Homebred pacer A New Endeavor has been a bit of a surprise ever since the day he was born – literally – but he has proven to be a pleasant one.
Bred by trainer Charlie Stewart and Mike Fawcett, the son of Tellitlikeitis out of the mare Endeavors Fantasy made an unexpected arrival on Mar. 20, 2021, on the Stewarts’ farm in Muncie, Ind.
“We thought the mare was due in a month, but my wife walked in the stall, and there he was,” Stewart said. “We weren’t expecting him, but it came out all right.”
Indeed, it has. A New Endeavor was unraced as a two-year-old because he needed more time to mature physically, but since then he has won 13 races and hit the board a total of 22 times in 34 starts. He has earned $168,258 for his ownership group, which is Stewart’s wife, Angela, and their two young sons, Chance and Cash, as well as Fawcett.
“He’s been a very pleasant surprise,” Stewart said. “He has the attitude and personality to be a good horse, but he does not look the part. He’s small, kind of short-legged. He would have been a very cheap yearling at the yearling sale. You wouldn’t pick him out as a nicer horse if he was in a lineup.”
Stewart trained A New Endeavor’s mom, Endeavors Fantasy, during her final two seasons of racing and purchased the mare, with Fawcett, in the summer of 2019. That was the mare’s last season on the track and Stewart and Fawcett decided to keep her as a broodmare.
“He looks a lot like his mom,” Stewart said about A New Endeavor, who is one of only three horses ever bred by the trainer. “Slender build, on the smaller side. She was a very nice horse. She went 1:50.2 and made just under $300,000. She was very nicely gaited, and very willing.”
After watching A New Endeavor qualify for the first time, as a three-year-old at Harrah’s Hoosier Park in May 2024, Stewart told driver Peter Wrenn that he thought the horse might make a good conditioned claimer.
“Pete told me that I shouldn’t start there with him,” Stewart said. “He thought he was better than that.”
A New Endeavor won four of his first five races, including two in 1:51.3 with :25.4 last quarters. Twice later in the season he won in 1:50.3, and he finished the campaign with seven victories in 12 starts.
Last year, the gelding notched six more wins in 22 starts as he worked his way up the conditions ladder at Hoosier Park and into the Opens, where he notched two of those victories.
“He’s matured a lot,” said Stewart, an Indiana native who has won more than 1,100 races since beginning his career in 2006. “He loves going on the track and jogging every day, he’s always been very happy with that, and training-wise he’s not looking at stuff.
“He’s got a good personality. He wants your attention, wants to play with you. If you don’t pay attention to him, he’ll take his bandages off or take his boots off. He’s very playful.”
On Friday, Feb. 13, A New Endeavor will make his five-year-old debut in the $18,000 USD Open 2 at Hoosier Park. He will leave from post one, with regular driver John DeLong, and is 3-1 on the morning line in a field of five.
“It’s been a good little ride,” Stewart said. “He’s still lightly raced, so he’s a young five-year-old. I’m hoping for a stronger year out of him this year.”
Racing begins at 5:30 p.m. Friday at Hoosier.
(USTA; photo of A New Endeavor winning on Apr. 4, 2025)