The LaRose Era Begins
At 0h03, on April 2, 2026 • By Robert Yates, Oaklawn Park
The Kinnon LaRose era is about to begin at Oaklawn. The Tom Amoss era is about to end at Oaklawn.
LaRose is scheduled to make his training debut Thursday when he saddles My Noble Knight in the second race, a $50,000 starter allowance for older horses at 1 1/8 miles.
A former collegiate basketball player, LaRose, 28, spent the past several years as an assistant under highly successful trainer Tom Amoss, who announced March 16 that he was retiring and handing the stable’s keys to LaRose.
“It’s all excitement,” LaRose said Wednesday afternoon. “Just super grateful for the opportunity and trust that Tom and all his clients have in me, clients that have been with him for a long time. For them to have the faith in both Tom and myself, super happy and grateful for the opportunity.”
Amoss, 64, said he will work with LaRose in an advisory role to make the transition as smooth as possible.
“I think a year from now, he’ll probably take the training wheels off,” Amoss said Tuesday afternoon. “We have an arrangement where I’ll be here for the next year working with him and then it’s totally his decision after that. But he doesn’t strike me as the kind of person that’s going to need my help.”
Amoss is the 15th-winningest trainer in North American history with 4,278 victories, according to Equibase, racing’s official data gathering organization. Amoss started his first horse and won his first race in 1987.
Amoss annually winters at Fair Grounds (his home track) and with its 2025-2026 meet ending March 22, he said the timing was ideal to have horses begin to run in LaRose’s name at Oaklawn. LaRose is scheduled to be in Hot Springs Thursday.
“I think we kind of tried to time it as it relates to the end of the Fair Grounds meet, in the way of billing, transitioning from one trainer’s bills to another,” Amoss said. “The end of March made sense.”
LaRose has eight horses entered over the next three racing days at Oaklawn, although Amoss said Revel Toast will be scratched from Thursday’s third race. LaRose has several live shots, including program favorites Carbone in Friday’s eighth race and Yellow Brick in Saturday’s fifth race.
My Noble Knight (4-1 on the morning line) represented Amoss’ 100th career Oaklawn winner last April.
“God, I would love to see him win one of those,” Amoss said.
