Share The Delight does sort of have a shiny nose, but no one would ever say it glows. Yet, the four-year-old pacer is known around trainer Linda Toscano's stable as 'Rudolph,'
and with good reason.
"His nickname is Rudolph because he jumps high a lot, but he's capable of saving Christmas," Toscano said with a laugh.
Share The Delight showed plenty of talent the past two years, but also a penchant for going off stride. Last season, he made a break in his North America Cup elimination and failed to reach the final.
A month later, he won his Meadowlands Pace elimination (providing driver John Campbell with career victory No. 10,000 in the process) and finished third in the $1.1 million final. Such was life with Share The Delight.
So far this year, the son of Bettors Delight has won two of three starts as he prepares for a possible trip to the George Morton Levy Series at Yonkers Raceway. The first of the Levy's five preliminary legs is Saturday. The final is May 2.
"Actually, he's doing pretty well this year," Toscano said. "We learned a lot about him last year and how easily he gets stressed. He seems to really thrive on a routine. Every time we got him to where we were really pleased with him, I'd put him on a truck and ship him somewhere and he just didn't seem to do well out of his own environment.
"I'm hoping his four-year-old season will bode better because he gets to stay local and not do a lot of traveling. He doesn't mind the short stints, where he gets to come home and sleep in his own bed, so to speak. He always trains down without incident. He would take on the world. He really has a great work ethic and he loves to race. I think sometimes he just tries to go too fast too soon. I think he just jumps the gun and gets too aggressive and that's when he ends up jumping it off."
Despite his troubles, Share The Delight has won 10 of 28 races and earned $366,862 in his career for owners The Four Horsemen Stable and Algonquin Farms. He began this season with a seventh-place finish, but followed it with consecutive victories at the Meadowlands Racetrack. His most recent triumph, on March 21, came in a lifetime best 1:50.1.
"We gave him an easy first start; he had some road traffic, but he handled it well," Toscano said. "He came back (a week ago), and I know he was down in class, but he went a very credible race considering he had to come first up after being used a little bit at the start. We'll keep our fingers crossed. If I take him to the Levy, that's when we'll see if he's really better than he has been.
"He acts really, really, good right now. That's all I can tell you."
(Harness Racing Communications)