Trainer Dustin Jones admits he choked up a bit when he saw his name as a finalist for the 2014 O’Brien Award for horsemanship.

Coming a year after what could have been the end of his three-decade run in the sport, it brought home how much had been accomplished in the 14 months since the break with principal owner Serge Godin left him starting from scratch again at age 52.

“Looking back, it was probably the best thing that could have happened for me and Serge to split up. There was way less pressure. When one guy has 70 per cent of the horses in the barn, it can be tough to keep them satisfied.

“It could have been the end of my career but what it did was give me a resurgence. I put my nose down, worked hard, and this happens. You appreciate it much more. I’ve got 45 head in the barn now, including 26 two-year-olds. It’s like my best years in Quebec again. We’re on a roll and I hope it can continue,” Jones said this week.

His stable collected almost $1 million in purses in 2014, and he was in the sulky for several of its wins, including Swan In A Million’s victory over Godin-owned Intimidate in the $100,000 Earl Rowe Memorial Trot at Georgian Downs.

Jones also bred and co-owns Dont Rush, an O’Brien finalist for two-year-old trotting colt/gelding and a winner of almost $300,000. The Ontario Sires Stakes star earned him his first breeding award from the Standardbred Breeders of Ontario.

Jones has trained Canadian champions (Wheeling N Dealin, Emilie Cas El, Uhadadream) and won individual awards in the past – he’s a two-time recipient of the Roger White Trophy for Quebec trainer of the year – but the O’Brien horsemanship nomination is special, he said, regardless of who the voters select (B.C.’s Bill Davis is the other finalist).

“I’ve been told I can’t breed a horse. I’ve been told I’m too big to drive, that I can’t do this, that I can’t do that. Well, I think we proved a few things this year,” Jones said.

(A Trot Insider Exclusive by Paul Delean)