Nault Rolling Toward Another Big Season at the Downs

Mike Nault with Thick, a purchase from the Ontario Yearling Sale last year. (George Williams)

The Inside Track | April 9, 2026
Excerpts from article By G.S. Thompson

Trainer Mike Nault has been on a roll for the past three years, and it looks like he could be headed for another banner season in 2026.

Nault has 20 horses at the track, among the 250 that are now on the grounds preparing for opening evening on Tuesday May 12, and seven of his horses are well-bred youngsters.

The leading percentage trainer among trainers with more than 20 starts in 2025, Nault compiled a record of 32-18-9 from 89 starts last season, which represents an amazing 36 per cent win clip. Nault credits his major owners A2 Thoroughbreds and True North Thoroughbreds for his success, along with grooms Brittany Bergen, Jayden Tremblay, and first-year hand Victoria Koehn, who came to the barn from their Miracle Ranch operation.

“My owners are the best in the business,” said Nault. “And we have a great crew.”

Nault started training in 2000 and has been a steady climb in the standings by both number of wins and purse earnings ever since. Each year for the past three seasons, horses in his care have earned over $300,000

Nault has been training for A2 Thoroughbreds and True North Thoroughbreds for five years now, and the partnership has produced some of the most consistent success seen at the Downs in recent memory.

Trainer Mike Nault (far right) with members of the A2 Thoroughbreds team.

“They let me do my job,” said Nault. “They spend thousands of dollars to get the best quality horses in my barn, and they love the game.”

The stable’s proven stars heading into 2026 are Betterlucknexttime and Twolefttoload, both Manitoba-breds who delivered stakes victories last season. Twolefttoload, a daughter of Speculating, won the R.C. Anderson Stakes, while Betterlucknexttime, a son of Nonios, took both the J.W. Sifton Stakes and the Frank Arnason Sire Stakes. Betterlucknexttime was the top Manitoba-bred earner of 2025 and second overall at the Downs. He arrives at four with over $100,000 already banked and plenty of unfinished business.

But it is the seven two-year-olds that have Nault genuinely excited. Among the youngsters are a Known Agenda filly and a Fling Away filly, both purchased at the Toronto sales last fall. He is also high on a Speculating filly he’s pointing toward the Manitoba-bred three-year-old division, a lightly raced maiden named Tap the Parlay.

“I really like her,” said Nault. “I think she’s going to be my best Manitoba-bred three-year-old.”

Rounding out the barn is Yankee Doodle, a four-year-old mare acquired this winter after competing in New York, including at Saratoga. She arrives as a top candidate for the older mare ranks. Load Abroad, a classy-looking grey mare that won three races for Nault last year, is also back in the Nault barn this year after being claimed away and claimed back last year. Nault also has a horse he is quietly pointing toward the Manitoba Derby.

Getting to this point required more than a quarter-century of early mornings and hard work. Nault began training in 2000 and built his reputation the old-fashioned way, one horse at a time. He developed champions Bankin on Betty and Diamond Digger for his owners, and trained Melisandre to an undefeated four-for-four record as a two-year-old before the filly moved on to other connections. Blazing Bull, a horse that won three consecutive stakes races for Nault, remains one of the better horses to come through the barn, even if he eventually departed via the claiming box.

Groom Victoria Koehn with Spec of Gold, a half-brother to Hidden Grace by Speculating. (George Williams)

Ask Nault about the highlight of his career, though, and he does not hesitate.

“It’s probably the Escape Clause era,” said Nault.

Nault served as exercise rider for the legendary Manitoba-bred mare during the peak of her career, galloping her at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas ahead of the Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) one of the most prestigious races for older mares in North America. Canada’s champion mare in 2018, Escape Clause finished second in that race, beaten less than an inch to the best mare in the world at the time, Midnight Bisou.

“Don (trainer Don Schnell) flew me out there,” said Nault. “She ran so good.”

As a trainer, Hidden Grace holds a special place for Nault. He rates her as his number one horse, and her record speaks for itself. Hidden Grace won seven consecutive stakes victories under Nault’s care.

Nault is philosophical about what separates good horses from great ones, and what separates good trainers from the rest. “The horse is 80 per cent,” said Nault. “The trainer is 10 per cent and the rider is 10 per cent. The horse makes the trainer and the rider.”

That humility has served him well. His two-year-olds started training January 1, his older horses February 1, and Nault says he never misses a day regardless of weather.

“I’ve got bottom in these horses coming out of my yin yang,” said Nault, with a grin. As for what keeps him coming back after 26 years?

“These horses are like my children.”