After closing out his freshman season with a monster mile, North America Cup contender D A Love Boat is an unknown quantity with potential to make waves in the glamour boy division.

Locally owned and trained by Jack Darling of Cambridge, Ont., D A Love Boat had a conservative six-race season as a rookie, but when turned loose in his last start, he turned heads. The gelding by 2019 North America Cup champion Captain Crunch out of a mare eight years ago that could have been claimed for $4,000 defeated eventual U.S. divisional champion Louprint in an International Stallion Stakes on Oct. 5 at The Red Mile. The two-time winner earned the bulk of his $96,980 bankroll in that Grand Circuit stakes race and took a mark of 1:48.4, just two-fifths of a second off the world record for two-year-old male pacers.

“I didn't have 'Love Boat' in the Breeders Crown, but I would have loved to have raced him the next week because that was the first time that he'd really stretched his legs out and gone in [1]:48 and I thought the next week he might have been even a little better in [1]:48. You never know," Darling told Trot Insider. "But anyway, we put him away good and sound, so we'll just hope for the best this year.”

Assessed as the 26-1 eighth choice in TROT Magazine's 2025 Pepsi North America Cup Spring Book, D A Love Boat qualified back at Woodbine Mohawk Park the first two Fridays in May and was race timed in 1:52.4 in his latest, caught late in a :26.4 final quarter. Still fitting the non-winners of three condition, he’ll make his sophomore debut in an overnight race this weekend at Mohawk.

“He's just kind of an unknown quantity. You know, he won that one big race and he beat Louprint kind of fair and square. He did it tough first-over and they raced like a team to the stretch and he stuck his nose out, so yeah, it just kind of showed me that he has the ability to go with those horses, so it'll be interesting to see what he can do this year.”

Trot Insider caught up with Darling for an update on D A Love Boat.

Where did he winter and when did he start back in training?

"He came home, we just turned him out at a farm up here. I think it was about the middle of January."

What changes have you noticed in him, either physically or mentally, from when you stopped with him in early October to today?

"He's physically matured; he's a good size horse, good-looking horse. Yeah, I think mentally matured. He always had good manners, but this year there's just been no problems with him so far. Everything's looking good."

In terms of his stakes schedule, he wasn't eligible to a lot last year, has that changed for this year? 

“Oh, I put him in just about everything. It's painful, it's expensive, but yeah, he's in just about everything. 

“He's Pennsylvania eligible, but I don't really want to go down there before the Somebeachsomewhere [Stakes]. I'm just going to aim him for the Somebeachsomewhere and the N.A. Cup, and hopefully he can be the best he can be for those races and then I'll go from there.” 

At what point during his two-year-old year did you think that this was the kind of horse that you would be making those stakes payments on as a three-year-old? 

“You know, it's hard to really say. He was just a nice colt training down. He never got tired. He never threw in a bad training mile. So I knew he was a nice colt, but you just never know when it comes to crunch time just who can they be. I felt pretty sure he could pace in [1]:52, but can they go in [1]:48? You just don't know that. To get to that level, there's so many of them that can go in [1]:50, [1]:52, but to get over that hump, to be able to race with the top ones, you just never know for sure until you see it.” 

What would you say his best attribute was as a racehorse? 

“Well, it seemed to be his attitude and he's never thrown in a clunker training mile. He's strong at the wire and he just keeps rolling after the wire.” 

As someone who has both won and lost the North America Cup before with horses like Gothic Dream and Bulldog Hanover, how does it feel to possibly be back in there again with a horse who's in the conversation of top contenders? 

"It'll be fun. That's what I'm in it for. Those are the kind of races that I'm aiming for so it'll be fun. Well, as long as we're competitive. We can't jump the gun, but it'd be nice if we get there and we're competitive. It'd be exciting."

Was there a race during say Bulldog Hanover’s career that you weren't able to get or even with Gothic Dream’s career? Speaking to a Hall of Fame trainer, is there a race that's on the bucket list of Jack Darling that you have in mind for him? 

“Well, the North America Cup would be the one because it's hometown, but yeah, the Little Brown Jug, I'd still love to win that race. So that's always on the bucket list. He's never been on [a half-mile track], but he paces the turns good so I think he'd be fine on that. He's eligible.”

(Standardbred Canada)