Michael B. Campbell

Mike Campbell started out in the Thoroughbred industry as a professional jockey but was forced out of the saddle by a 1974 riding accident at Oaklawn Park left him nearly paralyzed and struggling for survival. Campbell worked extraordinarily hard recover and his body healed slowly. Once released from the hospital, he required another full year of recuperation at his parents’ Wisconsin farm.

Eventually, Campbell followed his grandfather and father to a career as a trainer and has won more than 750 races since taking out his license in 1976, earning his first stakes win with Dukes Big Shot in the 1979 Wright Brothers Handicap.  Kid Grindstone gave Campbell his first graded stakes victory April 12, 2006, in the Fifth Season Stakes at Oaklawn Park. He added another graded stakes win with No Tolerance in November 2006.

Campbell's twin sons Jesse and Joel both enjoyed success as professional jockeys. Jesse won 2,337 races according to Equibase statistics, highlighted by the 2013 Queen’s Plate aboard Midnight Aria at Woodbine. He was aboard for his father’s first Breeders’ Cup horse, 68-1 Private Prospect, who finished ninth in the 2014 Juvenile.

Mike Campbell added a graded stakes win in 2023 with Lady Radler before Patriot Spirit won the 2024 Illinois derby and 2025 Vosburgh Stakes, punching his ticket to the Cygames Breeders’ Cup Sprint in the latter.