I’m very superstitious - especially when it comes to my horses, or anyone else’s horses - so normally I would never ‘jinx’ a horse by writing about him while he’s in to go… especially in a big race. But Tattoo Artist is favoured in the Breeders Crown Open Pace on Saturday, October 28th, and here I am writing about him on Thursday, October 25th. Have I lost my mind? Well that question may be up for debate, but in this case the answer is ‘No’.

The reason I’ve decided that I can write about him without jinxing him - we go to print tomorrow, so it can’t wait - is that this story doesn’t change whether the triple-millionaire son of Hes Watching comes first, last, or anywhere in between on Saturday; this story is about a horse and a girl - in this case, the unsung hero behind one of the top North American Standardbreds of the past decade.

There’s no doubt that you’ve heard of Tattoo Artist - the winner of the 2023 Canadian Pacing Derby as well as a plethora of other big races over the past four years.

And I’m sure you know something about Dr. Ian Moore, a multiple O’Brien Award winner and one of Canada’s top horsemen.

How about Louis-Philippe Roy? Also a double O’Brien Award winner. Of course you’ve heard of LPR… the drivers get all the publicity. Hell, he’s even been on our cover.

What about Giselle Loder? No? Well we always say that our grooms are our unsung heroes, so I think that it’s about time that somebody decided to sing about Giselle. Because Tattoo Artist is about to be retired to stud, with over $3 million in earnings, and is currently the favourite to be named Canada’s Aged Pacing Horse of the Year, and 99% of you don’t know a thing about ‘his person’ behind the scenes. The one that gets him out of bed everyday (sometimes with the help of black licorice), tends to his every need, and keeps him in the right frame of mind to do what he does best - win races.

Giselle has looked after Tattoo Artist the entire time he’s been in Doc Moore’s barn; from the time he came in as a baby, until today.

Moore and Loder had the horse exclusively at ages two and three, but when the Covid pandemic made travel to the U.S. difficult in the spring of his four-year-old year, he was sent to Chris Ryder in New Jersey. In 2021, 2022 and for most of 2023, it was the Ryder barn in the States and the Moore barn in Canada, until recently, when he was moved back to Doc Moore’s barn to finish out his career before retiring to Deo Volente Farms in New Jersey to stand stud in 2024.

Let’s face it, the horse is a champ, and both of his trainers are top-notch guys that have done an excellent job with him, but let’s look a little closer at Giselle’s record with him anyway.

Tattoo Artist has had 93 career starts as of today - 44 of those with Doc and Giselle. In those 44 starts for ‘his girl’ he has 25 of his 40 career wins, and he’s only missed a cheque six times. He’s on a current run of seven wins in a row (yes, I could still be jinxing him here - ugh) with five of those coming in 1:48.2 or faster.

When asked, if he shows that he truly knows and remembers her after they’ve been separated for months at a time, Giselle shares, “It’s hard to tell with him because he’s the kind of horse that likes to be left the hell alone 😂 but I do believe that he responds positively to me and know that we have a healthy respect for one another.”

If you don’t know Giselle, you can now see that she’s a very humble lady.

She can also make it sound like her superstar pupil doesn’t get any special treatment - until asked directly that is.

“Well, he likes carrots, and I do buy him these treats called ‘Stud Muffins’... but he loves black licorice! He can be hard to catch in the stall, but he can’t resist the licorice.”

So when asked, upon further review, if she actually allows herself to be bribed into feeding him black licorice, just to catch him in the stall, she doesn’t even bother saying ‘Yes’ in her reply. Instead she just says:

“He is the only one I will spoil like that. He can have whatever he wants!”

And he just happens to win 57% of his starts while in her care? I think it’s pretty obvious that Tattoo Artist knows EXACTLY who Giselle Loder is, and now I hope thousands more of you do as well. I’m not certain if she might get mad at me for writing this piece, because I don’t think she likes being in the spotlight, but I am certain that she deserves the praise.

You see, I happen to know first-hand, that Giselle also cares for people like she cares for horses. I know a young person that started working in a busy Standardbred stable during Covid, who was getting a bit overwhelmed trying to learn the job on the go without a lot of guidance. It was getting past the point of stressful until Giselle started working beside them, taking them under her wing, and helping them tremendously.

Yes, many of our unsung heroes do more than just help horses. And whether they want the praise or not, sometimes they just get it.

Good luck on Saturday night Giselle, Tattoo, Doc, Louis and connections. Even though you won’t be reading this until a few days after the race, I sure hope I didn’t jinx you.

Truth be told however, with Giselle in his corner, the horse is a winner regardless. Maybe Deo Volente should consider offering her a job?

Sorry Doc!

Dan Fisher [email protected]