Dr. Ian Moore quickly admitted that this part of the journey with 2025 Horse of the Beau Jangles is unlike anything he's experienced before. And, according to the Hall of Famer, it's "tremendous."

The start to 2026 for Team Beau Jangles was strong with Somebeachsomewhere Horse of the Year honours at the end of January and Dan Patch Pacer of the Year and Horse of the Year honours four weeks later. For Moore, it feels as though he and the team have been riding a wave of highs since Beau Jangles capped his unbeaten rookie season with the Breeders Crown victory at Woodbine Mohawk Park in October.

"It just seems like the momentum keeps building, and the anticipation and the excitement ... It's just tremendous for all of us associated with the horse, from myself and Nancy, Riley Noble, his groom, and all the stable crew, and the ownership group as well. It just seems to have never stopped. It kept going, like stories and the O'Briens and then the Dan Patch. So it's just tremendous, and it's something that I've never experienced before," said Moore in a recent conversation with Trot Insider. "And I think I told you this, but I have never had a horse that I'm jogging on the track, there's at least one person every day who comes up beside me and says, 'Is that him?' or, 'Is that Beau?' And they're saying it to almost every horse that I have out now that looks big and strong like he does. I find that fascinating and really humbling."

A horse like Beau Jangles commands attention. But this level of attention for Moore is unprecedented, and the returning Horse of the Year is providing his connections with new challenges at his Florida base of operations.

"It got to the point at one time when we were talking about security guards and things like that...I've got a camera there now. Never had to do that in my life in almost 50 years, right?" Moore said with a laugh. "So it's just an amazing thing, for sure, and I hope it doesn't stop. I hope we get another, you know, at least another bunch of months out of it until the end of his three-year-old season, and we'll see what life brings after that, I guess."

That's still many months away. Sure, three months of 2026 are now in the books but for Moore, the best is truly yet to come. There's a stable of young horses preparing for stakes season and returning older horses such as millionaire stakes winner Prince Hal Hanover. However, one horse gets more attention both from training track onlookers and those in the barn.

"He [Beau Jangles] makes all of us feel special to be associated with him and be around him every day on a daily basis. People have asked, 'Well, do you treat him differently? Do you do things different?' And I think I might have given an answer to one interview, 'No, not really. We look after them the same whether they're five claimers or Beau Jangles,' right? But that's probably not true," Moore confided. "He certainly gets a lot more attention from everybody, and rightly so."

As Moore prepares Beau Jangles for his upcoming sophomore campaign, the trainer continues to marvel at the pacer's brain as well as his brawn.

"He's a very smart, intelligent horse and I have found over the years that all good horses basically for me — with no exception — are all smart and intelligent. They know what they're there for. They know when it's jog day. They know when it's training day and they know when it's race day. He certainly is one of those. And they're very proud of themselves, those horses are. He fits all of those characteristics as well. He talks to a lot of people out there [on the track]...can't get too close to the fillies when he's out there jogging.

"I think the scientists got it wrong on what they say about horses having a small brain. I disagree with that. It's been noted before in literature that Secretariat had a huge heart, like one and a half times  larger size than a normal average horse would have. I'm sure Beau Jangles has a huge heart as well, but he's also got a huge brain. That put together [with his physical attributes] helps make him what he is or what he has become today."

Today, and every day from here until the end of stakes season, Moore's goal will be to have Beau Jangles at his best both mentally and physically. Fans of harness racing won't have to wait too much longer to see Beau Jangles back in action. He's set to qualify in Florida on April 10.

(Standardbred Canada)