When 11-year-old pacing mare Ladies From Hell makes her season's debut on Wednesday, Jan. 8 at The Raceway at Western Fair District, she will be racing with a special achievement on her resume.
After earning 11 wins and more than $60,000 in purses during her 2024 campaign for the local father and daughter team of Michael and Shae Sumner, the Classic Card Shark-Jennys Place mare was named Western Fair's Older Pacing Mare of the Year.
The award is a special one for 28-year-old horsewoman Shae Sumner, coming from her home track for the first racehorse she's ever owned in partnership with her father, veteran trainer Michael Sumner. In addition, it was a bit of a comeback campaign for Ladies From Hell, a former B.C. stakes winner with 46 victories and nearly $300,000 in earnings lifetime, after she was laid off for nearly a year.
Michael Sumner credits Ladies From Hell's award-winning campaign to his daughter.
“She took over this horse and made this horse really what she is,” Michael Sumner, who claimed the mare for $10,625 in November 2021, told CTV News London. “I had a double-hip operation where I got two titanium hips from years of getting beat up as a driver. I wasn't even here a lot of time, and Shae really took the horse and moved her into the best class in [London,] Ontario.”
Western Fair will honour Ladies From Hell as its Older Pacing Mare of the Year along with other top 2024 performers at the track's annual Awards Night on Saturday, Feb. 22.
For now, the Sumners are hoping Ladies From Hell can kick off another successful season on Wednesday night at The Raceway, with future plans to become a broodmare.
(With files from CTV News London)
Great work!
Congratulations Mike and Shae. Nice to see this story, hope your mobility is better with the surgery’s Mike.