Trainer Ron Burke is no stranger to dynamic duos. Last year, his stable saw Won The West and Foiled Again combine to earn $2.29 million (U.S.) in the older male pacer division and Buck I St Pat and Southwind Wasabi total $856,018 (U.S.) in the older female trotter ranks
. Won The West and Buck I St Pat each claimed division honours.
Right with them, at least in terms of earnings, were older female pacers On The Glass and Ginger And Fred. Those two mares combined to bank $874,628 (U.S.), although without any award-winning recognition.
Maybe that will change this season. Burke is preparing On The Glass and Ginger And Fred for their 2011 debuts in the upcoming Overbid series at the Meadowlands. The series begins March 4 and concludes March 18.
“Both of them are coming back real strong,” Burke said. “I think that class is open for the taking this year. You have a great three-year-old moving up [the now four-year-old Put On A Show], but the top older mares went away. I think it’s an exciting class if you have horses to race in it.”
Last season as a four-year-old, On The Glass won 11 of 30 starts, including the $248,000 Lady Liberty, and earned $424,850 (U.S.). It was her first year in the Burke Stable. In the previous two seasons, she won four of 23 races and $140,853 (U.S.) while competing primarily on the New York Sire Stakes circuit.
“When she came we thought maybe she would be a quasi-open horse,” Burke said. “She ended up being right with the best mares in the country. Even it was a surprise to us.”
Ginger And Fred, who has earned $1.31 million (U.S.) lifetime, won four of 27 races and $449,778 (U.S.) last year. She won the $237,000 Blue Chip Matchmaker series final at Yonkers and was second in the $257,000 Golden Girls at the Meadowlands, where she was beaten by a nose by Tug River Princess. She hit the board 15 times and earned a check in 23 starts.
“All through her career she’s always been a little bit of a bridesmaid,” Burke said. “Hopefully she’ll outgrow that as she gets older. I do think big horses get better with age, and for a mare she’s a pretty nice size. She’s a very consistent horse.”
Ginger And Fred had seven different drivers before Brian Sears drove her in eight of her last nine starts last year. Burke hopes having Sears in the sulky on a regular basis this season will help.
“I think at the end of the year we finally found the driver for her,” Burke said. “I think that’s a big deal. That’s big to find a driver that fits the horse and you can go a whole year with them. That just leads to good things for both the horse and the driver.”
Burke, who guided his stable to record numbers of 840 wins and $18.04 million (U.S.) in purses in 2010, also has a better idea of what kinds of performances can be expected from the two mares.
“Last year they didn’t have the best scheduling by us,” Burke said. “We could have done a lot of things different, but the truth is that maybe we underestimated both horses. This year we’re going to give them more of a prep and more of a schedule indicative of the top mares that they became.”
Burke enjoys having two horses that can share a similar stakes schedule.
“If I only have one, I try to find a partner for them,” he said. “If I’m going somewhere to race, if I’m going to ship one I might as well ship two. We tend to keep the horses on the same schedule together. It’s something we like.”
This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.