HELEN SHELLEY

    The mantra of the husband and wife duo of Warren and Helen Shelley is "to race as many times as we can and win as many times as we can." They have proven this by becoming one of only two Arabian operations in California to start over 300 horses in a single year. The Shelley's are looking forward to bigger and better things in years to come, especially after purchasing over 50 well-bred horses from the Darley Corporation. 
     Year-round racing in California has created many great opportunities for the racing community and, as Helen Shelley noted, "when racing in such places as Delaware the purses are nice, but the odds are against you. Racing in California offers many opportunities to compete for big purses the entire year." 
     The Shelleys have been married for over 35 years and have been racing Arabians for 12 years.  The two started racing in 1993 with the help of Diane Pacheco who convinced them that racing Arabians is much better than showing. Over the years the Shelleys have become a force in the Arabian racing fair circuit. They have won many awards as leading owners and trainers in the fair circuit. Warren and Helen campaign such horses as All Virtue, who set the 5-furlong record of 1:11.3 at the 2004 California Fair, and Lets Rumble, who is also a track record holder in the fair circuit.
     The Shelleys own a ranch in Sacramento where Warren looks after the day-to-day operations of their ranch and racing operation while Helen concentrates in transporting the horses to the track where they will be racing that day.  While the commute of over 400 miles from Sacramento to Los Alamitos can be wearing on Helen, once here, she is able to enjoy the company of her good friends Jay Corcoran, the director of the Arabian Racing Association of California, and his wife Bernice, a trainer at Los Alamitos.

      Helen Shelley campaignes many of the top Arabians currently running at Los Alamitos, including Galgule, Trim To Slim, and Le Fromage.