Kostas Tsanakos thought Gamblers Passion was a good pacing filly last year, but might not have been ready
to believe it.
This season, his doubts have evaporated thanks to performances like last week's win in $70,000 Blossom Series final at The Meadowlands. The time of 1:52 equaled the stakes record shared by Rainbow Blue (2004) and Ideal News (2005).
The win was the fourth in five lifetime races for Gamblers Passion, who has earned $57,500 in her career. Her four victories have been consecutive, following a second-place finish to Ginger And Fred in her debut last season. Ginger And Fred later won the Pennsylvania Sires Stakes championship.
"I wasn't sure how good Gamblers Passion was," said Tsanakos, who trains and owns the filly. "Sometimes with young horses you don't know whether it's real. I've had a lot of them that throw in a good race and then never repeat it. They can fool you. A lot of times I got disappointed by horses I thought were going to be good, so in the beginning you have your doubts and are hesitant."
Tsanakos, 61, from East Hanover, New Jersey, purchased Gamblers Passion (Cams Card Shark-Beach Bretta) as a yearling for $26,000 at the New Jersey Classic Sale. Her mother was a multiple stakes winner and full sister to 1994 New Jersey Sire Stakes champion Sands A Flyin. Ben Stafford trained Gamblers Passion last year.
"I usually buy one yearling every year," Tsanakos said. "So far I've been very lucky; all of them have made it to the races."
Tsanakos grew up in Greece and moved to the U.S. at the age of 20 to attend school. Instead of finishing college, he ended up opening a diner. Over the years, he owned multiple restaurants and still operates a catering business.
A carpenter doing work at one of Tsanakos' restaurants had a son who was a trainer and introduced him to harness racing more than three decades ago.
"I bought half a horse and it grew from there," Tsanakos said, adding with a laugh. "I went a little crazy with it."
Tsanakos bought a farm in central New Jersey and bred horses. All of his homebreds carried the prefix "Smashing," which was a tribute to his first successful horse, Smashing Vic.
Now, he might have the best horse of his career.
"Gamblers Passion is an exceptional filly," Tsanakos said. "It is very exciting. The other amazing thing to me is a good horse is a good horse all around. She is a well-mannered horse. I can't say anything bad about this filly. I never had something like that before."
(Harness Racing Communications)