Don started training quarter horses in 1980 at the age of 18. His first horse was Loves Dual Diamond, who also became Don’s first stake winner that year when he won the Canadian Bred Futurity. The next year he and his mother, Marie, travelled to the Tattersall’s sale in Kentucky and purchased a 2 year old named Bids Abraham. Bids Abraham went on to win the Early Bird Futurity the following season.