plan, but a simple change of focus shifted the trajectory.

“We’re both from Inola and we have both been in the horse industry our entire lives,” said Wendy, who is a lawyer and served on the Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission (OHRC) for six years (2017-2023) and has also been a member of the board of directors of the Oklahoma Quarter Horse Racing Association (OQHRA). “Dee rodeoed when we first met and he did that up until the time we got married, then he started training. It never crossed our minds that we would be doing what we are doing these days. I figured we would be living on the ranch, doing cattle and living happily ever after. But once he started training, it all went in a different direction very quickly.”

Wendy’s involvement in regulatory and advocacy roles complements the Keeners’ deep roots in the Oklahoma racing industry. 

“I’ve always been involved,” Wendy said. “I do not regret serving at all. I’m glad I did it. I did lose some friends, though. Serving in that capacity you learn that it is not a popularity contest, that’s for sure.”

Wendy’s industry participation extends beyond regulatory roles and being the wife of a trainer. She also breeds and owns horses under the banner of Painted Faith Racing, a partnership with Steve and Lorie Wright. They also stand a stallion, stakes winner and graded stakes-placed PHQ Apollitical Jess, who stands at Wright Farms in Oklahoma. PHQ Apollitical Jess is the sire of WF Jess Candy (APHA), who was bred by Wright, owned by Painted Faith Racing, and trained be Dee. The sorrel gelding annexed both the Speedhorse Paint and Appaloosa Futurty-G1 and the Oklahoma Paint and Appaloosa Juvenile Stakes.

“Our partnership used to be named the Paint Horse Queens,” Wendy related. “I was a partner with Steve’s late wife, Tracy. She passed away and we changed the name to Painted Faith Racing at that time around seven years ago. I am a breast cancer survivor, so faith is very important to me and to Steve’s wife, Lorie. It’s a great partnership.

“When you breed one that does well at the racetrack, that is the ultimate reward,” Wendy continued. “My parents bought me my first racehorse when I was 17 years old and that pretty much did it for me. And she was a winner. Real EZ Lady was her name. She won at Blue Ribbon Downs.” 

A Winning Philosophy
Though Dee eventually became a leading trainer of Quarter Horses, Paints, and Appaloosas, his early success came from a different breed thanks to a connection on the West Coast.

“My dad always trained Quarter Horses, but when I first started training, I trained Thoroughbreds,” Dee said. “I had a guy in Southern California who would send me horses that had been running at Santa Anita and Hollywood Park. They struggled to make money in California, so he would send horses here. I did pretty good with them and was even the leading trainer at Will Rogers Downs a couple times. I enjoyed training…

Bob and Jerry Gaston of Seguin, Texas, have not been involved in horse racing as long as some people have been. But in the time they have been involved, they have developed a racehorse program that has had a great deal of success. As of 2026 they have been the breeders of such horses as Valiant Lil Lady, the winner of the 2012 Texas Classic Futurity-G1, Bodacious Dash, winner of the 2014 Texas Classic Futurity-G1, Rustys Miracle, winner of the 2019 All American Derby-G1, Dulce Sin Tacha, winner of the 2020 Texas Classic Futurity-G1 and Just Dulce, winner of the 2025 Texas Classic Derby-G1. Dulce Sin Tacha is the 2020 AQHA Racing Champion Two-Year-Old Colt and the 2021 AQHA Racing Champion Three-Year-Old Colt, while his full brother Just Dulce is the 2025 AQHA Racing Champion Three-Year-Old Colt. Foals bred by Bob and Jerry Gaston have earned over $9 million. 

Dulce Sin Tacha, bred and raced by the Gastons, has now added the title of the 2025 AQHA Freshman Sire of the Year based on earnings to their breeding program. His foals have 2025 earnings of $2,193,584 from 72 starters with 61 ROM and five stakes winners. His stakes winners include Jamies Sin Tacha, winner of the 2025 Remington Park Oklahoma Bred Futurity-RG1. He also sired two 2025 All American Futurity-G1 qualifiers from this first crop. They are Envestor and Dee Favorite Tacha who both won their trials for the All American Futurity-G1. Envestor finished fourth and Dee Favorite Tacha was scratched before the race. 

Dulce Sin Tacha is sired by Jess Good Candy and out of Prissy Sin Tacha by Tempting Dash. He earned his way into the stallion ranks with his wins in the Texas Classic Futurity-G1 and the 2021 All American Invitational. He was second in the Rainbow Derby-G1 and the All American Juvenile. He made 11 starts with eight wins, three seconds and earnings of $693,689 on his way to winning his two championship titles. 

When you get to visiting with Bob Gaston you soon learn he is a cattleman. A cattle breeder to be more specific. But it was his love for his wife Jerry that carried him into the Quarter Horse racing industry and more specifically as a breeder of quarter running horses. 

He explained his move to horse breeding this way, “My sister Betty Gaston was a trainer of Quarter Horses in South Texas and Jerry would go with her to the match races. That was back before we had parimutuel in Texas. She would come home four feet off the ground. My sister would call me and tell me, “You need to buy her a racehorse.” I said, “Sister, you need to put in your little black book, ‘I will never ever own a racehorse.’”

He continued, “Then I bought some cows from a guy, and he had a filly, and he said, ‘You need to buy that filly. Your sister trained her mother Miss Lee Jo.’ I said, ‘I will buy your cows but I’m not buying a racehorse.’ When the cattle got to my farm, we unloaded them and there was this filly. I called him back and I told him I wasn’t having any racehorses. ‘I am going to send this filly back,’ and he said, ‘You can’t do that.’ I said, ‘The hell, I can’t.’ He then told me, ‘I gave that filly to your wife,’ and that’s how we got started.”

Bob added, “The filly didn’t run too well, but she was ok. When she got through running, we bred her and turned her out in the pasture. Jerry was still going to my sisters and still coming home higher than a kite. So, I told Jerry, ‘I am a breeder and I am going to breed you a runner.’ That filly was Tontos Barlisa, an ROM runner that won or placed second in four of her eight starts.”

This is where the late Steve VanBebber enters the picture. “I looked in the books, and I found the leading trainer was Steve VanBebber. So, I called him and I said to Mr. VanBebber, ‘I would like to take you to dinner at the Texas Classic, are you going to be there?’ He said, ‘I’ll meet you for dinner.’ So, when they ran the Classic, I asked him, ‘How do I win that race?’ and he said, ‘Well partner, you just stick with me.’ I didn’t hear anything from him until May, and he called me and told me, ‘They’ve got a new stud in Louisiana, Mr Jess Perry. You come over here and buy whatever you can afford.’ They were all runners and two of them were bigtime runners.” 

They bought Hez Not Too Shabby at the LQHBA Yearling Sale. He went to the track to run 18 races with seven wins, three seconds and two thirds earning $192,469. Under the care of Steve VanBebber, he won the 2000 Louisiana QHRA Futurity-G1. Then in 2001 he won the Delta Downs Louisiana Breeders’ Derby-G3, having transitioned to the care of Janet VanBebber after Steve’s untimely death. 

Coronas Leaving You was another runner that was successful for Bob and Jerry. Bob explained, “I bought an embryo and that turned out to be Coronas Leaving You. He was a big runner in Louisiana. I sold him and it just started from there.” 

It is obvious that from the beginning Bob Gaston knew he would need good broodmares to breed good runners. He had bought Coronas Leaving You as an embryo in 2005 so in 2011 he added Lil Bit Rusty, his dam, to the broodmare band. But she was ill when she arrived at her new home dying before she could produce a foal for them. This mare was a racehorse. She made 47 starts with 15 wins, 11 seconds and 5 thirds earning $215,394. She won five stakes including the 1990 QHBC Distaff Classic-G1. She was the dam of 20 starters that earned 18 ROM with four stakes winners. Her foals earned $1,959,333. Her four stakes winners include Coronas Leaving You and Whosleavingyou the 2002 AQHA Racing Co-World Champion. They sold Coronas Leaving You and he became the sire of horses with earnings of over $16 million including Open Me A Corona, an AQHA Racing Champion Aged Stallion. Lil Bit Rusty was the dam of Shenoshespecial, the second dam of leading sire Favorite Cartel. They also purchased Rustys Lil Lady, a daughter of Lil Bit Rusty, in 2008. She is the dam of the grade one stakes winners, Valiant Lil Lady and Rustys Miracle, as well as the grade two winner, Bubba Carver. 

St Pats Tea is another successful runner that has become an important part of the Gaston broodmare band. She was purchased in 2000 and raced by Bob and Jerry. She was…