Michael R. Matz
Michael Ray Matz (born January 23, 1951 in Collegeville, Pennsylvania) is an American Olympic equestrian rider and horse trainer. As a trainer, he trained the ill-fated Barbaro to win the 132nd Kentucky Derby horse race in 2006, before the previously undefeated colt suffered a career and life ending injury, shortly after the start of horse racing’s second leg of the triple crown, the Preakness Stakes, just two weeks later.
Matz had a highly successful equestrian career as a show jumping rider. He was a six-time U.S. national champion, and won at least one major show jumping event in 20 consecutive years. Matz won team gold at the 1986 World Championships in Aachen riding Chef, to go with his individual and team bronze medals he won at the 1978 World Equestrian Championships while riding Jet Run. He also so won the 1981 Show Jumping World Cup on Jet Run. Matz has won a total of four gold medals and four bronze medals at the Pan American Games, and made Olympic teams in 1976, 1992, and 1996. In 1996, he won a team silver medal in the show jumping equestrian event, along with Peter Leone, Leslie Burr-Howard, and Anne Kursinski. Matz was also chosen to carry the United States flag into Centennial Olympic Stadium at the Closing Ceremonies of the 1996 Games. He retired from show jumping as the leading money-winning rider in the sport’s American history, with over $1.7 million.
He began to train thoroughbreds in 1998, making training his full-time profession once he failed to make the 2000 Olympic team. He trains at the Fair Hill Training Center, in Maryland. In addition to Barbaro, he trained the 2005 Arlington Million winner Kicken Kris, and shortly after Barbaro’s tragic injury, he returned to the scene of his greatest victory to score another major Churchill Downs win at the 2006 Breeders’ Cup Distaff with Round Pond. In a double, irony of both the Derby and Preakness, two of the competitors in the 2006 Distaff broke down, Fleet Indian and Pine Island, with Pine Island being euthanized. Neither filly was trained by Matz, however, like Barbaro, Round Pond was ridden by Edgar Prado on her journey to the winner’s circle at Churchill Downs.
On April 1, 2006, Matz was inducted into the Show Jumping Hall of Fame.
