Question 1: How many horses in the history of harness racing have been sent postward as the betting favourite in 43 straight starts?
Question 2: How many horses in the history of harness racing have been sent postward as the betting favourite in 43 straight starts, competing exclusively in stakes and open competition?
Those are tough questions to answer. And it stands to reason that Test Of Faith is a tough horse to beat.
The first time Test Of Faith stepped foot onto a racetrack for a pari-mutuel event was on July 4, 2020 at Vernon Downs. She was the third choice at 9-2 in that New York Sire Stakes event for two-year-old pacing fillies. She won that start in 1:52.2, and the punters have loved her dearly ever since. Eight more starts at two, 16 sophomore appearances and 19 more as a four-year-old. Each time she's raced since that first attempt, she's had the faith of the public. And she's passed the test in 76.7 percent of those starts with an outstanding 33 winner's circle appearances.
"Wow, that’s wild. What a great stat that is," trainer Brett Pelling told Trot Insider in discussing the streak. "I know she’s averaged $53,000 every time she’s put her nose behind the gate. That’s pretty amazing."
The 2021 U.S. Horse of the Year, Test Of Faith had another tremendous year in 2022, finishing in the top three in 18 of her 19 starts for $928,768 in earnings. She completed the ‘Canadian Older Mares Double’ by winning both the Roses Are Red and the Milton Stakes and added the Dorothy Haughton Memorial as one of her biggest victories stateside. The daughter of Art Major - Cannae Cammie was only defeated once in six starts on Canadian soil, when she finished second, beaten only a head, in the Breeders Crown final.
Compliments coming from Pelling — a trainer with a resume that boasts Hall of Famers and multiple world champions — should not be taken lightly. His praise of Test Of Faith speaks volumes.
"I mean, she's big, strong, fast, intelligent, drives well. She’s just everything you like in a horse. She rests. No issues. Very healthy, always healthy...people always talk about the perfect horse — and I’m blessed that I’ve had a lot of great horses — and more and more I find the best ones are the ones that just seem to overcome, you know. They just don’t have things that burden them. Racing didn’t burden. She stays healthy, stays strong and has natural ability. So it didn’t really matter what we did with her. She’s just a cool animal."
That sentiment is definitely shared by her owners, Melvin Segal, Eddie Gran and the Kentuckiana Racing Stable. Her competition might have a jaded take. But the stats don't lie: Test Of Faith has compiled one of the best campaigns in harness racing history for a pacing mare over her first three seasons. And she's posted multiple highlight reel-worthy performances. The one that sticks out the most for Pelling in 2022 came on Canadian soil.
"In the Milton final, that’s where [driver David Miller] pushed out of there and just went on with it. And then, just turned around and said, 'catch me if you can' and then just drove off. I thought that was very, very interesting because that race was a real testament to David and how’s he’s raced her. So many starts, he’s always sort of been, you know, he’s been the pursuer. And a lot of times when you have really good horses, I mean, they end up in front. That’s kind of where they end up.
"So you’re always a little bit leery but you have all these different situations...a lot of times where she was drawing [post] seven, eight, she drew 10 a couple of times and you just weren’t in the situation to really get involved simply because of the other drivers, the rules – The Meadowlands has rules now when it comes to leaving and stuff. One thing about her is, she was always able to overcome whatever trip was thrown at her. And then, when she did draw inside, she just got to really mix it up with them. I just thought that race just showed how absolutely dominant she really was."
A $92,000 yearling, Test Of Faith is a 2022 O'Brien Award finalist along with local darling So Much More. While Test Of Faith has already locked up divisional honours stateside, he recognized that his competition here also has an amazing story and a solid resume with her fair share of support to make that sweep of the awards no easy feat.
"She would have a huge following and has done an amazing thing," Pelling said of So Much More. "I mean, I think she was like $19,000 yearling that’s made a million dollars and I don’t think that she's been to the qualifiers once in the last three years. That is an amazing stat."
Those two mares will face some fresh threats in the older pacing ranks this season with a number of accomplished three-year-olds slated to return to the racing wars.
"I’m sure there’ll be some fresh ones gunning for her next year. I mean, we’ve got Niki Hill coming back next year which will be interesting, Treacherous Dragon, there’s a couple of nice three-year-olds and even Grace Hill, she just changed hands near the end of the season, she definitely improved. It’s no walk in the park I can guarantee you that. She’ll need to be on her game."
Pelling hadn't mapped out a schedule for Test Of Faith's five-year-old season at the time of this interview. In fact, he indicated that she wasn't slated to return to his care until February 1. With that in mind, there's a return to stakes action at Woodbine Mohawk Park in the mix but don't expect to see Test Of Faith back in action as early as she was in 2022.
"I haven’t seen the schedule yet, but I’d say she’s got just a single race before she goes to the Milton. That would be it," Pelling asserted. "Like last year, I think she went to Canada, she had six starts up there but I think she went, I think two of the starts she stayed, she went four times. That’s a lot of trailering and there are [ways] that she will let me know if that was okay. I knew in the end, at the end, she wasn’t as good, but is that the length of the season or is that just the actual time of year? I’m really not sure. We’ll see."
The O'Brien Award winners will be announced on Feb. 4, with live streaming of the red carpet and awards presentation available on standardbredcanada.ca.