If you talk to Mark Ford about pacer Warrawee Needy, you get the idea that if it wasn't for bad luck he'd have no luck at all.
The five-year-old son of E Dees Cam was not in the Breeders Crown Open Pace last week, but the other seven entrants set to go in Saturday night's 2014 $500,000 TVG Series Pacing Championship were. Instead, Warrawee Needy raced at Mohegan Sun Pocono. While his 1:51.2 winning mile -- just his second win of the year -- might not seem like the necessary stepping stone to enter him against the best older pacers in North America, Ford was pleased with his performance.
"He was so good over there and seemed like he was back to his old self, and he's finally raced three weeks in a row so I think he's finally getting tight and ready to go," Ford told Trot Insider." He seems good, whether he's tight enough to go with these ... we'll just have to race him and see how it is. But there's no more more vacation here."
The past year has been a frustrating one for Ford, who bought into the horse last September. Warrawee Needy was racing at the highest level and had etched his name in harness racing's record books with a 1:46.4 mile at The Meadowlands in July -- the first sub-1:47 mile ever paced at night and the co-fastest race mile ever.
"We bought him thinking that he was a real free-for-aller. It was just unbelievably bad luck and weird stuff that went on," said Ford. "I was quite sure that we were going to win the [2013] Breeders Crown, but he stepped up on a wheel and made a break. The luck just got worse from there."
Ford, who co-owns Warrawee Needy with Ontario's David Shea and Carl Jamieson, decided to shut down Warrawee Needy over the winter. That decision he quickly admits regretting.
"I shut him down over the winter, and I think that's where the mistakes started. I've never had any luck shutting a racehorse down...and I shut my whole barn down last year. When we brought the horses back they were big and fat and healthy and good, but they couldn't go any.
"He qualified good but developed a bit of a throat problem. We tried a few things after that, but we kept having sickness and bad luck and it kept getting worse."
After surgery for the throat problem, Ford noted that Warrawee Needy came back strongly but then was confronted by sickness and allergies. The level that Warrawee Needy can and has competed at makes the issues all the more vexing.
"He shows glimpses. When he first came down here, I thought he was the greatest horse I'd ever been around," Ford stated. "He can go fast, so quick. He's got such a great turn of speed and just such a nice horse but he's always had holes in his performance."
For a frame of reference, check Warrawee Needy's lines after the 2013 Breeders Crown. Finishing ninth in 1:52.1 at Hoosier Park, followed by a third-place finish (beaten only a half length) at Balmoral Park in the American National and a second (by a neck) to Foiled Again in the final TVG leg at The Meadowlands. Last year in the TVG Final, he drew the 10. This year, he once again draws outside all the other entrants with the 8 hole.
"It never fails. He's drawn bad his whole life, and just when you need a little bit of luck it never comes along."
$500,000 TVG Pace - Race 7
1. Bettors Edge – Matt Kakaley – 10-1
2. Modern Legend – Brett Miller – 4-1
3. Sweet Lou – Ron Pierce – 5-2
4. Clear Vision – Tim Tetrick – 8-1
5. Thinking Out Loud – John Campbell – 3-1
6. State Treasurer – David Miller – 5-1
7. Foiled Again – Yannick Gingras– 8-1
8. Warrawee Needy – Andy Miller – 20-1