Chris Beaver was 23 when he bought the horse that changed his life. Her name was Raging Samantha and Beaver and his mother, Johanna, purchased the future stakes-winning trotter at a yearling auction in 1995 for $9,500. A graduate of Stetson University, Beaver had been thinking about heading to veterinary school, but he became fully immersed in harness racing thanks to Raging Samantha and her exploits.
There have been numerous other successes since then and the Ohio native hopes to add to the list when he sends multiple-stakes-winner Il Sogno Dream and upstart Muscle Up The Goal into Saturday’s $210,000 Charlie Hill Memorial for older trotters at Scioto Downs.
Beaver had high hopes for Muscle Up The Goal when the trotter was a two-year-old, but a tendon injury limited the horse to only three starts. Now at age four, the stallion is putting together the kind of performances that Beaver envisioned all along. Maybe even better.
Muscle Up The Goal has won all three of his races this season and heads to the Hill off a track-record 1:52 performance at The Meadows on June 1. He also trotted the fastest mile ever for a four-year-old male trotter on a half-mile oval, winning in 1:52.3 on May 21 at Northfield Park.
Aaron Merriman will drive Muscle Up The Goal on Saturday in the Hill Memorial. Muscle Up The Goal is the 5-2 morning line favourite in the 10-horse field.
The Hill Memorial field also includes Maxie Lee winner Obrigado, 2015 John Cashman Memorial winner Flanagan Memory, and 2014 International Trot Preview champ Natural Herbie. The remainder of the group is Southwind Pepino, Homicide Hunter, Gural Hanover, DWs NY Yank, and Opening Night.
Beaver, who posted million-dollar seasons in 2015 and 2014, recently took time to talk to Ken Weingartner of the USTA’s Harness Racing Communications division about the Hill Memorial and his life in racing.
KW: First of all, tell me about Muscle Up The Goal.
CB: I think he was getting good toward the end of last year. We put him on Lasix and he was getting sounder. We sent him down to Florida and he grew up and looked real good when he came back. He’s just been awesome since he started back. He’s just come into real good form.
KW: I saw he won a couple Ontario Sires Stakes races at two and then was out for the rest of the year. What happened?
CB: I picked him out when he was a yearling (a son of Muscle Mass out of the mare Tags Goal, the horse sold for $30,000 at the 2013 Standardbred Horse Sale) and I trained him down as a two-year-old. He was a spectacular two-year-old. He only raced three times, though, because he bowed a tendon. That cost him the rest of that year. He was hit or miss most of last year, but he’s gotten good now. He’s really fast.
KW: Has he surprised you this year?
CB: I’m a little surprised at what he’s done this year, but I’d be surprised by any horse that’s been able to do the kinds of things he’s done so far. They tried to out-leave him at Northfield and he cleared them before he was out of the turn, from the (seven) hole. He’s had the outside every time he’s raced and he’s just gone to the front like it’s no problem at all. And at the end of the mile he’s gone a pretty good quarter too. It looks like he should have a good year.
KW: You supplemented him (for $10,000) to the Hill, is he staked to other races?
CB: He’s pretty well staked. He was eligible to the Hill Memorial but the owner (Synerco Ventures) was afraid he wouldn’t get in on earnings, because it was all based on career earnings, so he made the supplement to assure he got in.
KW: I guess you were happy with Il Sogno Dream’s first start this year (a second-place finish in the Maxie Lee Memorial)?
CB: Yeah he raced great. It looked like a lot of the horses were struggling on the racetrack, but I couldn’t ask of more from him in his first start out. We had to qualify him three times because he couldn’t get in to race anywhere out here. I sent him to Florida as well for the winter and he looks great. He’s the same horse as when he left, and he was really in great form when he left last year.
KW: How would you assess last year?
CB: I was real happy. The last few years have been great for me. Things going well in Ohio (with slots) have made a lot of difference. The sire stakes have been great for me here. Being able to stay home, I do better from home. I spent a lot of years racing up in Canada and staying up there and it’s just hard to do your best when you’re not at home. I’ve been able to set up things the way I like here.
KW: Do you still have a stable up in Canada?
CB: No. I kind of winded down with it last year. I had some stakes horses up there last year. I had a few sent down here to get to the races, but I send them all up to Rob Fellows now.
KW: Your family has been involved for such a long time, how big an influence was that for you growing up and how much of an influence is it still now to this day?
CB: I was kind of pushed to try some other things because it’s a hard business. I went to college and I was pre-vet and I was starting to get into applying to vet schools. That’s when I got a real good horse (Raging Samantha) and after that I just stayed in (racing).
KW: Once you got that bug it was too late.
CB: It kind of jumped off into more horses and more horses. At that point, I just stayed with it. I think I was only half-hearted trying to find a way out of it. (Laughs.) So I found a reason to stay in the business.
KW: How have you seen yourself change as a trainer and what are some of the most important things you’ve learned along the way?
CB: I think the key for me was learning to pick out better horses and learning how to train better. The most important thing that I do is training young horses down, and I’ve gotten better at training young horses down without problems. We have a really high rate of two-year-olds that get to the races and do well. I think that’s what keeps me going and keeps my owners going. If they’re not good, we move them along. We don’t wait around. I do whatever I can to make more horses profitable for the owners and myself, because I own big parts of a lot of them.
KW: What was your first big moment that really stands out in your mind?
CB: I had it very early with Raging Samantha. She was a phenomenal four-year-old. We sold her for a lot of money overseas. I’ve had a lot of ups and downs over the years, but I really felt that a great achievement was Triumphant Caviar. The way his horses have been doing in Ohio is very special to me because I had him all along. I’ve had so many of his colts in there and they’ve been doing really well.
KW: With all the family involvement, who has been the biggest influence on you?
CB: My dad (Charlie). I learned most of what I know from my dad. I still work with him and I still talk with him about things.
KW: What’s the most valuable thing you learned from him?
CB: He was always willing to try just about anything as far as shoeing and rigging; he showed me there are a lot of different ways to fix a problem. And I’ll also say my parents showed me how to work hard. They were harder workers than me; they were up earlier, they stayed later in the day. Everyone says I work hard, but they put me to shame.
KW: What would you still like to most accomplish?
CB: I haven’t had a great horse. I’ve had very good horses, but I’d like to have one that could win the Hambletonian or Horse of the Year. I haven’t had that kind of horse yet. That’s what I’ve been looking for.
KW: I know it’s still early, but do you have any two-year-olds you really like now?
CB: I have a Triumphant Caviar that I’m really high on right now. He just qualified in 2:01, home in :28.2 (Wednesday). And I was being very careful with him. I didn’t want to over-do it. They put him in with three-year-olds, so I just kind of sat back and followed along and let him come on in the stretch a bit. His name is Fraser Ridge. He’s my favourite two-year-old right now. I have one Explosive Matter colt that might be just as good, but I haven’t tested him yet. But he seems to have a lot of ability too. But with 26 horses, I’ll probably be wrong and there will be another that’s better than those two.
KW: As long as there’s something better, you can live with being wrong.
CB: (Laughs.) That’s right.
This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.