Spine Manipulations Working Wonders

Published: March 1, 2012 12:57 pm EST

A trip to the chiropractor has Mans Treasure re-aligned and ready to line up behind the starting gate in Friday’s $44,500 final of the Charles Singer Memorial

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Mans Treasure, trained by Don Niccum, will be looking for his second straight win at the Meadowlands Racetrack when he starts from Post 6 (program No. 5) in the fourth-race feature. The three-year-old gelding by SJs Caviar looms large fresh off a wire-to-wire lifetime best of 1:58.1 in the second leg and picks up Hall of Fame sulky-sitter John Campbell.

“The owner and breeder, Bob Key (of Leechburg, Pennsylvania), and his trainer Richard Gillock were looking to send this trotter out here for this series,” explained Niccum. “Fortunately, I got a couple of good references, so here he is.

“He’s a nice, honest little horse. He was coming off a win when he shipped in, he’s lightly-raced and on the improve. Last week, he was the favourite, so he kind of dictated the race and he’s certainly going in the right direction for the final.

“I haven’t made changes or adjustments, just gave him a treatment from the chiropractor. I do that mostly with trotters for proper alignment. It’s nothing major, mainly for maintenance, and I personally recommend it. They basically manipulate their spine. You can tell a horse likes it when they go over him and find a sore spot.

“I don’t do a lot of work with this horse between races. He’s kind of wound up and a bit hard on himself. I just try to get him a lot of time outside. He goes back to Pennsylvania after this for a series at the Meadows.

“It feels good to have a shot in a series final. It looks like Trouble is the one to beat since won in both series legs. I think we can step out of there, but I’ll leave that up to John Campbell.”

Niccum is looking to enhance his reputation as a go-to trainer for out-of-town barns that want to send a horse to race in a series at the Meadowlands. A former assistant to Joe Holloway and Joe Stutzman, Niccum, 52, opened his own stable in 2006 at Showplace Farms in Englishtown, New Jersey.

“I’m actually pretty busy right now,” Niccum noted. “We got eight to 10 horses this month.”

(Meadowlands)

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