The Real One is Quebec owner Helene Fillion's million-dollar baby, even though the gelding's official earnings are just over $900,000.

The seven-year-old pacer has made most of his money at Yonkers Raceway, in U.S. dollars, at the highly favourable exchange rate of the past three years.

Again this year, he's closing in on $200,000 in earnings at the New York track, a level he surpassed in both 2015 and 2016. He has six wins and 12 top-three finishes in 19 starts this year at Yonkers, where he set the track record for pacers (1:50) in November of 2016, and he's in-to-go again Saturday in the $40,000 Open pace for driver and trainer Patrick Lachance.

"I have a special thought for this horse every single night, thanking him for what he's given us. Thanks to him, I've been able to buy other horses, stay in the game I love. He's my champion and always will be. I owe him a lot," said Fillion, 51, who now has a stable of nine, including two recent yearling purchases in Harrisburg and London.

She bought The Real One privately for $10,000 during his two-year-old season and campaigned him initially at Rideau Carleton Raceway and Hippodrome 3R. The Mach Three gelding did reasonably well in Canada, but he's been a revelation since joining Lachance's string.

"He was a small horse when I bought him and handled a half-mile track well so we decided to send him to Patrick midway through his four-year-old season," she said. "He's been so well treated by Patrick and his team. In the winter, when he comes back to Quebec, he always looks great. That's when I get to jog and train him myself, which is a treat, because he likes his work and it shows."

(A Trot Insider Exclusive by Paul Delean)