As Luck Would Have It

The story behind what went into Luck Be Withyou winning last Saturday's Breeders Crown is a testament to the dedication and commitment of an owner and a trainer waiting nearly 40 years for a win of this magnitude.

It was Monday, September 30 when Luck Be Withyou was racing in a conditioned event at Mohawk Racetrack off an impressive win in his Champlain division. Driven by Paul MacDonell, Luck Be Withyou finished fourth and was race timed in 1:54 -- full two seconds slower than his Champlain victory. To compound the issue, trainer Bill Cass wasn't at the track that night to check out his prized pupil. In fact, he wasn't even in the country.

"I was down at Lexington with Dr. John Hennessy early in the week, he was into go on Monday and then when he didn't race well here he had a lot of mucous in him," Cass told Trot Insider. "We scoped him right after the race and on a scale of 1 to 10 he was a 9."

With Cass unable to make it back to his homebase at Baycairn Training Centre outside Campbellville, Ont., he was faced with the predicament of trying to find someone to whom he to ship the horse for care and treatment. As luck would have it, there was someone virtually within arm's reach.

"I said' jeez, if I only knew somebody down here I could get him down here' and Dr. Hennessy said, 'well there's the best man right there standing at the rail'," continued Cass. "He knew Chris Oakes really well, so he introduced me to him and I told him the situation. He said 'get him down to my farm'."

The next day, Luck Be Withyou was in the barn of Pennsylvania-based trainer Chris Oakes. Oakes' staff was able to get Luck Be Withyou cleaned up for his Breeders Crown elimination on October 12.

"It was a big load off my back when I talked to Chris," said Cass. "He assured me that I could send [Luck Be Withyou] up there, his staff would work on him and have him ready for Saturday...and he went in 1:50 his first start."

Cass felt the colt was best left in the care of Oakes for the final. As the say, the rest is history.

"I thought [John] Campbell [and Sometimes Said] had us on the inside, said Cass of the race. "Yannick came over a little bit in the stretch, if you watched close he just about hooked our wheel and then [Pierce] had to double check him. When he did that he lost a half a length. Talking to John there, he thought he won."

The photo finish showed otherwise, giving Cass, 71, his biggest win as a trainer in his 40-plus years in harness racing, and giving Oakes a Breeders Crown win at his home track.

"He was very humble about it because even in the picture down there he said 'listen, I just babysat him for a week...this is the guy you have to give the credit to'. He was very good about it," Cass said of Oakes deferring all the credit to him.

John Craig (second from L), Bill Cass (center), Chris Oakes (second from R) and Ron Pierce (R)

Cass would agree that some of the credit should also go to owner John Craig. It was on Craig's urging that Cass find a striking individual at the 2012 yearling sales and not concern himself with price. The much-publicized story of Cass buying the Western Ideal brother to multiple world champion American Jewel for $77,000 must mention Craig, who told Trot Insider that he still can't figure out how they were able to get such an impressive colt on paper for the price they did.

"You never know why people decide to bid or not to bid on horses," said Craig, whose dedication to harness racing both as an owner and a lawyer has paid off with the biggest on-track victory in his lifetime. Craig was the lawyer that successfully challenged Section 31 of the federal Income Tax Act to the Supreme Court of Canada, only to see the government change the legislation.

Craig and Cass have been partners on horses for nearly 40 years, and Craig quickly admits that his friend is one of the main reasons this story is being told.

"I don't know if I would have stayed in the business without Bill."

Cass and Craig's successful business venture might not be done for this year. Cass is considering supplementing Luck Be Withyou to the Matron Stakes at Dover Downs given that his colt is so sharp.

"He was perfect Sunday morning. He was out in the paddock and he was in great shape, he was fine. He was tired, but still pretty chipper," stated Cass. "I'm going to leave him there until the end of the week."

If the colt doesn't race in the Matron, he'll be turned out for the Winter in Kentucky.

"We will be certainly looking at it if he came out of this race and gets home fairly fresh and chipper, I'll know. But he doesn't have to go anymore."