With the future of racing in Calgary looking bright, having drawn the rail in Saturday’s Western Canada Pacing Derby, and being chosen as a candidate for the O’Brien Award of Horsemanship, it's hard to think Kelly Hoerdt's week could get much better leading up to the $75,000 stakes final.
The 46-year-old Beaumont, Alberta horseman will look to capture his second Western Canada Pacing Derby title on Saturday at Northlands Park with three-year-old pacer Cowboy Caper. The Brandons Cowboy-Miss Prom gelding drew post one for the rich stakes event following a 1:57.4 elimination win last weekend.
Cowboy Caper’s WCPD Elimination - Race 10
“I was especially happy with his elimination effort because he had been off a couple of weeks so I thought that he might not be quite as sharp as he needed to be, but the main goal was to make it to the final,” said Hoerdt, who co-owns the striking sophomore with Blair Corbeil of Beaumont, along with Calgary’s Peter Morris and Roque Consultants Inc. “He raced like he had raced the week before and he had a couple of weeks off so I was real happy with him. Going into the final and having that race under his belt, I feel even better about it. And post one is great. I’m real happy to draw inside with him. You want to be close to the front in any big races on the five-eighths track out here for sure.”
After winning two of his nine starts and banking nearly $25,000 during a short freshman campaign, Cowboy Caper has put together a solid sophomore record reading 7-1-3 in 19 starts while pushing his bankroll to more than $110,000.
Among his stakes victories this year was an Adios Pick division on June 3 at Alberta Downs. He also turned in one of his most impressive winning efforts in the Alberta Sires Stakes Maverick Final on Oct. 20 at Northlands Park.
“It took him awhile to get it together as a two-year-old,” noted Hoerdt. “He had some gait issues. Keeping pacing was a big deal to him so he just needed to grow up a little bit and get his act together. He’s been a real good horse for us this year.”
Cowboy Caper is the 3-1 second choice in the morning line behind British Columbia invaders Steve O and driver Jim Marino, who will start from post seven in the eight-horse field while stablemate Watch And Pray and J.F. Gagne will leave from post five. Keith Clark will also send out an entry consisting of Somethinsgoinon from post three, Sharkalucchi with Gerry Hudon driving from post four, and elimination winner Playbook with Bobby Clark at the reins from the outside.
“Strength is in numbers for sure so the triple entry from Keith Clark is going to be tough,” said Hoerdt assessing his competition. “Sanford Campbell has one in there from the two-hole [named No Fear]. That horse has had some tough luck with the draw and he’s drawn real well for the final. He was a real factor to be dealt with this summer so that would be one for sure I wouldn’t count out. J.F. Gagne brought a couple from B.C. that both raced real well in their eliminations too. It really does depend on how the race sets up, but I shouldn’t have to use my horse too much to be close to the pace and that should help us later in the mile."
Cowboy Caper’s versatility and determination will also work to his advantage, added Hoerdt.
“He’s a very handy horse,” he said. “He can race with a trip or on the front end. He really likes to get at it. He likes to be close to the front early and if you have to be out early he’ll sit on the outside and he’ll wear horses down. He doesn’t seem to get discouraged no matter what kind of trip he has. He gives you all he has right to the wire.”
The Western Canada Pacing Derby is set for the 11th race on Saturday with a field of Open pacers scheduled to knock heads one race prior, which will include Hoerdt’s 2007 Derby winner and the horse he describes as one of the best things that ever happened to himself and his connections, Trust The Artist, a winner of 48 races and more than half a million dollars in purses. Meanwhile, his award-winning pacing mare River Lass is enjoying a well-deserved break after a dominant season competing against Alberta’s distaffers.
Another successful weekend of racing would cap off an exciting stretch for
Hoerdt, who was just named one of three candidates for the 2012 O’Brien Award of Horsemanship along with Maritimers Marc Campbell and Darren Crowe.
“It’s always great to be recognized by your peers,” said Hoerdt, who was named one of the award’s candidates in 2007. “It really is more about just driving horses or just training horses. It’s about the day-to-day activities and the management of the horses, when to race them and what classes to race them in, when to stop racing them, when to race them hard or not so hard. So it is an all-around business recognition.
“It just makes you think that even when you may not think anybody is really paying attention there is some recognition and maybe you’ve been doing your job right. It’s a little reassurance that all your hard work is not for nothing and I’m just real happy to be nominated.”
While Hoerdt is excited about his chances in the WCPD and his O'Brien Award candidacy, what has him just as thrilled is recent news regarding the
progress of the Balzac racetrack project in Calgary.
“We’re very excited about that,” he added. “That’s as exciting as drawing the rail in the Western Canada Pacing Derby. It really makes our future look bright.”
The field for Saturday’s $75,000 Western Canada Pacing Derby is listed below:
$75,000 Western Canada Pacing Derby
1. Cowboy Caper – Kelly Hoerdt – Kelly Hoerdt
2. No Fear – Brandon Campbell – Sanford Campbell
3. Somethinsgoinon – Keith Clark – Keith Clark
4. Sharkalucchi – Gerry Hudon – Keith Clark
5. Watch And Pray – J.F. Gagne – Marjorie Dumont
6. Outlaw Highvoltage – Brent Grundy – Doug Stout
7. Steve O – Jim Marino – Marjorie Dumont
8. Playbook – Bobby Clark – Keith Clark
For a free, printable program courtesy of
TrackIT,
click here.
To view entries for Saturday's card, click on the following link:
Saturday Entries - Northlands Park.