Justin Currie might have been too small to play football after high school, but he has come up big in the
world of harness racing. The 19-year-old trainer from Langley, British Columbia, has enjoyed a memorable season thanks in good part to 3-year-old filly pacer Mystic Maiden. Last month, Mystic Maiden won the $100,000 Western Filly Pace at Northlands Park in Alberta.
Mystic Maiden, bred and co-owned by the Crimson Racing Stable, which includes Currie’s mother, Angel, won 15 of 17 races this year and earned $143,150. She has won 20 of 22 lifetime races and $166,250.
Currie has won 48 races and $259,242 this year, both career highs in his four-year career. He got his first win in 2007.
“This year has been great,” said Currie, who followed his father, Brett, and mother into the sport. “It’s a dream right now. I’m just riding the wave for as long as I can.”
An all-star linebacker/lineman during his scholastic football days, Currie hoped to continue playing after high school. His size – he is 5-foot-10 and weighed 180 pounds at the time – was a hindrance.
“They said they wanted a (defensive) lineman that was 260,” Currie said, laughing. “I was going to try to take it to the next level, but the odds weren’t in my favor to make it. How many people actually do? Horses, though, were always my first pick. Training has been my biggest dream.”
Currie won four times his first year as a trainer, then nine times in 2008 and 25 times in 2009. Nothing he accomplished during those years equaled the thrills enjoyed this season with Mystic Maiden.
Mystic Maiden dominated at Fraser Downs in British Columbia, where she raced exclusively until heading to Alberta for the Western Filly Pace. She won the final by a quarter-length over River Lass after finishing seventh in the elimination a week earlier.
Currie attributed the elim setback, which snapped a 12-race win streak, to shipping from British Columbia to Alberta and below-zero temperatures.
“That was quite the thrill,” Currie said about winning the final. “It wasn’t so much the purse, it was the thrill of bouncing back with all the adversity. People were saying she was just a big fish in a B.C. pond and stuff like that. It was the best feeling I ever had. She just bounced back like a true good horse does.”
Mystic Maiden, also owned by Barry MacFarlane, is expected to return to the races next season as a four-year-old.
“She’s the superstar in my barn, obviously,” Currie said. “She’s been awesome. She’s so mature, mentally and physically, and just has a beautiful gait. She does everything you ask.”
At this point, Currie has no regrets about not pursuing football.
“I missed football at first because I’m a competitive person, but this is as competitive as anything,” he said. “The way it’s turned out has been great.”
This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.