Top Alberta pacing colt Wrangler Betonme has been nothing but a good time for prominent equine veterinarian and breeder Dr. Maurice Stewart, and now with his sophomore season on the horizon his connections are hoping the smooth ride continues
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The As Promised-Ja El Shamrock colt was bred and raised by Dr. Stewart and his wife Maureen, who share ownership with their long-time friends Lyle and Sandy Reid of Sherwood Park. While a freshman season full of stakes wins and year-end provincial honours was a special experience, working hands on with the colt was a large part of the thrill for Stewart.
“He’s really been fun because I raised him and usually I don’t do much with them, but last year I trained him myself. I’d take him in and [trainer] Glenda Smith would race him and I’d bring him back home again,” said the 62-year-old, who has played an active role in many equine industry organizations including serving on the Board of Directors of Standardbred Canada for over two decades. “At my stage in life that’s a big part of it is having some fun. And we’ve got some new owners involved with him with Lyle and Sandy. They own other horses with us that aren’t racehorses, but they’re good friends so they’ve enjoyed the fun that we’ve had with him.”
Stewart says Wrangler Betonme was a pleasure to break as a yearling and train down at his small standardbred breeding farm in Leduc, which is also home to quarter horses and cutting horses that his wife shows.
“He was a good horse, period,” said Stewart. “He was kind of an ugly duckling until about July of his yearling year and then he just started to develop and by fall when we broke him he was a nice horse. He got stronger and better all year long, but he was good right from the word go.”
Driven by Edmonton's Bill Tainsh Jr., Wrangler Betonme began his career in a maiden race at Alberta Downs last year where he left from an outside post position and found himself 17 lengths in arrears at the quarter pole before narrowing that gap to just two lengths behind the winner at the wire. He then dove right into stakes action and reeled off one win after another, completing his season with an eight-race win streak -- including a victory in the Alberta Sires Stakes Super Final at Northlands Park -- and nearly $100,000 in purse earnings.
His fastest winning time of 1:54 in an earlier sires stakes event set a freshman track record at Alberta Downs and garnered him further attention in Canada and south of the border. Wrangler Betonme was named Two-Year-Old Alberta Sired Colt of the Year and cracked the 2012 U.S. Hoof Beats/TrackMaster Predictive Rankings, which annually predicts how well the sport’s top 25 two-year-olds will fair during their sophomore seasons. Wrangler Betonme ranked 18th and is the only Alberta sired colt to make the list, which is filled with the continent’s top performers from last year including the likes of Canada’s Two-Year-Old Colt of the Year Warrawee Needy, Breeders Crown winner and 1:49 world record holder Sweet Lou and $1 million Metro Pace champion Simply Business.
“That was really cool,” said Smith, who along with boyfriend Rene Goulet, has formed a partnership with the Stewarts to train many of their horses racing in Alberta. “That’s quite a feat for someone in Alberta right? That’s quite a feat so I was pretty excited to see him there.
“He is just a picture perfect horse,” she added. “He’s just really muscular and he’s just been phenomenal since we’ve had him to race. He’s pretty well mannered for a stud, but he’s really playful.”
Smith grew up around the racetracks with her sisters while her parents owned horses and she now trains her own stable of eight to 10 with Goulet in Millet. She says training Wrangler Betonme has been one of the highlights of her 20-year career in the harness racing industry.
“He’s probably been the best one we’ve trained,” said Smith. “We’ve never had a stake horse that good that’s made that amount of money in a season.”
Following his successful stakes season, Wrangler Betonme was given a 10 week winter break and started back training in mid-January with Stewart at the Bedrock Training Centre in Beaumont.
“His first race won’t be until the first part of June so he’ll be ready to go by the middle of May,” said Stewart. “He’s grown up and filled out; he’s really strong.”
Stewart confirmed Wrangler Betonme will remain in Alberta to compete in the sires stakes program as a three-year-old, but if he performs well on track he may do some travelling in the years to come.
“He’s a very good colt and he’s up there in the top horses I’ve owned,” said Stewart, who has also had success in other racing jurisdictions. “Probably the horse that’s made the most money though was a horse called Heat On The Street that we raced in Chicago many years ago.”
Wrangler Betonme still has a ways to go to surpass Heat On The Street’s $386,167 career bankroll, but for Stewart, the thrill of winning with the top colt in the province and sharing the excitement with his long-time friends is priceless.