Trainer Billy Walters does not know what to expect with his star pacer Beeeyouuuuuu, but he is going to find out on Saturday night.

The veteran Ohio horseman is a highly respected horse trainer, but he doesn’t know for certain how his three-year-old pacer Beeeyouuuuuu will do on Saturday night in the $80,000 Ohio Sires Stakes final at Scioto Downs. His race is one of eight championship finals contested at Scioto on Saturday.

Beeeyouuuuuu has not raced since July 17, an interval that calls his fitness into question. But Beeeyouuuuuu’s last race was anything but an ordinary race. He won at Scioto Downs in a time of 1:50.1, just a tick off the track record. Beeeyouuuuuu pulled away from his rivals to win by five lengths. Spectators were stunned by the performance.

“He spiked a temperature several degrees above normal after that,” said Walters, a lifelong Delaware resident. “It held on. Maybe the hot and dry weather affected him or his allergies.”

While many people may question Beeeyouuuuuu’s fitness after such a long layoff, Walters isn’t so worried.

“Horses today don’t need hard training and I’d say that 80 per cent of our horses today really couldn’t take the hard training that we gave horses 30 years ago,” says Walters. “Beeeyouuuuuu isn’t a big strong horse. He’s a little frail and he hasn’t needed hard training.”

Beeeyouuuuuu is a son of Yankee Cruiser, the cat-quick pacer who now stands at Hanover Shoe Farms in Pennsylvania. He is out of the mare Fava, one of only two foals sired by Sugar Valley Dudly, who is now living out his life in Florida as a gelding.

Beeeyouuuuuu has a yearling sister named Peeeeyouuuuuuuu. Fava was bred to Mr Feelgood last year, but didn’t catch and she is now in foal to Armbro Deuce.

Billy Walters has trained virtually all the horses in this family over the last 25 years.

Walters said that Beeeyouuuuuu wasn’t raced hard as a two-year-old because he was a late foal and immature when he entered training. Last year he won two races in eight starts. This year in six starts he boasts four wins and a bankroll of $82,000.

Beeeyouuuuuu was bred and is still owned by Billy’s father Dale. The horse’s unusual name was bestowed upon him by a family member.

While Billy Walters has driven 747 winners in his career, on Saturday night Beeeyouuuuuu will be driven by Dave Palone.

If all goes well on Saturday night, Beeeyouuuuuu will likely be headed to the Little Brown Jug in his hometown of Delaware on Sept. 18.

To view Saturday’s entries, click here.

(Scioto)