Trot Insider has learned that 2021 Canadian Horse of the Year Desperate Man has been retired.
A son of Shadow Play-Dreamlands Latte purchased as a yearling for $20,000 at the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale from the Winbak Farm consignment, Desperate Man won 33 races and earned $2,390,290 in 89 career starts, taking a lifetime mark of 1:48.2 at Pocono Downs in 2025 at the age of seven.
Desperate Man rose to national prominence as a three-year-old in 2021 with his victory at 7-1 in the Pepsi North America Cup. Driven by regular reinsman Trevor Henry, Desperate Man rolled off cover to defeat future Hall of Famer Bulldog Hanover and two-time Dan Patch Award-winner Perfect Sting in 1:49.3 for owners Kathy & John Cecchin, their daughter Nicole and her husband Paul Davies. The Kathy Cecchin trainee then finished the year by winning his Ontario Sires Stakes Super Final for three-year-old pacing colts and geldings, again beating Bulldog Hanover in another 1:49.3 victory. He was named the Somebeachsomewhere Horse of the Year at the 2021 O'Brien Awards.
Cecchin, who trained Desperate Man for all of his Canadian starts, said the latter win was her standout moment with the horse.
“For me, the highlight was the Super Final because my mom was here,” she told Trot Insider. “She was 88, my nephew drove her cross country to see him. And after winning the North America Cup, I thought to myself ‘he can’t win this race, because you can’t ask any more of him.’ You can’t say ‘look buddy, we need you to win the Super Final because my mom is here,’ because he just won the North America Cup. And yet he did win.
“If he had finished third and Bulldog [Hanover] won and Powertrain was second, he still probably would’ve raced good. But I just wanted her to see him win, and he did, and that’s amazing. I was so proud of him.”
Desperate Man was based in Canada through 2022 and much of 2023 before moving to New York and the barn of trainer Travis Alexander. The pacer experienced a resurgence for the stateside conditioner, winning several Opens at Yonkers Raceway and the four preliminary legs of the 2024 Borgata Series, finishing third in the final. While dominating the top Yonkers pacing ranks, he travelled the Grand Circuit, racing against the sport’s elite and competing in a number of harness racing's top pacing events, culminating in a 4-1/4-length victory in the 2024 Aria Invitational at Yonkers over 1-1/16th miles.
In 2025, he won multiple preliminary rounds of the Borgata and took top-three finishes in the Battle of Lake Erie (finishing second to Ken Hanover in a world record mile), Gerrity Memorial, Dan Patch Stakes, and Kane Pace. After being pulled up in the last quarter of the Aria Invitational on Sept. 13, he was given a month off and returned a winner in an invitational race at Yonkers. He then finished second two weeks later to Coaches Corner in the MGM Grand Prix Pacing Series and was fifth in the second leg of that event on Dec. 1.
Cecchin said something seemed off with the horse after his start in the Aria, and the Cecchin family decided to bring him home to their farm in Arthur, Ont.
“[Driver] Matt [Kakaley] thought he had taken a bad step [in the Aria], so we had him x-rayed, and there was nothing,” she said. “But he just was not himself. From that time on, he just was never how he always was before. So after the second leg of the MGM [Grand Prix Pacing Series], when he absolutely was not himself, we thought ‘okay, he’s tired, he needs a rest.’
“We hadn’t seen him in two years. Alaina [Alexander, wife of Travis] is awesome and sends me videos, but he had not physically been home. So we decided to bring him home as opposed to sending him to Florida [to train] again.”
She said Dr. Melissa McKee examined the horse and found a chip in his ankle which had not existed when he was x-rayed after the Aria. The chip was then removed with an operation performed by Dr. Orlaith Cleary at King Animal Hospital. In examination of that ankle joint, Cecchin indicated that "significant changes" to that joint were also revealed.
"We just can't go forward with that," noted Cecchin. "He can't race where he has to race. He could get hurt. So he's going to live his life in the lap of luxury."
Cecchin expressed thanks to Drs. McKee and Cleary and all of the veterinarians who worked with the horse throughout his life. She also thanked Kakaley, the Alexanders, Trevor & Shannon Henry and all those who were involved with Desperate Man, as well as his fans and supporters who rooted him on and sent her texts after his races.
The eight-year-old finished his final season with six wins and $480,515 in earnings in 18 starts, including a victory in the #SendItIn Invitational at Harrah’s Philadelphia over a strong field. He's the only horse with more than one victory over Bulldog Hanover, defeating harness racing's fastest horse on three occasions.
“He was never in a maiden, never non-winners of two, never non-winners of three; he’s been racing against the best since the first time he ever went onto the racetrack,” said Cecchin, emphasizing his lifelong toughness and class. "He's a warrior."
Desperate Man (a/k/a "Slick") will spend his retirement days at the Cecchin farm, turned out with former Davies pupil Outlawgrabbingears. That 10-year-old son of Smart Shark - Dreamlands Hardie is a half-brother in blood to Desperate Man, and the reason why the Cecchin family had their eye on Desperate Man as a yearling.
“We’re going to miss him [racing] terribly, but he’s loved,” added Cecchin. “He’ll be treated like a king forever.”
(Standardbred Canada; photo of Desperate Man winning the North America Cup on Sept. 11, 2021)