“Anne is completely devoted to Thoroughbred racing. It’s just unbelievable how thorough she is in covering all the racing everywhere. She follows all of the people who are doing good things in the industry, and not just those we do business with. Every day, as early as she can get there, I get a report from her in the morning. All the facts, things you wouldn’t even think she would follow – horses, owners, stable names. She’s a walking encyclopedia of everything that goes on, and she never waivers from it. Even if she’s at home in the evenings, I’ll get a text that so-and-so ran, and it might not even be a horse we had. She’s just on it 24/7.
All the jockeys and riders we’ve had that have come off this farm, I’ll get a report if one of them rode or won a race. And it might be a jockey we haven’t heard about in a while – she tracks them down. Some days I’ll get reports on four or five jocks and what they did the day before, as well as horses and what they did. Trainers and racing stables, the same thing. If I stacked it all up over a period of time, I’d have a room full of paper! She just truly lives it, and that’s what she’s done for the 20-odd years that she’s been here with us. Even the grooms and people we’ve had here, Anne never forgets them and never leaves anybody out. She’s just unreal.
She galloped horses for Henry Carroll and Lucia Fick for several years. And she’s been dedicated to racing ever since. Most all of our owners know Anne and have dealt with her on the phone. She remembers everything about every horse in the barn. Say you wanted to know which horse is in Barn 6, Stall 8 – she’d come right up with the answer. She has walked the barns every day and keeps up with the staff. She’ll give them a sermon about this or that if need be, especially the young ones who are still learning and that sort of thing. She has that mother’s instinct with all these young riders. If they were here, she looked after them…and fussed at them when they didn’t do right.
Anne has been indispensable with the Elloree Trials, handling all the entries, dealing with both Thoroughbred and Quarter horse people, getting them everything they need for the Trials. She’s been very dedicated to that too. There’s really no one else like Anne. Oh…and she’s a damn good cook, too!”
Franklin G. (Goree) Smith, Sr., Owner of Elloree Training Center
“If you have ever had any contact with Elloree Training Center in South Carolina, you will know Anne or will have spoken to her on the phone. She always has the answers, knows and photographs all the horses, and is in her own right a knowledgeable horsewoman.
The annual Elloree Trials are an enormous undertaking for the staff; needless to say Anne is in the thick of it and does a great job of keeping everything running smoothly. We don’t think we have ever known anyone as dedicated to their boss and job as Anne. We are very happy to publicly recognize what an amazing person Anne Garrett is.”
Hamilton and Jody Smith, Hamilton Smith Racing Stables
“Anne Garrett of South Carolina’s Elloree Training Center is the operation’s heart and its memory. A lot of great horses have spent time at the Elloree Training Center, and Anne remembers most of them. Like a proud schoolteacher beaming with pride over the future success of former students, Anne becomes a lifelong fan of every horse that graduates from Elloree Training Center. People who pass through the Elloree Training Center get the same treatment knowing that ‘Miss Anne will always be in their corner cheering for their future success…and there have been a lot of amazing people who’ve passed through the those doors. Clients, riders (several who went on to become Eclipse Award winning jockeys), grooms, and thousands of casual fans who attend the annual Elloree Trials and all remember the kindness of “Miss Anne” and one of the first things they want to do when returning to the Elloree (sometimes after an absence of years) is get a hug from her. Anne is everyone’s first stop when visiting the the Training Center – and it’s not just because her desk is closest to the door.”
Wylie Perkins, South Carolina TOBA
“Mrs. Anne Garrett would be considered a little more than a SheHero I believe! With that first being said, I can’t pinpoint one outstanding thing that she does because there are so many. She works incredibly hard down at Elloree Training Center, being one of the main backbones of the operation which include managing and keeping 200 plus horses at bay.
I can’t count how many times she has to be there bright and early and stay late throughout the years to help manage horses being shipped in from sales and shipped out to racetracks all over the country. As we all know, that’s a huge task being in the horse industry, and it can be a headache from paperwork and more. On top of it she tries to keep track of the Thoroughbreds that have left the facility to see what their outcome was during racing careers, and she informs the coworkers at ETC and many more.
I know her heart is full with love and kindness because she was one of the women who took me under her wing while I was growing up and working at ETC. She gave me the best care to make sure I was happy and doing the right thing. To this day, I still admire her a lot and respect the work she does.
Miss Anne also helps every March organizing one of Elloree’s largest events, the Elloree Trials, which draws more than 6,000 people.
If I could vote for her to be the ultimate SheHero, I would do it unlimited times because she’s that and much more! If you don’t know her, your first impression is of a kind, loving, caring woman and you will probably fall in love with her as I did at age 10. Last of all, she is an awesome wife, Mom and Grandma. She would be the one SheHero.”
Malcolm Franklin, Jockey