Brandon Campbell was crossing the finish line two lengths clear and well in hand in this past Saturday’s $107,030 Western Canada Pacing Derby at Century Mile. It should have been a time of celebration with Grey Horizon winning his sixth in a row in Alberta’s premier harness race of the season. Instead, it was anything but.
“I wasn’t happy. I was just relieved,” said Campbell. “My other horses were not good [on Saturday]. Especially the filly [Over Ice in the co-featured $131,720 Century Casino Filly Pace.] She raced like crap so I didn’t know what to expect with Grey Horizon. I was nervous. I had raced five other horses and they all struggled. It seemed like they were all plugged up.
“Here I had the 1-9 favourite who was clearly the best and I had zero confidence considering the way everything else raced.
“My dad had to take me aside before the Derby. He told me to forget about the other races. He said just relax and concentrate on this one.”
Campbell did and Grey Horizon, as he has this year and throughout his young career, made it look as easy as his odds.
Heading straight for the top from his second post, Grey Horizon, who has now won 13 of his 21 career starts, let Believe It Sea It and driver/trainer Kelly Hoerdt go through an opening quarter in 29 seconds flat and a second quarter in a stirring :27.2.
Still second approaching three-quarters of a mile in 1:25.1, Campbell said he “just sat and waited.
“Just because somebody else was going fast I don’t have to. I just let Kelly do his thing. I thought Kelly was sprinting off a little too much.”
Pulling around the final turn, Grey Horizon, who also has six seconds in his portfolio, took command at the eighth pole and powered on to an eased-up, two-length victory over Outlawstaythcourse, who came from last place at half to take second.
“Grey Horizon raced fantastic. He used to be a dumb, silly colt but he knows what he’s doing now. He’s got it figured out now.”
The mile went in a tepid 1:54.3 but Campbell said the track was to blame.
“It was deep and sticky, dead and tiring. On a fast track, he’s going to pace a much faster mile.
"It should have been a better race for the fans.”
There was some speculation that Grey Horizon, a $55,000 ASHA Yearling Sale purchase from breeder Gigi Van Ostrand who has now won $300,725 for owners Jodi Loftus, Raymond Henry and George Rogers, was going to be sold after the Derby.
Campbell said there are some interested parties: “The same people [Kellogg Racing Stables out of New York] that bought Virtual Horizon last year.
“But we haven’t come to a deal yet. There’s one more stakes race left for him,” Campbell said of the Alberta Sires Stakes Super Final on Nov. 2. “We’ll make the deal after that race. Or, maybe there won’t be a deal if he only goes in 1:54 again.
“He should have [1]:51 and [1]:52 second miles on his card,” Campbell said of Grey Horizon, who has a personal best of 1:53.
A winner of three stakes last year en route to being named Alberta’s Champion Two-Year-Old of 2023, Grey Horizon won the $90,000 Moores Mile by nine lengths and took his lifetime mark in a troubled $105,560 Ralph Klein when the left hopple hanger came loose just as they were leaving and he put in a few bad steps exiting the final turn.
“I thought I was going to lose him,” Campbell said at the time. “He just lost his footing. I wasn’t sure if I could keep him on stride. It was 50-50. I almost lost him.”
After the Klein, Grey Horizon then swept around his opposition after starting from post nine in the Alberta Sires Stakes Plainsman final.
In the Century Casino Filly Pace, 3-5 favourite Outlawguns N Roses gave her connections and bettors a scare despite winning by 4-1/2 lengths in 1:53.1.
After getting away in fifth place after starting from the disadvantageous seven-post, going first-over down the backstretch and taking the lead away from pacesetter Over Ice, who hit a wall entering the stretch, Outlawguns N Roses suddenly drifted out until she was so wide that driver Dave Kelly could have almost shaken hands with fans standing along the rail.
“Dave did a good job when she started wandering,” said trainer Rod Starkewski, who owns the winning filly with Clauzette Byckal. “She’s done this before and I don’t know why she does it. Maybe it’s a woman thing. If we could figure them out, we’d be good.”
“She’s done that half a dozen times,” said Kelly, who was winning his fourth win of the evening card (Mike Hennessy also had four wins on the card). “I don’t know what it is. She felt so strong around the final turn. I felt so confident.
“I was worried if anyone was coming with pace on the inside, but I looked over and saw we still had a couple of lengths. She’s a pretty incredible filly,” Kelly said of the daughter of Captive Audience-Gunslingin Gal who set Calgary's Century Downs three-year-old filly track record of 1:51.3 when she won the $122,000 Gord & Illa Rumpel Stakes this past summer by eight lengths.
Pacing her third quarter in :27.2 and her last half in :56.1 on Saturday, Outlawguns N Roses has now won 10 of her 12 starts this year -- losing only when she broke stride leaving back on July 13 in Calgary and in the $118,000 Shirley McClellan final in June when she was second beaten by a length by Byby Baby Byby.
Last year, she was first or second in seven of nine starts.
In total, Outlawguns N Roses has now won 14 of 21 starts for earnings of $340,810.
Able to win on the lead or come from off the pace, Outlawguns N Roses has mostly been coming from behind lately.
“In her prep last week, she paced her own first quarter in 30 seconds and then reeled off three 27-second and change quarters,” said Kelly. “That’s a pretty incredible feat on its own.”
It was Kelly’s first Filly Pace victory as a driver and Starkewski’s first win as a trainer.
Kelly almost doubled up finishing second in the Derby after having to start from the outside eight post.
“They went the first quarter in 29 seconds and here I was sitting last. I thought, 'Oh, no; this isn’t good.'”
Still eighth at the top of the stretch, Outlawstaythcourse came flying.
“He paced an incredible back half,” said Kelly. “My God, he was incredible at the end.”
“One more to go,” Starkewski said of the Super Final on Nov. 2. “We’ll play it by ear after that.”
(Curtis Stock / thehorses.com)