When I interviewed the Director and Executive Producer (Jeremy Grant and Michael Smith) of Crave’s Unfiltered series last September for a TROT feature on both them and the five-part documentary, one of the things that Jeremy said that stayed with me was, “There’s so much more to tell… this sport is so rich with story.”
From a lifetime inside it, and many years of telling some of those stories, I was well aware of this, but I was very happy to hear that he, and others, picked up on it as well.
We are a unique group to say the least - and most of it in a good way (haha). It’s an industry of down-to-earth, hard working people. Are we always 100% politically correct, in the shedrows and on the racetracks? Probably not. But in-general we’re not mean-spirited either.
We come from different towns, different provinces, different states and different countries; all drawn together by the love of horses and competition. Rich with story? Absolutely! And I was never reminded more of that, as I was when looking over the horses, and the potential storylines around them, of some of this year’s North America Cup eligibles.
Over the past 40 years there’s no doubt that the N.A. Cup has truly engrained itself as Canada’s #1 Standardbred race. We have lots of great stakes events that anyone would love to win, but this is THE ONE. Everyone wants to win it, and here are a few of the storylines that jumped out at me, when it comes to a few of this year’s contenders:
Clever Cody: The sire (The Panderosa) won the race 25 years ago, and now, still breeding mares at age 28, and after producing 10 millionaires, he’s trying win this race as a sire for the first time, with a colt that’s also trying to give Canada’s Trainer of the Year - Dr. Ian Moore - his first Cup.
Captains Quarters: This story is so rich that we committed an entire feature to it in our November, 2023 issue. The owner, who owns one horse at a time, only bought him because he unexpectedly retired his 14-year-old racehorse a few weeks earlier, and only paid what he did because he thought he was going to have a partner. The horse trained down for months by jogging through cornfields and alongside the Delaware River. I could literally go on-and-on but I have space limitations here.
Legendary Hanover: He’s Canada’s two-year-old O’Brien Award winner who was developed, and is owned in-part by Casie Coleman - a five-time O’Brien winner herself, as Canada’s top trainer. Casie no longer trains however - she just develops - and the trainer she sends her horses to in Canada, Anthony Beaton, has been through a tumultuous time in his career recently - to say the least.
Captain Luke: His trainer, Tony Alagna, won the race in 2013 with this guy’s father - Captaintreacherous - and although he’s had an incredible 12 horses reach the final in the years since, he’s still looking for his second Cup win. Can he finally get that elusive second trophy with a son of his first Cup champ?
Lou Vuitton: Super-trainer Ron Burke trained the sire of this guy also, but Sweet Lou was defeated in the 2012 final at the low odds of 1/2. And although the Burke Brigade came back two years later to win the 2014 version with JK Endofanera, there’s no doubt that winning their second one with a son of Sweet Lou would mean the world to them.
Funtime Bayama: The father and son team of Yves Filion, and his son Sylvain, will attempt to win the Cup for the second time in the history of their family - one of racing’s most famous. Hall of Famer Yves, trained and drove the winner of the fifth N.A. Cup back in 1988 - Runnymede Lobell - when Sylvain was just 19-years-old. Here, the son will try to get his 77-year-old father, who bred, raised and developed this gelding, back to Cup glory, just 36 years later!
And these are just six potential storylines from this year’s Cup that I knew of off the top of my head. There are 61 other Cup eligibles as well (see our Spring Book Odds piece on pgs 22-25) and there’s no doubt that they all have a story behind them as well.
Yes, our industry is rich in story alright, and it’s part of what makes us so incredible. Formula One and UFC may be much more popular than us worldwide, but their headlines are just full of drama and controversy these days. We’re real, and we come from the heart, and I for one love that about us.
Everyone wants to be part of a North America Cup winner there’s no doubt. And I myself even have my first connection this year, as co-breeder of one of the 67 hopefuls. He’s listed at odds of 50/1 by our impartial panel, but just seeing his name on the list makes my heart beat a little faster. And don’t think that if he were to miraculously win this race somehow, that I wouldn’t be proudly telling his story too.
To be in this business, you have to dream.
Dan Fisher [email protected]