John Bax chuckles when asked to name the horse that changed his life. Despite training a slew of talented trotters, the answer is obvious -- Goodtimes.
“He made $2.2 million and I owned half of him. In dollars and sense that’s a lot. He took me to Europe. He made at least $100,000 nine years in a row,” Bax said of the gelded son of Balanced Image - Goodtime Kathy who was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2004 and has a stakes race named for him at Mohawk Racetrack.
“He sticks out,” Bax said. “At that time, I was looking to get established and play in the big leagues and he took me there. He may have been the horse that taught me the most about horses and training.”
Bax said Goodtimes “was smarter than I was” and regular driver Dave Wall could tell when the trotter was on his game, or not. The vast majority of times, Goodtimes was on. He posted a record of 50-41-36 in 239 career starts over 11 racing seasons.
“He trained himself or he ended up teaching me that you didn’t have to train in the middle of the week. Goodtimes taught me sometimes less is more,” Bax said. “At that time in the early '90s you trained three trips. I didn’t have to do that with him. I could sit him out three weeks and train him four days out from the race and he would go better than ever.”
Goodtimes is now 25 and living out his days in paddock at Bax’s farm in Campbellville, Ont, just a few minutes from Mohawk.
“He’s out there with a couple broodmares and foals. He struts around a little. He’s getting old and his feet are an issue, but he’s still lording over everybody,” Bax said.
(Courtesy Ontario Racing)