On the final day of the year, 2019 Little Brown Jug and Adios winner Southwind Ozzi entered harness racing’s millionaire's club with a 1:50 front-end victory at Harrah’s Philadelphia.

The son of Somebeachsomewhere – Southwind Solara could have gone even faster, said Bill MacKenzie, the horse’s trainer throughout his career. “(Driver) Timmy (Tetrick) told me that he didn’t even pull the earplugs on him, that he could have gone 1:49.”

Southwind Ozzi, purchased in February of his freshman year by Vincent Ali Jr. and Alma Iafelice, had a good foundation year at two, with a victory in a Liberty Bell stake and several other stakes-placed finishes. He then came out on fire at three, opening with three wins and a second, but then had to take time off when he required hernia surgery while preparing for the Hempt Memorial.

Away from the races for 55 days with just a single qualifier, Southwind Ozzi was entered in the Adios, where he showed his true colors: he overcame post nine to win his elimination, and then in the final he sizzled a :25.3 individual third quarter raw, drawing off by seven lengths and taking his mark of 1:48.

After winning the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes Championship, MacKenzie took his star to the Little Brown Jug – where a pair of first-over trips didn’t faze the horse at all, as he was a straight-heat winner. “I didn’t think too much about his being first-over,” MacKenzie remembered. “He didn’t have anybody directly in front of him, and he could move up and beat his field.”

With 2020 came the introduction of COVID. “It was a disruptive year,” said Mac Kenzie, and Southwind Ozzi did not match his heroics at three, although he did win in 1:48.4 at Philly. This past season was a much better one for Team Southwind Ozzi, as their pride and joy visited Victory Lane nine times, posting a seasonal best of 1:49 at Pocono while defeating Breeders Crown champion Sandbetweenmytoes (pictured below). “We took him back to The Meadows, too,” Mac Kenzie recalled, “because we had a horse in the Adios eliminations, and he won the Open there that day – I think he’s six-for-six lifetime at The Meadows.”

There is an arrangement with Walnridge Farm in central New Jersey for Southwind Ozzi to stand stud there in 2022 – but that doesn’t mean that we have seen the last of the horse on the racetrack. “He’s so sharp right now, we’re going to be looking for some races where he can be competitive – he doesn’t have to be at the farm for stud duties until the season in February.” So maybe the first chapter of the Southwind Ozzi story isn’t over yet, before the second chapter of the book – the stud book – begins.

(PHHA)