The 2016 Team

So we are at that stage in the year whereby our stables are now housing their inhabitants for what we hope will be the whole of the summer.

Last year we had a successful season with our three charges, Wild Bill Hikock, Young Stephen and Shes Some Deal, notching up 8 wins between them as well as countless other placings at tracks in Scotland, England and Wales.

For the 2016 season, only one of the trio returns to resurrect his campaign: Young Stephen, aka Stevie.  Shes Some Deal, aka Star, has been retired from racing for the final time and plans for her future are currently undecided.  It was hoped that she would go to the stallion however with the uncertainty surrounding Corbiewood's future, the closure of York and both Smarty's and my increasing work commitments, for now she is quite happily doing what she does best: being a horse.  We already have a small band of 'lifers', horses that don't race, aren't bred from nor are ridden, and do nothing other than churn up our fields, eat us out of house and home and terrorise dog-walkers and joggers as they pass the field, so adding Star to the band isn't going to do us much harm.  Wild Bill is also in the field, for no reason other than the fact that 'The Gaffer' only has time to train one horse, and thinks Bill (like Eternal Flame off of the 2014 season) will win races whenever he races, whereas the horse he's actually training this year needs to prove himself as he's somewhat of an unknown quantity.  He doesn't seem to mind feeding horses that he knows can (and will) win races in the future, but he's not happy to hang on to an unproven horse indefinitely.

And on that note, I should probably introduce you to The Gaffer's horse for the season, Cassius Clay,  a five year old son of Hasty Hall out of Mattys Romance, making him a half-brother to Eternal Flame.  He is by far and away the biggest horse The Gaffer has ever trained, standing at 16.1hh currently (I do need to confirm this with my 'new' antique measuring stick I got for Christmas off the parents, although of everyone in our camp I'm the only one capable of measuring a horse's height accurately just by eye.  The Gaffer and Smarty left to their own devices would have you believe that every horse we own is either 15hh or 15.1hh, which is why all of the rugs pre-Sarah times are 5'6'').  He raced lightly at 2 but was struck down with a virus just as the stakes race programme was gearing up so missed that, then came out as a 3 year old but was all height and no strength so was turned away to finish maturing.  I think we're all hoping that he's finished growing now!  The Gaffer has had to finally invest in rugs bigger than 5'6''....

Alongside Stevie and Cassius, we have my baby and the horse I refer to as Star #2 (or occasionally Big Ears #2), Crosshill Ace.  The first product of Smarty's and my breeding programme, the foal brought into the UK in utero inside Vain In Spain (aka Rita) in December 2013.  Born on St Patrick's Day 2014, my mother wanted to call her 'Irish Gold', but in keeping with her sire Cams Card Shark's name, we opted for Crosshill Ace.  We started breaking her in in November last year but were halted by the bad weather and work commitments, so made the decision to send her to Mark Kennedy (husband of SHRC super-secretary and one of my drinking partners, Karen) over at Corbiewood to finish the breaking in process and get her going ready to begin fast work when she returned to us.

She is entered for the Vincent Delaney Memorial (and prep races), BHRC Futurity, SHRC Futurity, Breeders Crown All American Fillies, Junior Welsh Dragoness and possibly the Aberystwyth 2YOs.  I hope that she makes it there.

Here are some photos of her from our last visit:

Crosshill Ace (Cams Card Shark-Vain In Spain-Artsplace)

 

We're planning to go over on Sunday to see her again, followed by a visit to the livery yard where Missile is now residing to see how he's getting on as well.  Hopefully I can bring a positive update after seeing them both!

Over and out,

#1 Groom

Florida: Part 2 - Pompano Park

Welcome back for Part 2!

Day 3 - continued...

On the Wednesday evening we headed back to the track for our second night of racing.  Steve Wolf had arranged for us to have a ride in the start car, a Hummer which he had designed whilst working for the track some years before.  We headed to the winner's circle after the second race to be picked up by the start car driver and the starter and waited while the horses paraded on the track.  As the car began to roll quietly around to the start, Wally [Hennessy] appeared in the 4-hole to shout to us in the back that we should be dropped off by the paddock and he would take us for a tour after the race.

I don't know where to begin describing the experience of actually being in the start car.  Back when I was in Wales I started a couple of qualifiers and also stood alongside the starter at the beginning of a few races at Amman Valley so I've been faced with 5 horses travelling at 30mph before.  This was different.  It was dark and we were under floodlights; there were 8 horses on the gate and I'm confident we were going a lot faster than 30mph!  As I was seated inside the vehicle, I was literally eyeballing 8 racehorses who I don't think could see me for all the adrenaline coursing through their veins.  As we accelerated to pull away, we got to see up close the momentary chaos that ensues until drivers slip into their positions and the race settles.  Smarty and I both thought we would pull up in the vehicle like the start car does in the UK, but we drove around the outside of the track, parallel to the horses, for the full mile.

IT WAS AMAZING.  You're watching the race from probably the second best seat in the house (the first being in the sulky).  You're watching every move, every challenge, every flick of the whip up close.  You're actually travelling with them.  I can't recommend it highly enough to anyone who visits the track...and the best part is it's free!

Chatting away to Wally as the car began to roll.

  

After the race we were dropped off at the paddock entrance onto the track, where Wally met us to begin our tour.  He took us to meet Greg DeFrank, the Race Secretary at the track who much like our very own Karen Kennedy, is the main cog in the machine that keeps harness racing going on a weekly basis.  From there, we had to wait while Wally dashed out onto the track for a drive in the fourth, which he subsequently won, then brought his horse back via the paddock entrance to tell us to jump on the golf buggy and head down to the winner's circle for a photo.

View from the paddock bend

Colours in the Race Secretary's office

At this point I should probably mention, if I haven't made reference or suggestion to it already, that Wally Hennessy is like a whirlwhind.  He seems to be constantly fizzing with energy and I can only assume that his enthusiasm for his track, its facilities and the horses that race there during the winter, must be because he is immensely proud of them.  So he should be.  What a man!  His attitude is completely infectious and half the time I spent with him I was trying not to burst out laughing at the way in which he totally went off on a tangent trying to show me something else new and exciting.

Anyway, due to the fact that he essentially had a drive in every race thereafter, Wally left us to our own devices in the paddock.  It was here that I began my search for Jamie Macomber, in order to fulfil the promise that we would return to see her and Ricky.  My efforts went unrewarded, as the only person I could find with her horse, Deuces For Charity, was the groom.  Smarty bumped into Scott, the caretake for Boston Red Rocks, Doo Wop Hanover and Katch Kanna, and whilst I was busy taking photos of the horses in their stalls, I was distracted by a gentleman telling me it's unlucky to photograph a horse before a race because then it won't win.  This is the American equivalent of our 'if you win Best Turned Out you won't win the race', a theory I took great pleasure in disproving at many an Allensmore meeting with Dark Fox and Loden Scoot.  The same gentleman also went on to explain that the filly he was racing that night had recovered from an injury which had required numerous pins and plates in her leg, and showed me the x-ray photos on his phone.  Possibly the most forward and chatty person I'd met bar Wally, but more about this random stranger later (we did meet again).

Back to the paddock.  It's an enormous barn, filled with four rows of stalls, each of which is grouped by race (with a number hanging from the ceiling midway along the stalls to denote the race number), and then numerically by cloth number.  It was like being in one of the sheds at the Brightwells Sale, but knowing exactly where you would find each horse on the card simply from its race and cloth number (which is also its post position).  I never thought I'd get 'shed envy', but I did.

The Paddock

From here I bumped into Mike and Barbara Murphy, a couple we'd met the day before who had introduced us to their horses, including stable favourite Four Socks.  Tonight they were racing a mare called Lickcreek Francis, who Barbara told me didn't have the biggest chance from the 7-hole for the second week in a row.  I said it was 'lucky 7', gave the horse a pat on the nose and wished them all the best.  Francis went on to deadheat in the race, and Mike & Barb insisted I jump on the golf buggy and head for the photo in the winner's circle...again.

Lickcreek Francis & Barb Murphy after her dead heat victory

Day 4

On the Thursday we once again headed for the back stretch, which was quickly becoming our favourite place in the entire world.  Dan Hennessy was there to meet us, as yet again Wally was out on the track jogging horses.  Dan asked if I wanted to take a horse out, to which I obviously said 'yes', and the next thing I knew I was about to sit behind my first trotter.  Wally came back off the track, jumped from one to another and off we went to jog horses together.  The horse that I was lucky enough to drive was an aged trotter by the name of Super Duke, who aside from being a little strong was otherwise a delight to jog.  Now I've only ever jogged horses around Colin Bevan's track and our little track at home, both of which are only wide enough for one horse at a time.  Not only was the jog track at Pompano wide enough for 8 horses with around 15 horses jogging at the time, but I also had to avoid a tractor coming towards me in various parts of the track each lap.  Despite all this, I loved every second of it.  I wish I'd been able to take a full stable of horses around there!

Super Duke & me getting ready to head out

Giving Wally the 'where it all began story' including Runnis Smokey, my first Standardbred!

Super Duke, who was super to jog!

Wally left me for a couple of extra laps to whizz around by myself, and each person I trotted up alongside was happy to have a brief chat.  When I came off the track, I spoke at length with Wally's groom, a Swedish lady who has been living and working in Florida for 30 years.  She's had the right idea all along.

Wally had to shoot off to play golf (what a lifestyle eh?!) so we bade the team farewell and began wandering again.  We'd only made it past one row of stables when Chris Oakes came by on a golf buggy, instructed the guy driving to slow down and shouted to us that he'd meet us at his stables.  So off to his stables we went.

Chris started at one end of his barn and introduced us to each horse in turn, talking us through their sale value, their earnings and/or their claiming price.  We got about half way up the line when he stopped to introduce us to a two year old filly called Blue Beach, by Somebeachsomewhere out of Rainbow Blue...a full sister to Somewherovrarainbow (p,4,1:48f $1,341,348).  She cost $270,000 as a yearling and is evidently from a supreme family...and then Chris Oakes said to Smarty, "do you wanna jog her?".  He didn't need asked twice.

Ten minutes later I was sat watching Smarty jogging the filly around the actual track at Pompano Park alongside two other two year olds.  He is the jammiest git in existence.

Smarty jogging Blue Beach

That's what top trainers get their youngsters looking like...

Once we'd headed back to the track and I'd gotten over my minor fit of jealousy, Chris introduced us to Luck Be Withyou, somewhat his 'stable star' alongside so many youngsters.  All in all we must have spent over an hour with Chris, who talked us through his operation at Wilkes Barre, near to Pocono Downs, as well as the remainder of his Florida season.  That morning he'd never spoken to Smarty before; by the time we'd left he'd let him sit behind the most expensive yearling to come out of Harrisburg in 2015!



From Chris' stable we carried on wandering around, which is when we came across the gentleman from the night before who had shown me the x-ray photos of the mare with pins in her foreleg.  And so began our friendship with Mr Scott Schwartz.  He introduced us to his stable star, stable favourite, and guaranteed winner come Sunday night, Cadillac Phil, as well as Classic Carpet and De Vins Girl (the mare with the cracked cannon bone). Smarty made himself at home, sitting on Scott's tack box and quizzing him on everything from state official visits, to vets bills, to training methods.  Scott gave the frankest and most open account of racing in Florida, not the all-singing, all-dancing account that every well-trained PR person would do, for which Smarty and I were very grateful.  Everybody had been talking about the potential decoupling of the casino and the racetrack, but nobody had given us the warts-and-all version of racing on a daily basis.  Turns out it's not so dissimilar from racing in the UK and Ireland after all.

As with nearly every other person we spoke to, Scott was amazed that we had harness racing in the UK.  It was a joy to describe our sport to other enthusiasts, and slightly embarassing to admit that I have to work a 45-hour 'day job' to be able to afford to own and train horses.  I was painfully reminded of how much the sport is a hobby for me whereas for them it is a way of life that, even for the small man, appears to pay.  It was whilst stood chewing the fat with Scott that I was able to admit for the first time since my arrival in America that things in our sport aren't as rosy as we would all paint to anybody looking in from the outside.  He laughed at my description of 'The Bench' at Corbiewood, and how every man in Scottish racing comes out of the womb with a stopwatch in his hand.  Little did he know I wasn't joking...

That evening, Smarty and I donned our gladrags for an evening out with Scott & Stephanie Wolf, and Nanna.  Steve showed me the new venture he was working on (10wins10) before we headed out for a lovely meal at Rock N Roll Ribs, owned by Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain.  In fact lovely just doesn't cover it, it was AMAZING.  American food rocks.  We then headed back to Chez Wolf and chatted all things racing, from the Vincent Delaney (and proposed American guests) to the complete lack of information in British and Irish racecards.  Steve is right, our cards look pathetic in comparison to those in America.  I kept all of my programmes from Pompano so next time I see Roy Sheedy (BHRC Chairman) I'll let him have a good look at them.  That is what we should be aspiring to.  We seem to pick and choose which bits of foreign systems we adopt in the UK, and unfortunately it always seems to be the worst parts and never the parts that would actually work and have a positive effect on the sport.  But what do I know, I'm only of any use when I'm doing some donkey work!

Anyway, back to the blog and away from any bold political statements that may be printed off and used against me at a future date, taken out of context and to tarnish my otherwise good name within the sport (stop it Sarah), it was genuinely great to catch up with Steve and actually spend some more time with Stephanie (who I met briefly at the Vincent Delaney last year, but I imagine she was overwhelmed with all the people Steve was introducing her to).  THANK YOU both for your great hospitality and for putting aside some time for us, you are wonderful people and you have a lovely home.  And to Nanna, who provided the quote of the holiday: "Home, James!".

The third and final instalment will cover qualifiers like you've never seen qualifiers before, searching out some British connections, meeting a familiar face, my first attempts at betting the American way and victory for some new friends...

Hope you've enjoyed the read!

Over and out,

#1 Groom

This one's for N Luv Blue Chip.  Run free young man.

Florida: Part 1 - Pompano Park & South Florida Training Center

About time I wrote up the highlights of our holiday to Florida (and New York, although that was purely for sight-seeing).

Day 1 & 2

We arrived in Florida (more specifically Miami) on the evening of Monday 8th February after a day's worth of travel from Glasgow via New York.  An hour drive north took us to Fort Lauderdale, where we settled for the week.  Our sole point of contact in Florida was Steve Wolf, the editor I deal with when submitting my articles to Harnesslink, and Chairman of the Board for the United States Harnes Writers Association of which I am now a sponsored member (thanks to Steve!).

Steve had arranged for Smarty and I to meet Wally Hennessy, Pompano Park's leading driver, at the area of the track known as 'the back stretch' the following day, in order for us to explore the side of the venue that most racegoers don't even know exists.  We were to have security page him upon our arrival; however, Wally was out on the jog track at the time so after much brain-racking, Smarty plucked Kevin Wallis' name from the atmosphere after recalling his connections with Watson Harrop, a friend of ours.  We didn't see much of Kevin for the remainder of the week but if you're reading this Kevin, THANK YOU for signing us in on that first day when we didn't know our way around or who anybody was!

We started at the most logical point which was the row of stables furthest from the jog track; here we met a lady by the name of Cindy Rapson who was more than happy to chat with us whilst letting Back To Peace have a graze.  It turned out that Cindy knew the O'Neils (Elizabeth, Michael & Hugh), Caroline Kennedy and George Carson, all of whom are friends of ours from Scotland, from a previous trip to Canada.  She couldn't speak highly enough of them all which was great to hear, and she particularly commended George on his work ethic whilst visiting, as he was volunteering himself repeatedly for jogging duties (even in the worst of weather).  This I can believe; but I'll save a profile post about George for another time as I can't sing his praises highly enough!

As luck would have it, Wally and his brother, Dan, were stabled in the bottom half of the first row.  I have to say that from the moment we met them both, they could not have been more friendly, helpful or accommodating.  Dan answered every question Smarty threw at him, and Wally assured us that we would get a chance to see and do everything that was worth seeing and doing at Pompano Park; all we had to do was 'leave it with him'.  Wally had previously visited Ireland to drive at the Vincent Delaney Memorial Weekend in 2014, so had a better understanding than most of the people we met as to the sport in the UK and Ireland.  He is a real character, that's for sure, and I tried my best to convince him to come back over this year!  He spoke very highly of the hospitality he received in Ireland (although he admitted the time passed rather quickly in a blur of alcohol and partying alongside the racing), which is something I have to commend Derek & James Delaney for.  When you experience the hospitality offered by the Americans when you visit them, you can begin to understand what it is they appreciate most when visiting the UK and Ireland.  A little bit of hospitality goes a long way.

We watched Wally jog a couple of horses out on the half mile jog track, which quite frankly was as good as (if not better) than the best half mile race track we have in the UK.

Wally Hennessy jogging & leading around Pompano's 1/2 mile jog track

We spotted someone leading a horse in hand from the stables, onto the track through one entrance, along a short stretch of the track and then off again at the other entrance.  Shortly afterwards the person leading the horse jumped on the back of a golf buggy to lead the horse in trot which is when the following fireworks happened.

Doo Wop Hanover & Scott

Doo Wop feeling a bit fresh!

Whilst standing by the track we also spotted a trainer bringing a horse out onto the track and walking a lap before starting jog work.  This caught Smarty's eye, so when the horse left the track, we followed it back to its stable block.  Here we met Jamie Macomber, trainer and wife of driver Ricky Macomber Jr.  We were introduced to some of her charges: Bluehourpower, Sumthintallnstrong, Sandysgoldenhour and Deuces For Charity.  She was a fan of Sand Shooter, a stallion that perhaps not many back in the UK will have heard of, but one who has much success in Jamie's home state of Indianna.  She told us that during the summer months, she heads back to Indianna where she trains two-year-olds for Ron Burke, and went on to answer Smarty's questions about her weekly training regime for both youngsters and aged racehorses.  I really enjoyed my time chatting to her and meeting her two young children, and she asked us to come back and visit the stables when her husband Ricky was about.

Jamie Macomber in the foreground jogging a 10-year-old trotter

From there we wandered to the end of the double block (two rows of stables facing each other) and met Scott, caretaker for trainer Peter Blood.  He had been the person leading the buckaroo from the back of the golf buggy, who turned out to be Doo Wop Hanover (Rocknroll Hanover-Deer Valley Miss-Artsplace), one of the four horses under his direct care within the stables.  He also introduced us to Boston Red Rocks (Rocknroll Hanover-McGibson-McArdle) and a stunning trotter by the name of Katch Kanna (Lucky Chucky-Oleodre-Lindy Lane) who went on to win 5 days later during our visit.

Boston Red Rocks

Katch Kanna

Katch Kanna & Molly (I *think* that was her name!!

That night we headed to Pompano Park track itself for our first experience of racing in Florida.  The first big difference I noted was that entry was free.  The racecard cost $2 and contained all the information you could possibly wish to know about the runners.  Ours look decidely amateur in comparison (something I discussed with Steve later in the week).

The facilities are out of this world and yet the 'old' grandstand is no longer in use.  There were barely more people there watching the racing than at Corbiewood on a Thursday night.  Yet indoors, the casino was full of people playing poker, eating, drinking and playing on the slot machines.  I lasted all of five minutes inside before the lights and noise got to me and I returned to my spot outside by the bar to watch the racing.  No jokes please, these were some of the best seats in the house!  And not because I enjoy the occasional tipple...

After the third race I spotted Chris Oakes, trainer of a number of top racehorses including Luck Be Withyou (Western Ideal-Trim Hanover-Camluck), sat behind us at the bar.  With a bit of Dutch courage (not that I've ever needed that in order to speak to strangers), I approached him to talk about securing a job next winter for my friend, George (previously mentioned above).  I must admit, Chris handled the situation very well considering he was being accosted by a British woman, and a stranger at that, about taking on someone he'd never met before.  He told me that seeing as I was able to vouch for George's attitude, commitment and knowledge, that he should get in touch with Chris via Facebook to discuss a position at his stable next winter.  I left it at that, knowing I was going to need to get George's rear end in gear to get him over to Florida for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity (one day that boy will realise all that Smarty and I do for him to make sure he gets where he's meant to go in life).

Our delightful host Wally left it until the last race to notch up a winner, at which point Dan Hennessy escorted me to the winner's circle to get in the photo.  Again, no jokes please, I didn't actively photobomb this time.  Had I tried to get out of it I suspect Dan, and his friends from Canada who were visiting to play golf in the sun, would have carried me there.  For their sakes, I went willingly.

It was at this point that I met Skip [Smith], official photographer at Pompano Park and someone who received numerous requests for photos from me during the remainder of the week as I ended up in several other winning photos.

 Day 3

On the Wednesday we headed to South Florida Training Center after contacting Ann-Mari Daly, the manager, about visiting their set up.  Here the likes of Casie Coleman and Ross Croghan stable their horses, in a sprawling farm-like establishment out in the country.  The first thing we noticed was the more relaxed vibe of the place, which although is located next to a major highway, feels very secluded once you enter through the electronic gates.

Not knowing who Ann-Mari was, or where we would find her, we headed for the first person we saw, who happened to be with a horse using what appeared to be a treadmill submerged in water.  Curiosity always wins out in both our cases so we headed over to watch the horse, who was called Henry (Blessed Victory) who turned out to be a total poser at the sight of my camera when he emerged from the water.

Blessed Victory, aka Henry, exercising under water

Henry, one of those horses who just loves the camera

We were pointed in the direction of the maintenance barn so headed alongside the track to find Ann-Mari, who appeared with camera in hand (if you check out the South Florida Training Center Facebook page, you'll see the fruits of her labours with that camera).  As she was busy, she introduced us to someone I think she hoped would keep us entertained for some, or most, of our visit: Jeff Fout. It was an inspired introduction, and if I could dedicate a whole post to this man then I would gladly.  Quite possibly THE most interesting individual I have ever met in my life, and I am absolutely gutted that I only spent all of many 45 minutes chatting to him.  I have attempted, without much luck so far, to get in touch with him and/or his wife since I returned to the UK because I want to hear every story he has to tell, and I want to visit Winbak Farm, Maryland, the next time I'm in the USA.

Smarty & I with the enigmatic Jeff Fout

I can't even begin to cover the things we talked about because we went from him working at Winbak Farm to his driving career, to stories of training a Thoroughbred that people had written off as useless, to comparing racing in the UK and Ireland to America and Canada...Jeff told us (and I believe jokingly, although with a sense of humour as dry and wicked as his I'm not 100% sure) that the day before he'd told his wife that he was leaving the house in Maryland to go to the shop...and ended up in Florida.  Allegedly, she had no idea he was there, so when I was to send her a friend request on Facebook with a message explaining that I wasn't a crazy person, I wasn't to mention where or when I'd met Jeff.  It made things difficult, which is why I left sending the message until a week or so after my return (by which point, if his story was true, he would have surely told her where the hell he was).

As we walked and talked he asked us whether we kept horses ourselves;  I explained about the 11, consisting of a few broodmares, at which point he asked what sort of stock we had.  I told him about Rita (Vain In Spain) who we had imported from Harrisburg in 2013, and as soon as I mentioned her sire, Artsplace, his face lit up.  He told me that was as good a starting place as any, and gave me the one quote that for me blitzes every other piece of information available about that horse; if you trawl the internet you can find out Artsplace's earnings, his record, his career wins, information about his offspring, about individual victories...anything and everything you'd think you would want to know.  Jeff was able to tell me something I didn't even think I wanted, or needed, to know.  He told me that he'd driven Artsplace, and that he was "the singlemost intelligent horse that I ever came across".  He explained that when people look at a horse they stand next to it, look it up and down, check its legs and conformation and height, give it a thorough looking over as if it is essentially an object.  Artsplace did the same to the people he met.  He regarded people with the same curiosity that they regarded him with.  He was a thinker.

For someone so guilty of anthropomorphism as I, this snippet of information filled me with delight.  I often fear that some of my fellow horsemen regard me with mild disdain as despite my best efforts to hide it, I often let this trait spill out publicly.  Studies can suggest otherwise, but there will always be a large part of me that believes that horses think not too dissimilarly to humans.

I went on to talk about Nala, Rita's 2015 foal who had unfortunately passed away last summer, who was by Mypanmar; Jeff smiled and said 'I drove him too'.  His description of Mypanmar matched entirely the opinion I have formed of the horse having met him at Sue & John Thompson's.  He described him as aggressive on the racetrack, which fits with the nickname Smarty's uncle has given him of 'the Lion'.  He is a horse that carries presence.  Jeff and I had found common ground very quickly.  Unfortunately, he had to get on with his work and we had the rest of the complex to explore but before we parted ways he insisted that we visit the farm in Maryland, where we would be taken on a tour of all of the youngstock, broodmares and stallions, before being able to jog some of the horses trained there.  His last words to me were "and if you wanna go fast, we can go fast!".  I really do hope we get a chance to make it to Maryland some day, sooner rather than later.

We watched a few more horses jogging on the track before saying our farewell to Ann-Mari and heading back to the car via Casie Coleman and Ross Croghan's barns.  We had a brief chat with Ross who said London has to be one of the coldest places he's ever been (I would have agreed with him at that point, mainly due to the fact I don't think he knows where Slamannan is, although New York may well beat London for the cold in the time I was subsequently there).  Casie was still on vacation but we had a chance to meet some of the horses in her barn, including Betting Line (Bettors Delight-Heathers Western-Western Hanover).  In Ross' barn we came across a gorgeous chestnut by the name of Totally Rusty and a mare whose name reminded me of my mare Star (Shes Some Deal), Shezarealdeal (Western Ideal-Shezarealcaesar-Real Artist), a winner of $300,000 as a 2yo last year.

Betting Line

Not quite Shes Some Deal, but Shezarealdeal!

From South Florida Training Center we headed to Palm Beach Greyhound Track for lunch and an afternoon of Smarty's other love, greyhound racing.  It was in fact my first time at the dogs, although I am lined up for Shawfield Stadium, Glasgow, in the coming weeks for the semis and final of the Scottish Greyhound Derby, and also a visit to Shelbourne Park, Dublin in the summer.  This is because since our return from America, we have acquired a greyhound bitch by the name of Swabys Princess, who is by Westmead Hawk (the only animal to feature in Madame Tussauds in London).  Princess has subsequently dropped a litter of Tyrur Big Mike pups so my education is advancing rapidly.  One day I'll look back and say it all started at Palm Beach in the gorgeous mid-February Florida sunshine!

Stay tuned for Part 2 of our trip, which will feature our second night of racing at Pompano Park, a ride in the start car, gatecrashing the paddock, jogging horses in the sun, bumping into a familiar face and an evening in good company talking racing, dangerous and exotic animals and everyone's favourite 'Nanna'!

Over and out,

#1 Groom on tour

Writer's note:  Since I began writing this particular post, South Florida Training Center suffered every horseman's worst nightmare when a fire broke out in one of the barns last week, killing 12 horses and injuring a further 11.  Having only visited for the shortest of times, and not having met those directly affected, I was still deeply upset by the news and my thoughts and prayers have been with the surviving horses and all of the connections affected at this difficult time.  Wishing the lucky ones a speedy and full recovery.  RIP to those who did not survive.

BHRC & STAGBI Awards Dinner 2015

Saturday, 27th February 2016, saw the staging of the inaugural joint awards venture between the British Harness Racing Club (BHRC) and the Standardbred and Trotting Horse Association of Great Britain and Ireland (STAGBI).

The idea was first formed in November 2014 when myself, Gwenan Thomas (STAGBI Company Secretary) and Lee Price (the General Secretary at the time) were discussing ways to inject some positivity into the sport and to raise the profile of the projects and sponsorship STAGBI puts back into harness racing in the UK.  The idea of an awards event, preceded by seminars of some description, was discussed, and the possibility of getting the BHRC (who were suffering rather a lot of negative publicity at the time) on board was also bandied about.

Over the following few months, the topic was no further discussed until one day Gwenan emailed me and asked if I was interested in taking the project on.  At the 2015 STAGBI AGM, the Board of Directors gave the go ahead to plan an awards event and to approach the BHRC to see whether they wanted to join us in the venture.  A couple of weeks later I attended the BHRC AGM on behalf of the SHRC and Jim McInally (BHRC Vice Chairman) briefly mentioned an idea the BHRC had to stage an awards event before the start of the new season.  I spoke to him following the meeting, and it was agreed that I would liaise with BHRC Secretary Kirsty Lee in organising it.

That was at the beginning of December 2015.  In order to facilitate those who would be busy with mares foaling or sheep lambing (a number of harness racing enthusiasts are farmers), the date for the awards evening was set for Saturday 27th February.

I had only just booked a 10 day holiday to America (blog post about that to follow) before agreeing to take the organising of the event on, and in hindsight it wasn't my smartest move as that was 10 days only a week prior to the event that I was out of the country.

Thankfully, Kirsty at the BHRC stepped in to finalise the arrangements with the venue, deal with ticket sales from the office and sort the BHRC awards side of things.  Gwenan managed the STAGBI awards and I kept on top of the publicity on social media.  Kirsty Legrice was drafted in to assist with the presentation videos, for which I am eternally grateful as I simply couldn't have done that side of it.  Nadina Ironia and Graham Rees also deserve a mention for their assistance with sourcing photographs of the award winners, and Eric Witherspoon, Elizabeth O'Neil, Janet Cockburn and Derek Delaney for their efforts with sending me the videos we needed.

On Saturday evening, around 100 BHRC licence holders and STAGBI members celebrated the achievements of 35 horses and people who had excelled during the 2015 season.  I had hoped, but never imagined, that we would have such a fantastic turnout for the first staging of the event, and am grateful to all those who attended from Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales.

After a three course meal, Darren Owen led us through an overview of the season, touching upon the notable performers from each category before presenting the award winners with their awards (alongside Roy Sheedy, BHRC Chairman, and Ryan O'Neil, STAGBI President).  There were interviews with drivers who had represented the UK internationally last year (Alan Haythornthwaite - Australia, Paul Mather - France) as well as interviews with promoters regarding the forthcoming season (Eric Witherspoon - Tir Prince, Huw Evans - Tregaron).  Following the awards, we danced into the night courtesy of Millstream Discos (Simon Clarke & Kirsty Legrice), and there were still a handful of us left standing when the bar finally closed at 2am!

The full list of winners were as follows:

BHRC
2YO Filly of the Year - Jessies Conquest
2YO Colt of the Year - Miraculous
3YO Filly of the Year - Shaba Hanover
3YO Colt of the Year - Rewrite History
Overseas Horse of the Year - Meadowbranch DJ
Trotter of the Year - Show Business
Special Contribution - Arnie Flower, Alistair Smith, Jeff & Margaret Langford, David Douglas
Leading Owner - Raymond Huschka
Leading Trainer - Alexis Laidler
Leading Driver - William 'Rocker' Laidler
Mare of the Year - Rhyds Art
Pacer of the Year - Stoneriggs Mystery
Horse of the Year - Stoneriggs Mystery
Leading Horse of the Year (on wins) - Stoneriggs Mystery & Rewrite History

STAGBI
Brightwells Breeders Premium - For One Night Only, Brywins Jo Jo, Cash Point
England Breeders Premium - Stoneriggs Mystery, Greentree Shorty, Coalford Tetrick
Ireland Breeders Premium - Tarawood Messi, Springhill Dustin, Strike A Light
Scotland Breeders Premium - Robhall, D Ks Happy Dream, Starzapan
Wales Breeders Premium - Meadowland Hasty, For One Night Only, Lakeside Pan

Broodmares Race Annaghmore - Talavary Jewel
Broodmares Race Corbiewood - Live In Beauty
Broodmares Race Tir Prince - Maid Of The West
Broodmares Race Amman Valley - Tyssul Opal
Broodmares Race York - Rhyds Art 

Here's a selection of some of the awards winners from the night:

The awards

For One Night Only - collect by breeders Richard & Sharon Thomas (or as I know them, Mum & Dad!)

Darren Owen interviewing Paul Mather & Alan Haythornthwaite

Jessies Conquest - breeders and owners, Jenny & Marc Jones

BHRC Leading Driver - William 'Rocker' Laidler

BHRC Leading Owner - Raymond Huschka

Miraculous - collected by trainer Sally Teeboon

Darren Owen interviewing Huw Evans & Eric Witherspoon

Rewrite History - collected by driver Gordon Gilvear

Robhall - collected by breeders Hamish Muirhead & Alex Hay

Stoneriggs Mystery - collected by connections of the owner David Morton and trainer Mick Lord, Paul Amphlett & Kelly Peacock

Meadowland Hasty - collected by me on behalf of breeders Colin & Shirley Bevan

Rhyds Art - collected by members of the West Riding Partnership owning syndicate, Robert Thompson & Barry Delaney

As with all things, there is room for improvement, and I have already begun making a list of things to do in order to make sure that next year is bigger and better than this year's.  I knew before I started that it would not be perfect, but my main aim was to ensure that the basis of the event worked in order for us to build on it in subsequent years.  From the feedback received from the guests and my fellow organisers, I believe I have achieved this aim.

I am of course jumping the gun somewhat in assuming that there will be a joint event next year, but I would like to think that those involved from both organisations would agree that the benefits of staging a joint event far outweigh any negatives.

I won't let any secrets out just yet about my plans for next year but rest assured, I am already working on it and I can guarantee that it WILL be better!

So all that remains to be said, probably for the millionth time, is thank you.  Thank you to the hotel staff for being so accommodating and helpful from the moment I first contacted them about staging the event there to the moment we all checked out yesterday morning; thank you to Gwenan and the other directors for supporting me in the decisions I made and allowing me the freedom to 'just get on with it'; thank you to Kirsty Legrice and Simon Clarke for all their work on the videos and presentations, and for turning up at the hotel nearly 7 hours before the event started to set up and make sure everything was just right; thank you to Jim McInally and Roy Sheedy for their support from the BHRC side; thank you to Darren Owen for making the presentation of the awards so amusing and interesting, and for taking the time to research the winners and putting the award recipients at ease when interviewing them; thank you to Kirsty Lee at the BHRC who dealt with all of the ticket sales, who picked up where I left off when finalising arrangements with the hotel, for getting me flowers, for the table plan, the pens, giving me the freedom on the Facebook page to go crazy promoting the event (even though I don't actually work for the BHRC) and for taking charge of the 'awards table' on the night.  And most of all, thank you to everyone who came - you made my night so much bloody fun that I didn't realise it was so late!  Special mentions must go to Alexis Laidler & Michael O'Neil for the selfies and 'crab dance', and to Noreen Bennett for dancing full stop!

Before I sign off, I just want to share one more photo of the main people behind the organising of the event - WE DID IT!!

L-R: Gwenan Thomas, myself, Kirsty Lee, Roy Sheedy, Simon Clarke, Kirsty Legrice, Jim McInally & Ryan O'Neil

Over and out,

#1 Event Organiser

An interview with...Stuart Mackenzie

Aaaaaand I am back into my sporadic posting routine which means you no longer get an interview every week but you're lucky if you get one every fortnight.  What's better is that in just over 12 hours I am jetting off to sunny Florida (and snowed under New York) so this blog will have to take a back seat until I return.  Upon my return, you can expect all sorts of stories and photos as we will be going racing as much as is possible, and we have a couple of other things planned which are pretty closely linked to harness racing as well.  I can't wait.

Anyway, for now, let me introduce to you the driver known by some as 'The Yank' (a reference totally lost on me), or 'The Stuntman' (again...no idea).  To me, he's Stuart Mackenzie, son of a man I wholeheartedly respect, Ally; grandson of a woman I wholeheartedly respect, Mig; and generally an all-round good guy who has been nothing but friendly to me since my move to bonny Scotland.  Driving primarily for his father, Stuart enjoyed plenty of success in 2015 at our home track of Corbiewood, and I am sure this will continue in 2016.  More from the man himself...

For anybody who doesn’t know you, how long have you been involved in the sport and where did it all start?
From as long as I can remember the family tell me my grandfather had me at Musselburgh when I was 6 months old, then I was always around Corbiewood.  I probably started jogging at age 8 then my dad bought me Dillys Sweet Robin to start learning to train when I was 12 or so.  I won my first race at 15 years old.

Which is the best horse you’ve driven in your career?
I've got to say Dillys Spring Time, she was my all time favourite.  I only drove her around 10 times but I won my first race on her.  She was so naturally gifted and had the biggest heart of any that I've worked with since.  She won 38 races and was the two-time SHRC Horse of the Year.  Just a star really.

Which horse, past or present that you haven’t driven, would you like to drive and why? 
From watching his videos I would love to have driven Somebeachsomewhere, he was a absolute monster - the best to put his head through a bridle I would say!!  Also really liked Ayr Glory; I raced against him quite a bit in a few classics, he looked a lovely horse to drive.

Who did, or do, you admire as a driver? 
Growing up in Scotland there was lots of good drivers but I always paid attention to the Drysdale brothers, George and William.  They used to drive for my dad a lot before I started.  They were two very different drivers but both were really good.  I still use them for advice back and forward yet!

Which is your favourite track in the UK and Ireland? 
I really enjoy the half mile track racing but it's still got to be Corbiewood for me.

Have you driven outside of the UK and Ireland? If not, where in the world would you choose to have one drive? 
No, I did a couple of six month stays in Canada a while back and it was great experience and a real learning curve for me.  The track I would like to drive on is Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, it looks awesome when I've watched the videos from there.


What would you say has been the biggest change that you have seen in harness racing from when you began competing to now? 
In Scotland it has to be the running rail getting taken out of Corbiewood as the track was too small for it.  I think it made the races a lot safer.

If you could change one thing about the sport as it currently is in the UK, what would it be? 
Over the last 4/5 seasons I think horses have been going back grades too quickly and becoming uncompetitive as we don't have a massive pool of horses, though I'm quite optimistic of the new handicap system coming into play for next season.

Which is your favourite meeting in the UK racing calendar? 
We all love the Appleby, Musselburgh and Tregaron meetings but one of my favourites is Haugh Field's big meeting as I only live about 200 yards away from the track and we usually get all the locals from the village that I live in going.  Plus the after party's always pretty good!
 
How much do you consider information from a trainer when you drive? 
My main stable that I drive for is Trackside and I share the training duties with my father Ally so I know the horses pretty well.  If I catch outside drives I always ask the trainer about the horses as every little bit of information helps in this game.

Out of all the races you have won, which has been the most memorable?
I won a heat at the new fair with a horse called Ethan, he made a mistake leaving the gate and we must have been 15 lengths off the pace.  Even turning for home we were still last of about 10 and I got up to win in the last stride, 4 deep in the straight and he beat some nice horses that day.  Also up there was my second 2YO Derby win with Most Wanted as we bred him ourselves and we really thought the world of him.

How would you describe your driving style? i.e. pace setter, strong closer, rail hugger? 
Racing in Corbiewood, the front end of the race is pivotal in my opinion as it's a 3/8ths track so it's not always easy to pass.
 
What are your hobbies/interests outside of racing? 
Spending time with my little girl Erin, also socialising with friends!

If you could visit one place in the world, where would it be and why? 
A good friend of mine emigrated to New Zealand this year so I will be visiting there in the future and will hopefully take in a few race meetings while there.

You’re stranded on a desert island – what five things can’t you live without? 
My daughter, iPhone, unlimited pints of Tenants (lager), steak pie and Only Fools and Horses box set (no TV though Stuart?!)

You’re holding a dinner party for five famous guests (alive or dead) – who would they be and why? 
Del Boy Trotter, Johnny Cash, Eva Mendez, Kevin Bridges and the mad Karoo (uncle Eck) - the mad old guy who used to go to the racing, he was funny!

If you were invisible for a day, what would you do? 
A bank job.
 
If you won the lottery, what would be the first thing you would spend your winnings on? 
Buy Corbiewood and the field next to it then flatten it, and build a state of the art facility there and secure a future for Scottish harness racing.

What would you name your autobiography? 
My Way.

Which actor would play you in a film about your life? 
Johnny Depp.
 
When was the last time you got into trouble? 
I would get in trouble if I told that story!

Describe yourself in three words.
Happy go lucky.

Thanks to Stuart for taking the time to answer my questions and give the readers of this blog an insight into his life and mind.

This'll be the last interview for a while due to other commitments on behalf of the BHRC, STAGBI and the SHRC, but rest assured, I will be back to hunt down those drivers who elude me.

Over and out,

#1 Groom