I’ve always thought that the best teams are the ones that are built via the draft and develop model. Oh sure, you can buy the odd free agent to fill a hole in the lineup or provide the one ingredient that’s needed to win a championship. But generally, my own view is that building a contender, one that is going to be a contender year after year, starts with good drafting and good development.
Which brings us to harness racing and applying the same idea to building a champion. It starts, of course, with good breeding. Breed the best to the best and hope for the best is the time honoured strategy. But that’s just the first step.
Sam Johnson has been trying to build champions for years on the Alberta circuit. “I started with Jungle Fire as my first stallion,” he told me. “He was a son of Albatross. Then I got Freedoms Pass, the first significant son of Artsplace that came to the West.”
Freedoms Pass had 172 starters which earned, in total, better than $8.3 million. Twenty-four of them made more than $100,000 apiece. Four of those topped $250,000. Twenty sons and daughters broke the 1:55 barrier.
So, the stallion’s ability to pass along his genetics is assured. But that’s only part of the story. The mare is important too, and breeders will look for mares that cross well with the stallion of choice.
“I bought Presidential Jenna specifically to breed to Freedoms Pass,” Johnson told me. “Then I got Western Reserve which is by Western Hanover. I look for producers on both sides of the family and consistent performance. Newport Duty is another one of my good mares. She’s out of Cams Cardshark. Funny story about her. I got a call one day from Ted Smith, who was the President of Standardbred Canada at the time. He said, your mare is on the truck. That was the first I heard he’d bought her for me. But she turned out to be the perfect match to Freedoms Pass. So, I sent him a cheque. She got hurt and never raced, but she’s produced some useful horses over the years.”
Connie Kolthammer, who runs Outlaw Stables at Falun, Alberta, takes much the same approach. She started with a useful stallion in Blue Burner and gradually has built up a mare band that now numbers about twenty.
“I wean the babies when they’re about four months old,” she told me. “We start breaking them in June of their yearling year and we do it in 3 stages spread out over several months. At each stage, we’ll add something new to the training. And, like Sam, I believe in laying a real good base once they get on the track. Probably 300 miles of jogging, slowly at first, and gradually building speed as the now 2 year olds get used to the harness and the bike and build their stamina. And at every step, we watch for signs of improvement. Some horses get turned out at various times if they show that they’re not yet ready to race. You have to allow time to let them grow, both physically and mentally.”
Cathy Reid, who runs Riverside Stables at Water Valley Alberta, is another breeder who is following the draft and develop model as she tries to build a champion. In the past year, she’s invested in Trueland Hanover, a son of The Panderosa, who made about $300,000 in 143 starts as a racehorse.
“I don’t have any 2 year olds of my own at the moment,” Cathy Reid told me. “With the uncertainty of the racing scene in the province until recently, I held back, even on the idea of having a stallion. But we’ve gone ahead with the purchase and we bred him to a few mares last year. I’ve got 4 foals on the ground at the moment. Like everybody else, I’m looking for good mares to breed to him. I’ve got about eight at the moment.”
Riverside is 45 minutes from Century Downs, an easy ship from home, and a welcome refuge for racing stock which can be turned out for a few days of relaxation between starts. There’s a half mile training track and Cathy likes to give the youngsters a mix of truck training, where they get to cavort with their pals while getting in some miles, and what I might call normal training, where they are harnessed to a sulky, usually with driver, Dave Kelly, at the controls.
“I find mixing things up a bit keeps them interested in what they’re doing,” she told me. “A horse that is bored isn’t going to be at its best. And I pay particular attention to its feed, especially when it’s young. Once it starts to race, it will get a couple of days off each week. The day before it races, it will get a bit of a walkaround. On race day, I want that horse focused and interested in its job.”
Driver- trainer, Phil Giesbrecht, hasn’t gone the route of breeding horses, at least not yet. But he can certainly recognize a well developed 2 year old when it comes to his shed-row.
“I like a horse that finishes strong,” he told me. “That’s a skill that racehorses have to develop. They have to learn how to pace in a group. They have to learn not to be distracted by what’s going on around them. If you have the best horse in a race, you can leave off the gate, get to the front, and try and hold the lead. But that isn’t always the best strategy. A horse has to learn how to come from off the pace. I try to keep them calm and relaxed, even when you add the crowds and the excitement of a race day. That’s when a horse tends to show its best.”
And so, by the time a 2 year old gets to the starting gate for its first race, an awful lot has gone into getting that horse ready for its career. Its genetic makeup has been carefully plotted. Its stamina has been built slowly and carefully, even as the animal matures physically and mentally. It has learned how to race in company with others. And when track announcer, Murray Slough intones……”it’s post time…..” all that’s left is the nail biting to see how it does, and the prayer that the race will end in the winner’s circle.
Which brings us to harness racing and applying the same idea to building a champion. It starts, of course, with good breeding. Breed the best to the best and hope for the best is the time honoured strategy. But that’s just the first step.
Sam Johnson has been trying to build champions for years on the Alberta circuit. “I started with Jungle Fire as my first stallion,” he told me. “He was a son of Albatross. Then I got Freedoms Pass, the first significant son of Artsplace that came to the West.”
Freedoms Pass had 172 starters which earned, in total, better than $8.3 million. Twenty-four of them made more than $100,000 apiece. Four of those topped $250,000. Twenty sons and daughters broke the 1:55 barrier.
So, the stallion’s ability to pass along his genetics is assured. But that’s only part of the story. The mare is important too, and breeders will look for mares that cross well with the stallion of choice.
“I bought Presidential Jenna specifically to breed to Freedoms Pass,” Johnson told me. “Then I got Western Reserve which is by Western Hanover. I look for producers on both sides of the family and consistent performance. Newport Duty is another one of my good mares. She’s out of Cams Cardshark. Funny story about her. I got a call one day from Ted Smith, who was the President of Standardbred Canada at the time. He said, your mare is on the truck. That was the first I heard he’d bought her for me. But she turned out to be the perfect match to Freedoms Pass. So, I sent him a cheque. She got hurt and never raced, but she’s produced some useful horses over the years.”
Connie Kolthammer, who runs Outlaw Stables at Falun, Alberta, takes much the same approach. She started with a useful stallion in Blue Burner and gradually has built up a mare band that now numbers about twenty.
“I wean the babies when they’re about four months old,” she told me. “We start breaking them in June of their yearling year and we do it in 3 stages spread out over several months. At each stage, we’ll add something new to the training. And, like Sam, I believe in laying a real good base once they get on the track. Probably 300 miles of jogging, slowly at first, and gradually building speed as the now 2 year olds get used to the harness and the bike and build their stamina. And at every step, we watch for signs of improvement. Some horses get turned out at various times if they show that they’re not yet ready to race. You have to allow time to let them grow, both physically and mentally.”
Cathy Reid, who runs Riverside Stables at Water Valley Alberta, is another breeder who is following the draft and develop model as she tries to build a champion. In the past year, she’s invested in Trueland Hanover, a son of The Panderosa, who made about $300,000 in 143 starts as a racehorse.
“I don’t have any 2 year olds of my own at the moment,” Cathy Reid told me. “With the uncertainty of the racing scene in the province until recently, I held back, even on the idea of having a stallion. But we’ve gone ahead with the purchase and we bred him to a few mares last year. I’ve got 4 foals on the ground at the moment. Like everybody else, I’m looking for good mares to breed to him. I’ve got about eight at the moment.”
Riverside is 45 minutes from Century Downs, an easy ship from home, and a welcome refuge for racing stock which can be turned out for a few days of relaxation between starts. There’s a half mile training track and Cathy likes to give the youngsters a mix of truck training, where they get to cavort with their pals while getting in some miles, and what I might call normal training, where they are harnessed to a sulky, usually with driver, Dave Kelly, at the controls.
“I find mixing things up a bit keeps them interested in what they’re doing,” she told me. “A horse that is bored isn’t going to be at its best. And I pay particular attention to its feed, especially when it’s young. Once it starts to race, it will get a couple of days off each week. The day before it races, it will get a bit of a walkaround. On race day, I want that horse focused and interested in its job.”
Driver- trainer, Phil Giesbrecht, hasn’t gone the route of breeding horses, at least not yet. But he can certainly recognize a well developed 2 year old when it comes to his shed-row.
“I like a horse that finishes strong,” he told me. “That’s a skill that racehorses have to develop. They have to learn how to pace in a group. They have to learn not to be distracted by what’s going on around them. If you have the best horse in a race, you can leave off the gate, get to the front, and try and hold the lead. But that isn’t always the best strategy. A horse has to learn how to come from off the pace. I try to keep them calm and relaxed, even when you add the crowds and the excitement of a race day. That’s when a horse tends to show its best.”
And so, by the time a 2 year old gets to the starting gate for its first race, an awful lot has gone into getting that horse ready for its career. Its genetic makeup has been carefully plotted. Its stamina has been built slowly and carefully, even as the animal matures physically and mentally. It has learned how to race in company with others. And when track announcer, Murray Slough intones……”it’s post time…..” all that’s left is the nail biting to see how it does, and the prayer that the race will end in the winner’s circle.
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