Henry Graber Jr. got goosebumps watching stable star M Ms Dream race in 2023 and hopes to enjoy that feeling again when the trotter returns to action later this year. In the meantime, having a horse like Brookview Bullet in the barn is a great way to fend off any winter blahs. In fact, the pacer provides ample reason to enjoy the season.
Brookview Bullet is the fastest horse in North America this year thanks to his career-best-equalling 1:49.1 win in the Jan. 11 Open Handicap at Miami Valley Raceway. Since receiving the bulk of last summer off, the six-year-old gelding has posted six victories, three seconds and a third in 16 starts for trainer Graber and his family’s Eleven Star Stables.
Nine of his 10 most recent races have been on the five-eighths-mile ovals in Ohio, at Hollywood Dayton to end last year and Miami Valley this year, after spending most of his career on the seven-eighths-mile track at Harrah’s Hoosier Park. Lifetime, Brookview Bullet has won 11 of 24 starts in Ohio compared to 11 of 58 at all other tracks.
“He ended the year well and kicked it off [this year] going good again,” said Graber. “He loves winter racing and he likes the five-eighths-mile track better than the long stretch at Hoosier. He still tries there, but he just likes the Ohio tracks better, I guess. At Hoosier a lot of times, right at the end is when they get him.
“Last year, we turned him out over the summer and got him ready because we know he’s better in Ohio. We got him ready and he’s made a nice chunk of money ever since.”
Eleven Star Stables bought Brookview Bullet, a son of Always A Virgin-Babylon Sister, for $12,500 at the 2019 Hoosier Classic Yearling Sale. A multiple stakes winner on the Indiana circuit, Brookview Bullet has earned $431,204 in his career.
“He’s an easy horse to have,” said Graber. “All you do is feed him, turn him out and race him. When he hits the track, he’s ready to roll. You buy yearlings every year hoping for the next one like him, but it’s not too often you get one like him.”
On Thursday, Brookview Bullet and driver Josh Sutton will start from post five in the $34,000 Open Handicap at Miami Valley. He is 5-1 on the morning line.
“We’re going to race him in Ohio this year,” said Graber. “We’re going to try Scioto, but if he doesn’t get along with summer again because of the heat, we’ll turn him out and be ready for winter again.”
As for M Ms Dream, the millionaire five-year-old mare, a daughter of Swan For All-Trading Places, is just starting back to prepare for her 2024 campaign. A two-time Indiana Sire Stakes champion, M Ms Dream hit the Grand Circuit last year at age four and won the Hambletonian Maturity, Dr. John R. Steele Memorial and Miss Versatility Series final. She defeated Jiggy Jog S in the Maturity and Steele, handing the future Dan Patch Award winner two of her three defeats last year.
In addition, M Ms Dream finished second in the Breeders Crown and Dayton Oaks. Jiggy Jog S captured both of those races. She was trained by Ron Burke while on the Grand Circuit and owned by Eleven Star Stables, Frank Baldachino and Hillside Stables.
“You still pinch yourself,” Graber said about M Ms Dream’s season. “It doesn’t seem real when you watch some of the replays. I knew she was going to be competitive, but we weren’t expecting to beat some of the horses we beat. You get goosebumps watching her race.”
As for this year, Graber said, “If she shows anything like she did last year, we’re probably going to keep doing the same thing we did. If she tells us she doesn’t want to do it, she’s made enough money.”
Graber is training 35 horses, including a group of 14 two-year-olds.
“It’s more horses than we’ve ever had,” said the 27-year-old Indiana resident. “Hopefully, we can make the owners some money this year.”
Racing begins at 4 p.m. (EST) on Thursday at Miami Valley. For complete entries, click here.
(USTA)