Honestly, wrestling and horse racing feel like two distant worlds. Yet somehow, many pro wrestlers have become fans of the sport. And would you blame them? After all, horse racing is an exciting sport that has been around for hundreds of years, and you don’t have to be an equestrian to get that adrenaline rush, especially when a bet is placed.
Just to make it clear, pro wrestlers aren’t the only ones who keep an eye on horse racing. This trend has been going on for years, and footballers, basketball stars, celebrities, and even musicians have shown interest in horse racing.
But we are here to find out all the pro wrestling athletes that love the sport. Some are just regular fans who love to place a bet and go to the prestigious events, and some even went deeper into the rabbit hole and became involved in the sport.
Frank Miller Went From Wrestling Champion to Racehorse Trainer
We’ll start with the strangest transitions of all time. Frank Miller, who you may know as Trailer Park Trash (yeah, a weird name), was a professional wrestler appearing at and wrestling in events all over the world. He became the first Ohio Valley Wrestling heavyweight champion and later a six-time OVW tag-team champion.
But as soon as he retired, he had other plans. Racing was already a part of Miller’s life. His grandfather, Jerome “Jerry” Miller, trained racehorses in Kentucky, which is probably where his passion for horses comes from.
He spent a lot of time during his childhood at the racetrack, which ignited that passion for training racehorses in him. Frank Miller started training horses professionally in 2008. Yes, he was still wrestling at that time, but his wrestling career was already fading, and he later retired in 2013.
By 2023, he got quite a bit of success in the racing world. He was operating from Churchill Downs’ Trackside Training Center and coordinating horses primarily in Kentucky and Indiana. Today, he is still involved in Kentucky Racing, and although he didn’t train many horses with prestigious wins like the Kentucky Derby or the Breeders’ Cup, he still contributed a lot to the racing community.
But it is never too late. Who knows, maybe we will see him in this year’s Breeders’ Cup, right? To get more news on the 2026 Breeders’ Cup, click the link below: https://www.twinspires.com/breeders-cup/
Johnny Love Became a Professional Handicapper
Johnny Love took another route from wrestling into racing.
Love spent eight years as a professional wrestler, appearing in the United States, Europe, and Canada and working around promotions including the AWA and NWA. He eventually retired from wrestling in 1993. His fascination with racing, however, had started much earlier. He remembered watching Secretariat during the 1970s and attending Canterbury Downs as a college student in 1985.
Then he started studying.
Love learned handicapping and eventually hit a $36,000 Pick 6 at Hollywood Park in 2008. In 2011, he became the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s public handicapper for Canterbury Park.
He later bought a share in a three-year-old filly named Lil Zila, taking the next step from analyzing other people’s horses to having money and emotion attached to one of his own.
His philosophy about handicapping sounds remarkably similar to the mindset required for a wrestling career: stay consistent, do not become too excited when things go well, and do not collapse emotionally when they don’t.
Summer Rae Became a Horse Racing Presenter
Danielle Moinet is better known to wrestling audiences as Summer Rae, the former WWE performer and Total Divas cast member.
Her racing connection went considerably beyond wearing a large hat to Churchill Downs.
In 2021, America’s Best Racing brought Moinet into its racing coverage. She appeared on the organization’s Horse Power program before becoming co-host of Always Be Racing, a weekly streaming show with BlackJack Fletcher covering horse racing, gambling, and the racing lifestyle.
That meant actually talking about the sport regularly rather than appearing for one celebrity photo opportunity.
ABR also followed Moinet during Alabama Stakes Day at Saratoga in 2021, where she brought her mother through the race-day experience. The following year, she won America’s Best Racing’s Fan Choice Award for Top Racetrack Threads, with ABR donating $500 in her name to the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance.
Harvey Smith Went From the Wrestling Ring to Grand National Glory
Harvey Smith belongs here with one qualification: professional wrestling was only one part of an extraordinary sporting career. This is one of the strangest career paths we’ve seen so far, and not many people know about Smith’s story.
Smith was primarily one of Britain’s great showjumpers, representing Great Britain at the Olympics and becoming a household name for both his riding and his famously blunt personality. But he also spent time working as a professional wrestler.
Later, horse racing became a family business.
Smith worked alongside his wife Sue, a licensed National Hunt trainer based in Yorkshire. Harvey helped with the horses, built gallops, and played a major role in the operation even though the training license was officially held by Sue.
Smith had previously competed at the Olympics, wrestled professionally, and became one of Britain’s most recognizable equestrian personalities.
Final Thoughts
Who would have thought that so many pro wrestlers would get into horse racing, right? This proves that horse racing knows no borders and has no limitations. It is truly the sport of kings, and many people love it, despite the fact that they are on a completely different career path.
