Richard Moreau is more comfortable in a paddock than in a tuxedo, but for the O’Brien Awards, he won’t mind getting out of his comfort zone.

“Guess I’m going to need a tuxedo” was the 48-year-old’s succinct reaction to his first nomination for Canadian Trainer of the Year.

The Quebec native is leading the nation in wins with more than 320 so far, good for $3.5 million in purses. And he was also the early leader in Standardbred Canada’s weekly web poll soliciting the readers’ choice in the category of outstanding trainer, ahead of Casie Coleman and Jeff Gillis, two accomplished stakes-horse conditioners.

“Maybe it’s because a lot of people know me and I’m there every day,” he said.

Moreau has horses competing at two tracks most days, and sometimes as many as five. “One Saturday this summer, I had 21 entered,” he said.

“I have 60 horses racing and I usually change 10 to 15 of them every month. It’s a lot of work, but we’re succeeding and that’s what I’m paid for.”

What drives Moreau?

“I’d rather work more when I can, especially if there are cutbacks coming in racing days and purses,” he said. “People ask if I’d move to the states, but I’ve already moved once [from Quebec]. I don’t want to move every five years. I’m set up now. I bought a farm four years ago [in Puslinch, Ont., with Garth Henry].”

Moreau said it took “a lot of time and energy” to adapt his stable to Ontario racing, and he’d still like to take it up a notch. What’s helped, he said, is that he now can count on leading drivers at several tracks, people like Sylvain Filion, Scott Coulter and Trevor Henry. “That’s one of the benefits of racing as many horses as I do at these tracks,” he said.

(Trot Insider exclusive by Paul Delean)