Powertrain, an Ontario Sires Stakes Gold and multiple Woodbine Mohawk Park Preferred winner, has been retired.
The eight-year-old pacer, who overcame a career-threatening injury as a weanling and went on to earn $474,665, was shut down due to persistent respiratory problems.
“It wasn’t anything soundness related; for the last three years, we’ve been dealing with a lot of breathing issues with him, and we can’t seem to get those rectified,” said Nick Gallucci, who trained Powertrain throughout the horse’s career. “So in the best interest of the horse, we didn’t want to cheapen him and see him end up in a claimer. We thought it would be best to give him a home for life, whether with us, or we can find him a nice landing point with somebody that would look after him for the rest of his life.”
Few horses can claim to have beaten both Bulldog Hanover and Desperate Man — Powertrain is one of them. He started as a three-year-old in 2021 and quickly elevated to the Ontario Sires Stakes (OSS) Gold level after winning three of his first four starts. He made breaks in three of his next four appearances but got back on track in a Three-Year-Old Open on Sept. 11 at Woodbine Mohawk Park, winning in 1:48.2, which remains his career mark. The gelded son of Shadow Play-Mmillion Blue Chip then defeated both eventual Hall of Famer Bulldog Hanover and 2021 North America Cup champion and Horse of the Year Desperate Man in an OSS Gold on Sept. 25 at Mohawk, making a backstretch move to the lead and holding them both off down the stretch in a 1:49.3 victory. Powertrain finished his campaign with a third-place finish in the OSS Super Final behind that pair of stars.
Powertrain’s notable wins at three had Gallucci high on the gelding — but those are moments that might never have happened.
“I think there was about a three- or four-week period where I would put him against any of the top colts in North America,” he said. “He had a high turn of foot and was just a really special horse.
“It was never really talked about, but he got injured as a weanling; he severed his superficial tendon on the front of his left hind leg. So, he was never actually meant to race, and everything that he accomplished was an absolute bonus.”
The Millar Farms homebred spent most of his four-year-old season competing against upper-level conditioned types at Mohawk and took a step further at five, battling the best in the Preferred ranks. That upper echelon was star-studded in 2023 — his opponents included that year’s divisional O’Brien Award recipient Tattoo Artist, the emergent Emmetts Buddy and then-co-track-record holder Warrawee Vital, along with a host of other top-class regulars. He hit the board three times in six Preferred/Free For All starts in 2023 and tallied his first Preferred win the following February, scoring in 1:51.1. After missing nearly seven months in 2024, Powertrain returned sharp in October and carried his good form into 2025, when he won two straight Preferreds early in the season. He finished in the triactor in six consecutive starts after that double, including the New Holland Series final, before another extended layoff from April to November. Powertrain recorded two fifths and two sixths since returning and was retired after two outings in 2026.
Powertrain heads into his post-racing life with a record of 15-10-12 and $474,665 in earnings in 64 starts.
“It was a privilege to race him for so many years,” said Gallucci. “I wish we could’ve raced him a little bit longer, but mother nature had its course, and we did everything we could, and I’m very proud of what he accomplished.”
(Standardbred Canada; photo of Powertrain winning on Feb. 1, 2025)