After a 15-year break from the business, trainer Lance Ward’s return to harness racing has been a thrill. He won the last edition of the Western Canada Pacing Derby and is overjoyed to have the opportunity to try his luck again on Saturday in the next $100,000 final

with Silver Eagle. To top off the adventure, he also has a filly entry in the $75,000 Northlands Filly Pace thanks to British Columbia ship-in Just Fiction.

Ward, now 51, began training horses in the mid-1970s until the early 90s before taking an extended break from the business.

“I was still very young and I just needed a change so I left the track and I was away for 15 years and then I came back in 2007,” said Ward, who ran his own neighbourhood pub and managed a few bars in Edmonton during his horse hiatus. “I have been back ever since and it’s been excellent.”

Among Ward’s conquests since his harness racing return was the 2008 edition of the Western Canada Pacing Derby with Neal Diamonique, now an Open pacer, who coincidentally will be racing during the Saturday stakes program. But the focus will be on the three-year-olds and hailing from Ward’s stable this time out will be Post 4 starter Silver Eagle, an unexpected purchase who has turned into a pleasant surprise.

Ward and his partners, including Joe Tinelli of St. Albert and the Shir Win Racing Stable of Edmonton, purchased the Brandons Cowboy-Allamerican Viking gelding at the end of his two-year-old year for an undisclosed amount. While Ward wasn’t searching for a new colt to add to his stable, Silver Eagle landed on his radar after receiving a phone call from one of his go-to reinsmen in B.C.

“Jim Marino phoned me one day and said there’s a real nice colt out here at Fraser Downs and he’s for sale,” explained Ward. “It just so happened that a good friend of mine, Jim Burke, was the one that had him and I watched the replay of the horse’s race and I talked to Jimmy and we struck a deal.”

Silver Eagle shipped to Edmonton where he concluded his short freshman season and then flourished into a standout sophomore winning 13 of his 28 races and only missing two paycheques along the way to earn over $154,000. Some of his highlights include winning the Adios Pick, Alberta Plainsman, Brad Gunn, and Red Serge Sales Stake – all at Alberta Downs.

“He was just an amazing horse all summer long. It was a pleasant surprise he turned out the way he did. We thought we were buying a nice colt, but we never expected he would be as good as he is.”

However, shifting from Lacombe’s one-mile Alberta Downs oval to the five-eighths mile Northlands Park track in Edmonton for the winter appears to have cramped the colt’s style. Silver Eagle has not yet won a race at the Northlands meet and finished sixth in his prep race last weekend, but Ward believes his trainee is just adjusting to the track’s shorter stretch drive.

“We raced him in Lacombe all summer and that’s a mile track and his strength on that track was the long stretch. He could be first or last at the head of the lane and win either way,” said Ward, noting that Silver Eagle’s love for the long stretch leaves him pondering a possible trip to the Ontario tracks down the road. “Here, the stretch is a lot shorter. It’s half the distance at the five-eighths track so he has to be closer to the front this time. He’s still closing very well the last eighth of a mile, but he has to be much more in contention on this track than he did in Lacombe. If you watch the replays and look closely he’s still racing as well as he had all year, it’s just that he doesn’t have as much room to close down the stretch.

“We’ve been very happy with his last starts,” continued the resident of Sherwood Park. “He had the eight-hole and [his driver Bill Tainsh Jr.] took him right to the back and he closed very well and we think that he is back to himself again. It’s been a bit of a lull, but I think you’ll see a different horse back this weekend.”

Although Ward says this year’s Derby field is one of the most evenly-matched fields he’s seen in a long time, he cites Gerry Hudon trainees Bachelor Pad, the 2-1 morning line favourite entering the event fresh off two consecutive wins in prep races, and Alberta Super Final winner Hollywood Warrior, as his biggest competition. With some post relief for the Derby, Ward believes Silver Eagle could stand out in the glamour boys’ final match up of the year.

“They’ve been the only ones to really beat him consistently this year,” said Ward of the Hudon colts, who will start two spots over on each side of his trainee. “But I think if he is close in contention at the three-quarters pole coming around the last turn I think we’ll see the old Silver Eagle and I think he’s got a very good chance to win it.”

For Ward, the chance just to compete in the Derby again – and so suddenly – is a dream come true.

“You always hope to get one of these horses in a career and I won the last Western Canada Pacing Derby and now we’re in the first one since then so it’s just unbelievable. And for those fellas in British Columbia to send me the filly for the Filly Pace, that kind of topped off everything. It was icing on the cake.”

Just Fiction is Ward’s first starter and the 3-1 second choice in the Northlands Filly Pace.

The Kents ON Nuke-Battalia Hanover filly, who was bred by trainer Alan Anderson and B.C. owner J J J Stables of Aldergrove, earned victories in the Penny Bath Memorial, B.C. Stallion Stake, B.C. Sales Stake and her preliminary divisions of the Mary Murphy Breeders Stake this year at Fraser Downs. After making an uncharacteristic break in the final of Mary Murphy Breeders Stake caused by the filly’s aggressiveness and an equipment issue, she shipped into Edmonton and rebounded with back-to-back victories in an Open prep race and her Northlands Filly Pace elimination pushing her seasonal earnings to more than $95,000.

“Since she’s been here there’s been no sign of any problems with here even thinking about trying to break stride or getting rough-gaited or anything like that at all,” said Ward, noting that he hasn’t made any changes to the filly’s equipment or training routine since she has arrived in his care. “I’m a big believer in leaving things the same if they’re working and with the exception of that one race she was racing awfully well there. So I’ve just kept everything the same as the way they told me they were doing out there in B.C. We were very pleased with the way she adjusted here.”

Ward says the larger turns present at the Edmonton oval are better suited for the big brown filly.

“She’s probably the biggest horse I have in my barn now so for her to get around those tight little turns at Fraser Downs is quite impressive actually. It may be a little easier on her out here.”

While Just Fiction has raced well on the front in the past, Ward says a step up in competition and the post draw may force a change in that strategy on Saturday. She will start from Post 6 with regular reinsman Jim Marino driving while the other elimination winner and 2-1 favourite, Red Star Hannah and driver Tim Brown, has drawn the rail.

“She’s got a lot of gate speed but once she gets to the front she kind of loses interest so last week was quite a pleasant surprise to see her race the way she did on the front,” said Ward. “She was very into it, when they came at her she drove on a little bit more. There’s a lot of speed inside of us with the draw that we got, specifically, the filly that won the other elimination. She got the rail and she loves to be on the front so I don’t see Timmy Brown letting anybody get in front of him. He’ll want to cut it I’m sure so I think we’ll probably be racing from off the pace this week.

“I think she is probably better from off the pace if she doesn’t get used hard leaving,” he added. “It’s just a matter of how hot she gets in a hole, but I think she’ll be fine that way. Of course, things always change when you’re behind the gate, you never know.”

The gate will fold for the Northlands Filly Pace in Race 7 on Saturday afternoon’s card at Northlands Park while the Western Canada Pacing Derby is slated for Race 9. First race post time is set for 1 p.m.

To view Saturday's harness racing entries, click on the following link: Saturday Entries - Northlands Park.

For free program pages courtesy of TrackIT, click here.