Eric Foster might not be able to say where College Tuition rates among his best horses, but he knows where the seven-year-old male trotter ranks otherwise.
“As far as the spot in my heart, he’s the top,” said Foster, a Maryland resident who bred and owns College Tuition, a career earner of $333,620. “We’re thankful for him. Hopefully, he can keep racing well. It’s been a great ride.”
College Tuition, named by one of Foster’s daughters in the hopes he might provide some financial support for her academic pursuits, has been a steady moneymaker in his career. He has earned a paycheque in 110 of 132 races, an 83 per cent clip, with 20 victories and a total of 70 top three finishes to his credit.
This year, the gelding has a win and three seconds in four races for Foster and his wife, Courtney, who share the training duties. Courtney got her first career win with College Tuition in 2022.
College Tuition is a son of Donato Hanover-Stirling Charisma. Foster bought Stirling Charisma, whose family included award-winning $3.6 million earner Magician, for $5,500 at the 2012 Standardbred Horse Sale. The filly had a skittish streak but won 13 of 68 races and $110,292 in purses before being retired to become a broodmare.
Her first foal, Emmys Mayflower, was a two-time Delaware Standardbred Breeders Fund champion and earned $239,125 in her career.
“She was really fast, but she was her own worst enemy,” said Foster. “With trotters, they can be that way. They can be quirky.”
College Tuition was Stirling Charisma’s second foal and overcame a slow start — literally — to his career.
“He was so lazy, you couldn’t get him to go around the track one time,” said Foster. “Eventually, I sent him to Gordon Corey, a trainer down in Pinehurst [North Carolina]. I thought he would call me in a week and tell me to come get the horse because he wouldn’t go. But he never did that. Each month would go by and he was actually doing OK. We got him back and he’s been good ever since.
“Now when you go to jog him here on the same track that I couldn’t get him to go on, you can’t hold him. That’s how much his attitude changed. He’s got a personality of his own.”
College Tuition was winless in six races as a two-year-old, but he began to find his footing the following season. At age five, he set his career mark of 1:52.4 at Harrah’s Philadelphia and last year he notched his most lucrative victory when he captured a $41,096 Open at Oak Grove Racing & Gaming in Kentucky.
Ironically, College Tuition travelled to Oak Grove only because Foster was shipping another one of his trotters, Sinatra De Vie, to the track to compete in the Open.
“I thought Sinatra De Vie would be really good in the Open and I sent 'College' just to ride along,” said Foster. “Sinatra De Vie ended up going there and kind of floundering around, but 'College' picked up the slack.”
Foster considered sending College Tuition to Oak Grove again this year but kept the horse home to race at Rosecroft Raceway, where last week he finished second to Spy Booth in the $17,143 Maryland Preferred Open Handicap. College Tuition returns to that level on Wednesday and is the 5-2 morning line favourite in a nine-horse field.
“He’s got tons of gate speed and I love that,” Foster said about his trotter. “He’s just wicked fast off the gate. He’s big and strong, and he’s fairly consistent. He struggles a little bit on the turns, but he has some sticking power if he can get to the straightaway in a good position. He digs in and has a little grit to him.
“He’s a beautiful horse and he’s easy to take care of. If you like black horses, he’s there. He’s just beautiful out in the field trotting around. He goes out in the field and he just loves to play. I love watching him out in the field.”
College Tuition’s race on Wednesday includes Spy Booth (3-1 on the morning line) as well as ageless wonder JL Cruze (9-2), a former Dan Patch Award winner with $2 million in earnings.
“He’s in tough this week,” Foster said about College Tuition, who will have Johnathan Ahle in the sulky. “I know JL Cruze is 14, but he’s still no slouch. He’s like the bionic horse. He’s like a machine. It seems unfair sometimes, but that’s OK; that’s horse racing.”
Racing begins at 7:15 p.m. at Rosecroft Raceway.
(USTA)