Since he possesses a mark of 1:48.2 which was set at Rosecroft Raceway at the age of five, 27 wins from 100 starts and 90 in-the money finishes, and $2,835,679 in lifetime earnings, it's more than safe to say that that All Bets Off oozes class as a racehorse.

Not many horses have accomplished what he has and fly under the radar as he seems to. Racing writer Jessica Otten recently spoke with the connections of All Bets Off, and one thing they all had in common to say about him is that “he is a true and honest racehorse.” The numbers that the six-year-old son of Bettors Delight has put up the past couple of years support their assessment.

In 2013, All Bets Off started his career on the New York Sire Stakes circuit, although he made his racing debut in Ontario at Georgian Downs for trainer Mike Sinclair. All Bets Off’s first race left a lot to be desired, so his connections shipped him to Buffalo Raceway in Hamburg, New York for the first leg of the NYSS. In that effort he still seemed to take some time to get going, and wasn't close to the superstar that we see today.

All Bets Off's first victory came at Tioga Downs on July 21, 2013 against ‘non-winners of one’ company. That start appeared to really build his confidence, as he started racing very well against NYSS company. He was then bought by trainer Ron Burke and his connections after a couple of second-place finishes.

“When we bought him he was a little bit on the small side,” said Burke. “We thought maybe we had overpaid for him at first. Then after we raced him we knew it was a pretty good idea that we bought him.”

The Art Rooney was the first serious start of his sophomore campaign in 2014 and he was facing some of the top three-year-old pacers in the country. The colt handled both the elimination and the final with absolute ease. All Bets Off wired his elimination foes in 1:52.3 and then came back and recorded a one and a half-length win in 1:52.2 in the final. The 2014 campaign proved to be a very big year for All Bets Off, as he went on to win the inaugural edition of the Carl Milstein Memorial at Northfield Park, the NYSS final at Yonkers Raceway, and the Messenger at Yonkers Raceway. Following those efforts, he tapered off a little bit and was shut down for the year.

All Bets Off has had his fair share of starts in Grand Circuit stakes during his career. Part-owner Frank Baldachino couldn't be happier with his success and consistency. “’Bets’ has won major Grand Circuit races at two, three, four, five and six years old," he beamed.

Burke was asked if any one of All Bets Off’s starts stuck out to him.

“The Messenger sticks out to me – that was really big. It was also Matt's (driver Matt Kakaley) first big win,” Burke said, referring to All Bets Off's 1:51.1 open-length score in the $500,000 event. "It was also really neat to watch him win the Potomac. They went in ‘48’ and he went a great mile, it was fun to watch. He is just a great horse, he never disappoints you and always tries his heart out.”

Ironically, Kakaley had a similar response.

"My biggest thrill with All Bets Off after racing him all over the United States and Canada would have to be the Messenger at Yonkers Raceway,” Kakaley said.

“It has been extra special to see Matt mature right along with him," part owner Mark Weaver noted. "They've both developed into one of the best in the game.”

"It really was Matt's first horse, keeping it, and going along with him,” Burke added. “Before they were all of Yannick's horses and Matt started to pick up what he did not drive. But Matt has been there pretty much all the way with him.”

Weaver explained how important All Bets Off’s accomplishments have been to the operation.

"Bets has been great for us for quite a while," Weaver remarked. "He has allowed us to stay competitive in the aged ranks following in the footsteps of Foiled Again and Sweet Lou.”

Burke added that, for he and his connections, “million-dollar winners aren't as special as they used to be, then when the horses get up to two million it gets a little more special. But when you get over three million dollars you're really getting into a select group, like in our barn it’s Foiled Again, Sweet Lou, and Won The West and maybe Hannelore Hanover is going to get there. It takes a very special horse that races for a few years to get there, and that is obviously very special to us.”

Kakaley and Burke provided their feedback after All Bets Off’s fifth-place finish in his Breeders Crown elimination. He raced from off the pace and finished two and a half lengths behind Dealt A Winner. All Bets Off was individually clocked in 1:50. Kakaley said that things didn't go his way. “The trip really didn't work out for us," he stated, "and now we are stuck with the nine-hole (for the final), which definitely isn't good. Hopefully some things go our way and we have a little luck on our side.”

During elimination night the horses that won were either on the lead or close to it. All Bets off was first up with no cover. “The race wasn't in his favour, we were just figuring out he needed to be forwardly placed with the way the races were working out and he wasn't," Burke said. "We scoped him and he maybe wasn't as good as we liked, so that gives us another week to work on him.”

Burke said that post position draw may require a strategy adjustment “The nine-hole is tough, so we may have to change tactics, the one thing he can do that most people don't know is he can leave. But when we do we just have to keep rocking. The race will have to come to him. He's very consistent and very versatile, I am sure Matt would have liked to start from somewhere else, but you have to start from what you get and go from there.”

It may not be easy, but, if All Bets Off wins the Breeders Crown, he will eclipse the $3 million mark in earnings.

(With files from Post Time with Mike and Mike)