She trained her first horse three decades ago, won the race,and is still a winner

When Kathleen DeMasi saddled her first horse in 1984 and entered it into a race, her life as a trainer was just beginning.

The Maryland native had just gotten her training license. Once the gates opened at Penn National Race Course in Grantville, Pa., the horse, Maryland National, flew by the others and took first place.

"I did not think that horse was going to win," said DeMasi, now 53, laughing. "It was pretty exciting. She was a real challenge to get to the races, too. I had to work really hard and think outside of the box."

Now, 8,973 starts and 1,188 wins later, the Mullica Hill resident will be inducted into the Bensalem-based Parx Racing Hall of Fame as an accomplished trainer in September along with four horse-racing colleagues and one horse. DeMasi is the first female trainer to be inducted into the group of 60 horse owners, jockeys, horses, and special achievements honored since its inaugural class in 2011.

"It's still, I think in a lot of ways, a man's world," DeMasi said of the sport. "But just like anything else, women have broken into the game and done pretty well."

DeMasi is a trainer with Pewter Stable, which she runs with her husband, Greg, on their 20-acre farm. She also sits on the board of directors as trainer director for the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, which she has been part of for more than a dozen years. DeMasi's more than 1,000 wins have tallied $24,842,095 in earnings to date. Any horse trainer with more than 1,100 wins has achieved something impressive, said Jim Mulvihill, director of media relations for National Thoroughbred Racing Association.

"Only a few hundred trainers in history" have more than 1,000 wins, Mulvihill said, adding that the industry, while historically considered male-dominated, is more balanced now.

About 25 percent of the trainers registered at Parx Racing are women, according to a list of all trainers registered to barns at Parx. Three of the top 50 trainers in North America based on earnings are women, according to Mulvihill. There is one female trainer in the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

"There's a pretty long tradition of women trainers having success at all levels of racing, but there is always room for more," Mulvihill said. "We're always delighted when the leading women get recognized."

DeMasi grew up with a love for horses on the family farm in Centreville, Md. Her mother shared the passion for horses and started the local Tuckahoe Pony Club, a team-based club that focused on training and competition.

DeMasi worked at a local racetrack grooming horses during her high school summers, and her involvement became full-time work after graduation.

She eventually went to Delaware Park Racetrack, then Garden State Park in Cherry Hill when it reopened in 1985 to train on her own. She met her husband at Delaware Park and moved to Mullica Hill in Gloucester County.

Greg DeMasi, 54, manages Pewter Stable and its clients and partnerships. The business has grown since the mid-1980s, but his wife does all the "hands-on" work.

"This is a very male-dominated industry," he said. "Not as much as it would have been 20 years ago, but it was very hard to find lady trainers."

While Kathleen DeMasi said there had been times when she felt the need to assert herself, she said she had never felt out of place on the track.

"There have been a couple people who were mean, and kind of hurtful because you were a girl," she said. "I remember my mother saying, 'They're only preparing you for someone worse.' "

DeMasi's job as a trainer is similar to that of a sports team's coach. She keeps tabs of what kind of workouts each horse should have, tracks veterinarian visits, and organizes what each exerciser and groomer will do to get the horses ready to race. DeMasi trains horses at Parx Racing, Penn National, and Monmouth Park.

"It's like kids," she said. "You sort of have to figure out what makes a horse tick and what makes it want to run."

DeMasi is behind the scenes at the tracks almost every day of the week. At Parx Racing, she and her staff are up by 4 a.m., at the track by 5, and start the daily training routine from 6 to 10 a.m.

On racing days, DeMasi makes sure the horses are iced and groomed before heading to the paddock. She goes up to the horseman's box looking over the track to watch the race, jots down the odds of the other horses, and later meets with the horse and jockey to review how the race went.

DeMasi says she is always thinking about what could have gone differently after a race: Did the horse need blinkers on? What could motivate the horse better? Does the horse like being in the front or next to others?

"It's like rookie players," she said.

DeMasi has a staff of groomers, exercisers, and assistants who help her maintain the horses. Pam Angevine, 53, of Bensalem, has worked alongside DeMasi as her assistant trainer for about four years. Originally from Massachusetts, Angevine admired DeMasi's work from afar even before moving to Pennsylvania.

"I always watched and paid attention to her because she was so exceptional," Angevine said. "It's a tough business for women. It was kind of rare to see women trainers."

Angevine takes care of everything in the Parx barn concerning the horses' upkeep. She knows what it's like to be on DeMasi's side, having been a trainer until 2011.

"It's like a happy family," Angevine said. "She really cares for her employees as a team. We are a team, and it takes a team to win races."

DeMasi's father, now 80, still maintains the hometown farm, but her mother died suddenly in 1990 of undiagnosed diabetes.

In 2014, DeMasi started the Jean Crook memorial scholarship in memory of her mother, which can be awarded to students on an agricultural or academic track in Queen Anne's and Caroline Counties in Maryland.

DeMasi is also proud of the PTHA's creation of the Turning for Home program in 2008, which works to house retired racehorses. By the end of June, the program had found homes for more than 1,800 retired horses.

With DeMasi's accomplishments and resumé, it's not a surprise that she is being inducted into the hall of fame, Greg DeMasi said.

"People who meet Kate, I don't know anyone who met her and didn't like her," he said. "Without Kate, there is no success."

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