The story of an amazing three-year-old colt named Flanagan Memory, and those he is touching on his way to greatness
Story by Paul Delean
Liette Flanagan is convinced some racetrack victories are written in the stars. The win by her three-year-old colt Flanagan Memory in this year’ $235,276 final of the Goodtimes Trot at Mohawk, for instance.
It came with a horse born just before her father Michel died, bred by and named for him, on the eve of Father’s Day, five days before what would have been Michel’s 69th birthday.
“My girls were graduating this past weekend so I couldn’t go,” said Liette, 49, a mother of two from Repentigny, Que., who succeeded her father as head of the business he started, L’Association des Gens d’Affaires et Professionels de Quebec, an organization providing services and bulk-buying discounts for 7,000 members.
Though there was family at home with her, Liette elected to watch the Goodtimes final alone in her bedroom. “I didn’t tell anyone the race was on. I kept it for me. But at a certain point, when he drew off from (favourite) Toocool Forschool, I started yelling. And when I came downstairs, I was in tears. All I could think of was how proud my dad would have been. That one was for my dad. The next day, was Father’s Day and I made roast beef, his favourite meal. I was very close to my father. We even lived next door to each other.”
The victory by Flanagan Memory also resonated emotionally for the colt’s trainer, Rene Dion, 43.
Michel Flanagan had been one of the major owners and closest friends of trainer Pierre Touchette, Dion’s employer since his teens, and befriended him as well. His biggest victory in 30 years as an owner had come in the 2005 Coupe des Eleveurs final at Hippodrome de Montreal with Flanagan Dream, who deadheated for first with Sams Airborndancer in the $100,000 final for two-year-old pacing colts.
“Michel and I talked on the phone all the time,” Dion said. “He used to call me his son; his own children were all girls. When a guy calls you his son, it’s more than a business relationship.”
Flanagan had accompanied Dion to the yearling sale in London, Ontario, just months before his death.
“He told me one day he didn’t feel very good, his stomach was bothering him,” Dion recalled.”
Over the Christmas holidays that year, Flanagan finally went to see a doctor. He was diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer and died just months later, without ever actually seeing the Kadabra foal produced in April by his broodmare Classy Stacy... although he did see photos.
Flanagan owned about a half-dozen horses when he died. That was too many for Liette. “I like the game, but not as passionately as he did,” she said.
She cut back to two, keeping the Kadabra colt she named Flanagan Memory and the dam, Classy Stacy, who’d been booked for another breeding with Kadabra.
Dion liked the looks of the colt but didn’t get his hopes too high.
“You could tell early on he wouldn’t be a midget. He was a good-looking colt, but not outstanding. I told Liette I thought it would be a good thing to race him but not to expect much at two. That’s when I came in (as co-owner).”
Flanagan Memory was still a work in progress when Dion’s world would be shaken a second time by tragedy.
In the spring of 2011, his longtime employer Pierre Touchette suddenly began to feel unwell. Dion instructed an employee who’d come in early to feed the horses, and told him Touchette didn’t look good, to call an ambulance. Rushed to hospital, Touchette lapsed into a coma and never regained consciousness. He was 64.
“Nobody saw that coming,” said Dion. “Pierre wasn’t in shape, but he was never sick in his life. Honestly, at that point, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. I worked for Pierre since I was 15, and had been hanging around the stable since I was 10. Both my brothers (Mario and Gilles) worked for Pierre. He was tough, demanding, but fair, and always good to me. He took care of his guys if they did the job. Now he was gone, the business wasn’t going that great, it was tougher than ever, there was no racing in Montreal, I had a young son and was always on the road. You wondered if it was even worth continuing at that point.”
In the end, he decided to persevere, racing in Ontario from spring to fall and wintering at the training centre in Les Cedres, Quebec. Flanagan Memory joined his racing contingent last year.
In June of 2012, Dion gave Liette a call. “I told her he’d just qualified and to check out the line (a victory in 2:02.4). That was very emotional for her. At that point, we just wanted this horse to make it to the races.”
The colt showed promise but didn’t make a huge impact at two. His two victories (in eight starts) included a $40,000 Ontario Sires Stakes Gold elimination that accounted for half his total earnings. In the $300,000 OSS Super Final, he led briefly (from post nine) then backed through the field and finished ninth.
“It was not easy to get him to the races,” Dion said. “I had to put hopples on him. I knew he had speed but it took awhile to get his gait going and to get him confident. Right after the Super Final, we gave him a good rest. I knew this year would be easier. Gait-wise, he was better.”
After finishing third in his three-year-old debut and then winning his second start in 1:58.4, Flanagan Memory finished second to Toocool Forschool in the Goodtimes elimination before turning the tables on that rival in the final with an unexpected early burst from post nine that set up a wire-to-wire score in a career-best 1:54.1 for driver Chris Christoforou.
“When Chris left with the horse, my heart started beating hard,” Dion said. “But when he stole the second quarter, I said ‘I think we’re in business’.”
While a woman a province away was trying to compose herself after loudly exhorting the horse to keep going, Dion was trackside, suddenly filled with memories of two absent men who had helped him on the journey to this new personal pinnacle in the sport.
“It was the first thing that came to my mind,” he said. “And after the pictures, the first thing I did was call Liette. It was emotional for me, too. I’ve been trying to make it on my own, doing okay, but it’s so very tough to win those big races. My brother Mario was with me for the race, and I was pretty happy about that. It was late when we got back to the farm, but we celebrated with a bottle of wine. It’s not an easy game. One week things go perfect, the next week nothing goes as planned. So you enjoy it when it works out.”