In that fall of 1942, Luro brought Cornell to New York where he obtained his trainers' license and won a remarkable twenty-seven races over a forty-two-day period.
An uncle by marriage to Ron McAnally, in 1948 Cornell took the sixteen-year-old future Hall of Fame trainer out of an orphanage where he had lived since the death of his mother.
[6] He was the leading trainer at Santa Anita during the 1955–1956 season, at Del Mar Racetrack in 1958, and won three consecutive Fairplex Park titles from 1960 through 1962.
[8] Fourth in the 1959 Kentucky Derby after a rough start but strong comeback drive, Royal Orbit then gave Cornell the biggest win of his career with a victory in the second leg of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes.
[10] After twenty-two years operating a public stable, in 1971 Reggie Cornell was hired by Lucille Markey to take over as head trainer for her fabled Calumet Farm.