EDDIE D. WILLIS
Eddie D. Willis has been training Quarter Horses since 1979. He is the trainer of over $40.4 million, with more than $37.6 million in Quarter Horse earners and over $2.1 million in Paint earners. Willis ranks as the #5 all-time leading Quarter Horse trainer, and he is the #4 all-time leading Paint trainer. Among the top horses he has trained are AQHA World Champion Oak Tree Special, and Champions Apollitical Gold, Feature Hero, Admiral Sting and A Real Man. Among his Paint leaders are World Champions Major Tom and Rio Rojo Jessie, and Champions Rio Rojo Jess and Cutrock.
Willis has been a leading trainer by earnings and wins for decades. Tragedy struck in 2008 when 43 of his charges perished in a barn fire, reducing his multi-million-dollar operation to ashes. But he picked himself up and moved on with help from his family and friends. Since 2001, he has been ranked a leading trainer by wins and/or earnings every year. He has had 11,217 starts with 1,761 wins, 1,654 seconds and 1,465 third place finishes as of the end of 2021.
He is the trainer of two Heritage Place Futurity winners in Ragazzo in 2009 for owner Jorge Haddad, and Southern Takes All in 2007 for owner James Sills. He has won the Remington Park training title an unprecedented 12 times – his latest in 2021. He won the All American Derby-G1 with Feature Hero in 2013, the Golden State Million Futurity-G1 with Apollitical Gold in 2020, and the All American Gold Cup-G1 with Rock You in 2015, along with many other Graded stakes wins.
Few trainers have been as dominant in this region as Eddie D. Willis. His Willis Racing is a family business in Caney, Oklahoma, with son Kasey training the earners of over $7.2 million, Eddie Lee training over $5 million, and Kevin training over $2 million.
“My father always fooled around with horses," Eddie D. Willis said back in 2009. “Looking back, I can’t even remember a time when we didn’t have at least one horse. I learned a lot from him and even galloped and rode in match races back when I was a kid. All three of my boys have followed me into racing. Now I just hope they’ve learned something from me." It appears that they did.