Kentucky Barnstorming: Meet Sarah Shaffer

Our series profiling trainers behind the shedrow names continues with Sarah Shaffer, who started her first horse on July 3, 2025, with Princess Buttercup, a horse she bought privately so she could start claiming horses for clients. Shaffer is currently (as of Oct. 22 based at Ellis Park with 18 horses, but also will have 10 horses at Churchill Downs' Trackside training center this fall. She plans to split between Oaklawn Park and the Fair Grounds this winter, with her "other half," veteran horseman Bailey Thibeault, overseeing one of the outfits. In an update since conducting the video interviews with Sarah at Ellis and Churchill Downs, She's On A Roll now has four seconds in maiden-special weights in five starts (the other being a good fifth in the Ellis Park Turf) for Shaffer since being claimed out of a $50,000 maiden-claiming race. Photos were provided by Shaffer unless otherwise noted. Follow Sarah on X at @Sarah_Shaffer_