Horsepeople, like participants in many other sports, can be superstitious folks at times. There are many stories of off-the-wall rituals to keep the good luck rolling. In the case of a particular harness racing participant, it is what he is doing to break the bad luck which is making headlines
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When Monticello Raceway driver Kevin Hough shaved his head a few days ago, he swore he wasn’t trying to emulate Jody Jamieson, perennially one of Canada’s leading drivers.
“I was in the midst of a bad streak and I wanted to change my luck,” the 24-year-old reinsmen recently told Monticello Raceway's publicity office. "For the first few weeks of this year I was in a bad slump, and just this past Friday I was travelling to Buffalo (Raceway) to drive a few horses over the weekend and my truck blew up. I was in a funk.
“Last fall I was on hot streak, but I began this year finding it tough to win a race. I had to do something. I’m a superstitious guy, so I shaved my head in hopes of breaking out of a slump.”
Whether or not the shaved head broke the spell, last Thursday Hough won his third race of the fledgling season at Monticello, and then on Monday, January 24 he had a hat trick.
He won the second race with SJs Leo, won the third race with Jim Jam Jigolett. His final victory on the card came with SF Hazey.
“I know it may sound crazy, but I believe that shaving my head changed my luck,” Hough said. “If it wasn’t that, then what was it?”
Hough, like many others from the Wolverine State, moved his base of operations back east during the 2008 campaign and he has been a regular here since then. Over the past two seasons he has won 164 races and now has 424 in his fledgling career.
Last year at the 'Mighty M,' Hough reined 80 winners and finished 12th in the final standings. Two years ago the local scribes honoured him with the 'Rising Star Award.'
“Hey, for 22-year-old kid that was a hard thing to live up to, especially coming in from out of town with a small stable and not being very well known among the local trainers,” Hough added. "But last fall I was on a hot streak and was beginning to feel I was living up to the (Rising Star) award.”
(Monticello)