Background
One of the five children of Ann and Bennie Woolley, Senior, he grew up in Dalhart, Texas where his parents still live.
One of the five children of Ann and Bennie Woolley, Senior, he grew up in Dalhart, Texas where his parents still live.
After graduating high school he studied for two years at Frank Phillips College in Borger, Texas.
At age twenty he moved back to New Mexico to pursue a career in the horse racing industry. Based at Sunland Park Racetrack in Sunland Park, New Mexico, he trains both Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds for flat racing. Making his debut for Woolley on February 28, 2009, Mine That Bird finished second in the Borderland Derby and on March 29 had a fourth-place finish in the Sunland Derby.
However, based on his career earnings in graded stakes races, he qualified as one of the twenty Kentucky Derby starters.
Trainer Chip Woolley loaded Mine That Bird into a horse trailer attached to 2008 Ford F-450 pickup truck, and drove 1,700 miles over 21 hours from New Mexico to get to the big race. The horse was then loaded into his trailer and driven by Woolley to Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland.
Under jockey Mike Smith, Mine That Bird came from last through difficult traffic to earn a second-place finish in the Preakness Stakes. Following the race, Chip Woolley announced that the horse"s owners would be sending him to Belmont Park in Elmont, New York for the third leg of the United States. Triple Crown series, the Belmont Stakes, where he placed third.