If playing word association, participants in harness racing would rarely think Western Canada if asked about trotting and trotters. Yet so begins the tale of The Ice Dutchess, Canada's Two-Year-Old Trotting Filly of the Year.
The story starts with John Floren. Floren, who owns horses more recognizably as Coyote Wynd Farms, told Trot Insider that he's lived in more than 25 houses thus far with his early years spent in Montréal and Winnipeg as his father was in the Canadian Armed Forces and travelled frequently.
"I've lived all over North America, but mainly in Canada. My parents are from Montréal. I did my public school there and then my high school in Ottawa.
"We were living in Montréal in the mid-'80s, and I was always interested in horses growing up. We had moved there from Winnipeg, and I started getting interested in the Thoroughbreds at Assiniboia Downs, but when we moved to Montréal, they only had harness horses, and I didn't know much about them."
Floren had the good fortune of then meeting and getting to know two icons of harness racing in the province: Moe Graif and Morris Feldman. These two gentlemen helped guide Floren on his path to success in the sport.
"My wife ended up getting a job at the track for a gentleman by the name of Moe Graif doing bookkeeping, so that's how we got introduced to Standardbreds. We bought our first pacer in 1987."
In addition to Graif, Floren was at arm's reach of longtime breeder and owner Morris Feldman.
"I had a farm in St. Lazare from 1987 through 1991, and he had a farm there too. He was raising Standardbreds, as I was. We were neighbours, and that's how we got to know each other. Our daughters are around the same age, and we got to be pretty friendly. Our wives and kids would spend time in Italy together, because his wife was from Italy. We've been friends ever since."
In February 1991, Feldman's broodmare Incredible Sassy foaled a Crowning Point colt that would go on to stardom in harness racing as Incredible Abe.
Floren continued his involvement in harness racing, concentrating more on the breeding side as of late with a total of nine trotting broodmares with shares in five trotting stallions. He prefers dealing with trotters, deriving more satisfaction from the development side than the pacing gait.
"I used to do pacing and I switched over to trotting about five or six years ago because it's a larger market. You've got the Europeans involved. If you're going to play at the high end, the trotting is more value and you can have a bigger market to sell world-class yearlings to.
"There was a period there [with pacers] that it seemed like you couldn't compete with everything that was going on. You'd buy a horse that could go 1:55 and you couldn't get it to go in 1:58, and that was pretty discouraging. I think there's more of a level playing field on the trotting side, and I think they're more interesting. It's a lot more interesting to see a young trotter develop, get its gait and learn its way than a pacer."
Flash forward to 2017 and Floren, now based out of B.C. with a broodmare band of his own, sells a yearling at Harrisburg that brings a final bid of $320,000. A yearling selling later that day by the name of The Ice Dutchess catches his eye.
"I'm in the breeding business, so I always look for pedigree first -- a good sire, and good pedigree. And then the looks of course, the conformation. Even if she didn't race a day in her life, she'd be worth something as a broodmare," stated Floren.
That assessment really came from a 2017 pedigree page, and much has happened since then.
A daughter of Muscle Hill - The Ice Queen, The Ice Dutchess hails from one of the hottest fammilies in harness racing. She's a full-sister to Ice Attraction, who set a world record for four-year-old trotting mares this past October at The Red Mile, and her dam is a half-sister to Southwind Serena -- a Breeders Crown winner, and the dam of the ultra-talented Mission Brief and Tactical Landing.
Floren decided to make a play for The Ice Dutchess late in the auction, and landed the filly without much effort. The price was just right.
"I was fortunate enough to sell one that day for the same price, and I put that number in my head that I'd go up to that for her, and for whatever reason, that's where the bidding stopped. I think I made two bids on her, and that was it. It's weird: she was the sale topper last year, and this year there were some that went over $400,000. You never know how things are going to go."
Truer words have never been spoken, especially in the world of harness racing and yearlings. Factor in fractious trotting fillies and the situation is a legit feast or famine scenario. Early reports on the The Ice Dutchess from developer (and fellow Western Canadian) Clark Beelby gave Floren optimism that his investment had potential for growth.
"She started off really strong. She trained down with Clark Beelby all winter," admitted Floren. "The plan was always to send her to Jimmy [Takter] mid-April because Clark isn't really set up to race a filly like that in the U.S., because he can only spend six months in the U.S. because of visa issues.
"Clark doesn't say much, but he certainly thought she was the best one we've had together, and it turned out she was."
Upon arrival in the Takter stable, The Ice Dutchess may not have been as advanced as those Takter trained down but quickly advanced to the head of the class.
"She just kept going strong, and then at the beginning of the year -- in her third or fourth race -- she broke stride, and it really didn't have anything to do with her gait, she was just really starting to grow quite a bit. I remember Johnny Takter, who drove her in the Doherty, showed me how much bigger her back end was than her front end was. She was going through a huge growth spurt at the time, like two-year-olds do. So we put the hopples on her for stability, and she never looked back after that."
After winning the Doherty on Hambletonian Day and then making breaks as the favourite in her next two starts, The Ice Dutchess added trotting hopples and added more stakes victories. She swept the Peaceful Way Stakes at Woodbine Mohawk Park and also won her Bluegrass Stakes division at The Red Mile. She finished second in her next two starts to When Dovescry before drawing the outside in the Breeders Crown Final and meeting up with undefeated phenom Woodside Charm.
"You see that horse go that mile at Saratoga...that's a special horse that does that," said Floren with a tone of respect. "It's a long year for these two-year-olds when you start in the Doherty and end in the Breeders Crown and hit all the big races. It's nothing to be ashamed of or sorry for at the end of the year. I would have liked a better result in the Breeders Crown, but she drew a bad post and it was a really horrendous evening at Pocono.
"I think if she draws a little better than the eight-hole, and then she has to come first-up on that horse, she's probably top three. But no complaints; no regrets. It's horse racing."
Left to right: Matthew Wickware, Eleasa Feldman, Palmira Lamarca, Greg Blanchard, Director of Racing for The Raceway at Western Fair District, Morris Feldman, John Floren, Sherry Floren, Emily Floren, Rachel Feldman, Carmine Niro.
The year might have ended on a low note for The Ice Dutchess on the track but her resume didn't go unnoticed by O'Brien Award voters, who earlier this month named The Ice Dutchess Canada's Two-Year-Old Trotting Filly of the Year.
"It was a really exciting night. First time I've been; first-class event. I had my friends there from Montréal, and my wife and daughter, and their two daughters. It was a nice evening."
After a few months of rest and relaxation at Peninsula Farms, The Ice Dutchess has reported back for work in preparation for her sophomore season. With trainer Jimmy Takter retiring from full-time training duties at the end of 2018, The Ice Dutchess will be trained this year by Nancy Johansson...though Floren revealed that Takter isn't exactly removed from the process altogether. When dealing with trotting fillies, which Floren states "is not for the faint of heart" and most would concur, providing creature comforts isn't a bad thing.
"Jimmy's still involved; he was doing some training last week and then he's off to New Zealand," said Floren. "I think it's important that it's the same groom; Anette Zackrisson is a really good groom. Once you get the horse going, looking after them and keeping them healthy day-to-day is important. That was important to keep the same groom with her."