Millionaire trotter Y Chance It and his longtime paddock buddy Railroad Ron have joined the Ontario Standardbred Adoption Society family.
Now 20, Y Chance It raced from ages two through nine banking $1,081364 in total. The talented trotter was trained throughout his career by Ron O’Neill, who shared ownership of the gelded son of Yentls Image with Paul Larrabee and Lynda Franklin. Randy Fritz and Paul MacDonell were his two main drivers.
"He was just kind of a natural right from the word ‘go,’" O’Neill said while announcing Y Chance It’s retirement. "He did better than what we ever dreamed. He was only a $5,000 purchase. He turned into quite a nice horse."
O’Neill has worked alongside the Wellwood family for many years, starting with the patriarch, the late Hall of Famer William Wellwood, and subsequently his daughter, Paula Wellwood, who was racing Railroad Ron during the same time period as Y Chance It.
Now 17, Railroad Ron earned in excess of a quarter-million dollars in purses during his racing career. The son of Donerail last raced in July of 2008, while Y Chance It made his final career start the month prior. The pair was retired together and had spent more than a decade enjoying their life of leisure.
Earlier this year, the owners of the farm where the trotters were living became unable to keep them and there was a concern that they might be separated.
“We were asked if there was a possibility we could take them so they could stay together. They are great friends, they’ve been together for years,” explained OSAS’s Joanne Colville.
“The late Dr. Ted Clarke was a wonderful supporter of OSAS and fostered many of our older, companion-only horses. We are so fortunate that his family has continued to care for those horses and now Y Chance It and Railroad Ron have joined that group.”
(OSAS)