Richard Hendriks, owner and trainer at Pennsylvania based Richard Hendriks Racing has been successfully training horses for over 3 decades. A two time champion steeplechase jockey (1986 and 1987) of 10 years, and a trainer of 20+, Hendriks’ specialty lies in developing and showcasing exceptional steeplechase and long turf horses. This year, Richard is just shy of 700 career victories with eyes on crossing the impressive threshold in the coming season.
In 2018, Hendriks became the first horseman to be associated with Eclipse Award winners as both rider and trainer when his top horse Zanjabeel was recognized as outstanding steeplechase horse in the sport’s top prize. The same year, Optimus Prime, also trained by Hendriks was honored with the second place Eclipse Award nomination by the National Steeplechase Association.
Hendriks has depended on Poulin Grain as a critical part of his horse’s success for the past 7 years. E-TEC® Fibre-Max is the fuel of choice for Hendriks Racing: “When we get a new horse in, the 10th day you can see a change in coat- they blossom, and by the 14th day they’re like different animals.”
With the addition of Chromium and Ca+RE EQ™(Calcite) to Fibre-Max last year, Hendriks says “the horses carry more weight- we’ve cut our feed back and decreased our feed bill which is huge. The horses also recover much faster, it’s unbelievable. We can send horses 10-14 hours away and they’ll come back looking like the same horse. We can run them back faster with less fatigue, faster recovery and healthier horses.”
Not only has Hendriks credited his horses’ athletic success to his Poulin feeding program, but he also values the support of his Poulin Grain specialist and Performance Horse Nutrition as a critical part of his team. He remarks “we’re not just paying for feed, the greatest thing is the customer relationship.” He says, “If I have a problem, or a horse that needs special attention, I just talk to Poulin, send Dr. Cubitt a picture and they tell me how to change their program to make a difference. It’s been a huge success of mine to be able to call up and get an answer in two seconds and I’m ready to go.”
When Hendriks sees a horse at a sale with a weak hind end, with a combination of a solid training schedule and great feeding program support, he says “here we go, I can improve that horse.”
Photo Credit: Zanjabeel Eclipse Award Winner, courtesy of BloodHorse.
