Musical Rhythm Retired

Trot Insider has learned that O'Brien Award winner and Canadian record holder Musical Rhythm has been retired at the age of nine.

The gritty son of Cantab Hall last raced on March 1 in a $24,000 conditioned trot at Woodbine Mohawk Park, finishing second. However, the years of unfortunate injury and miraculous recovery caught up to the Baillargeon staple, making that race the final of his career.

“When he finished second a few weeks ago, he came out of that race a little bit sore,” said his longtime catretaker Sara Baillargeon. “As a precaution, we had some x-rays taken and they weren’t conclusive, so we gave him some time off. And then we re-x-rayed, which was clean. So we put him back in training. On Wednesday, we trained him and he wasn’t his 100 percent self.

“He’s nine-years-old, he’s got some wear and tear on him. That right hind has seven screws in it, right? So there’s quite a bit of arthritis in there, and some weak cartilage. And he doesn’t owe us anything, so we came to the conclusion that it’s time for the warrior to call it a career while he’s still standing on all four and can still have a decent retirement. He’s more than earned it. He’s beaten the odds twice from career-ending injuries.”

The two injuries that in most cases would be career-ending came in the aged portion of Musical Rhythm's career. In 2018, he battled a bacterial infection in a hind ankle that forced vets to carve part of the bone, which later recalcified. Then in 2019, Musical Rhythm finished second in the Cleveland Trotting Classic to Guardian Angel AS in a track-record mile. The following week, he gutted a second-place finish in the Mohawk Preferred and stepped off the track with what turned out to be a broken leg.

“He gave me and Santo [Vena] and his brother Nunzio and Claude Hamel lots of great thrills,” trainer Ben Baillargeon said. “Now it’s time to retire. We don’t want him to get hurt and we don’t want to cheapen him. We wish we would’ve won a million with him, but the horse is more important.

“He’s sound, but if I race him he’s not going to stay sound,” Ben continued. “He’s good now, but he’s got enough...he’s been through three operations in one leg, then the year after he went through the other one where he got screws in the other leg. And he was a little stiff after his last race.”

Musical Rhythm retires with 39 wins from 110 starts and earnings just shy of $1 million, totaling $964,768. His life's mark of 1:50.4 taken at Woodbine Mohawk Park in 2019 stands as the Canadian record for an older trotting stallion. On numerous occasions, he raced against the top level of standardbred stock and won the $250,000 Graduate Trot at The Meadowlands in 2016 -- a win that the Baillargeons will never forget.

“He was parked almost to the half. He let the one guy go...that was one hell of a mile. The track announcer said ‘Geez, nobody’s every done that from the 10 hole.’ He raced real good that year, and that year was a good year with four-year-olds. That race was a great race I thought, one of his best races.”

“I would’ve loved to reach the million and that was definitely what we were aiming for, because he was deserving of that,” Sara said. “But I can think of a million reasons why we retired him.”

A mainstay at Mohawk's Preferred level, Musical Rhythm garnered numerous O'Brien Award nominations until taking home the bronze in 2019 for Aged Trotting Horse of the Year. In 2019, his connections experimented with double duty, with two foals from the stallion being born in 2020. The Baillargeons will continue to stand Musical Rhythm as a stakes-eligible stallion in Ontario under a light book.

“He’s got the best pedigree around, this horse,” Ben said. “He’s four by two [from] Valley Victory. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with his pedigree and there’s nothing wrong with him on the racetrack. If they were all like him, my life would be easy. So much grit, so much heart...I’m open to breed him if someone calls. Maybe we’ll put him as a [commercial] stallion, we’ll see how the babies come out.”

“We’ve got a handful of our mares and owners mares,” Sara said, “plus he’s already got a handful of babies on the ground. And they look great.”

Alongside minor stallion duties, Musical Rhythm will retire to the Baillargeon farm as a riding horse for Ben's daughter, Sara, and will join a pair of former stablemates as retired racetrack warriors currently enjoying a life of leisure.

“I have Etruscan Hanover in the field here at the farm and Muscle Matters,” Ben said. “They haven’t done anything in a year and a half. I just feed them [and] they get their shed cleaned every day. They’re just outside living the good life. I can afford to feed them, so it doesn’t matter to me. They were good to me, and I like to go see them.”

“It’ll be a tough transition for him though because the barn revolves around him, and he loves to go out,” Sara said. “Like he has to be the first out to jog every day. It will be a little bit of a transitional period for him the next couple of weeks.”