Peter Blood is on the verge of coming full circle in his grand racing career.
John Berry, assistant race secretary at Pompano Park, recalls his encounters with the veteran horseman and watching his promising stallion Boston Red Rocks's rise to fame on the racetrack in the following column.
Several years ago, I went up to Plainridge to co-anchor a television broadcast honouring the memory of the late, great Bert Beckwith. My longtime friend, Peter Blood, one of the most articulate and intelligent horsemen that I have ever met, was up there competing in the Legends Driving Tournament. Jim Doherty and Paul Battis, legends in their own right, were there, too, and Peter, who had pretty much retired from driving to concentrate on training, was making one of his very rare appearances in the bike.
Using his skills to perfection, he won ($9.80).
Blood has witnessed quite a transition in the sport since he first participated more than a half century ago. He started in an era when drivers had a stopwatch in their palm trying to outsmart the competition by getting to the three-eighths in 42 seconds to raw speed from the first step to the last without a breather. He has witnessed conventional sulkies reforming to hydro-dynamic vehicles that have made, literally, a 50 to 80 length difference in speed.
He’s witnessed it all and he has had to adapt to all of the changes that the now industry of Standardbred racing has endured.
“Some people handle it...and some don’t,” said the Blood, nearing his 78th birthday. “New generations come in and they obviously have more strength and endurance than folks like myself, so we all [have] to make decisions in life.
“Those who can’t handle change are either unsuccessful or out of the business. To me, I embrace change.”
Evidently, Blood has adapted well -- even against the youngsters -- as he posted a 0.417 UTRS last year with 88 starts and a lofty 0.819 so far in 2022 with six wins from eight starts.
Backing up a bit, we have kept in close touch over our many years and, one June morning in 2015, he tipped me off to a two-year-old he was qualifying and wanted me to see.
“He’s a pretty good looker,” he said, “and I believe he’s going to be right with the good ones!”
I remember he was smooth gaited and, after this qualifier where he was under wraps timed in 2:00.3 -- :29.4, Peter said, “Ya ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”
A couple of weeks later, the bay won a two-year-old qualifying race up at The Meadowlands in 1:54.2 -- :56.2 -- :27.2 and, a few days later began his racing career in stakes action by winning in 1:53.2 -- :27, lowering that to 1:52.2 a week later.
This was the beginning for Boston Red Rocks, now a brilliant son of the grand Rocknroll Hanover, later going on to win the $600,000 Breeders Crown before closing out his two-year-old season by winning the $413,000 Governor’s Cup in 1:50.3.
Confirming his early speed and earnings power, Boston Red Rocks earned $669,918 as a two-year-old and followed that with earnings of $445,097 and $350,992 the next two years while eventually proving his versatility by lowering his mark to 1:48.2f over a five-eighths-mile oval and wound up his racing career with $1,486,357 in earnings while winning on four different size ovals.
Speed, versatility and earning power are a trio of traits for which every horse owner prays...and Boston Red Rocks had all three and was race-timed under 1:50 on 21 occasions and was within a length of taking a mark of 1:46.4!
But, it’s a whole new “ball game” when the racehorse enters the breeding shed.
With his first foals becoming two-year-olds in 2022, the early reports reports are promising.
One such foal is Prairie Fenway, bred and owned by leading Florida breeder Laurie Poulin. Already with the “marking” of a “star,” the youngster is trained by Mike Deters, who describes him as “intelligent and great gaited -- hopefully, a recipe for success!”
Poulin, in echoing those sentiments, said, “He was a great, sound looking foal from the moment I first saw him and, as soon as he was able to stand, he was pacing alongside his mother...and in deep sand, so maybe that means he’ll be able to handle ‘off’ tracks well, too!”
Noted trainer Steve Elliott, who has trained the winners of more than $33 million, including Donato Hanover, Artistic Fella, Burning Point and Well Said, among others, also trained Boston Red Rocks and now owns several 2022 two-year-olds and describes them as “very smooth gaited” and training down exceptionally well and sound.
“They have all the tools that made his daddy such a great and competitive racehorse against the best on any racetrack,” he said. “And I wouldn’t be one bit surprised that BRR produces some champions -- not just now, but in many future years ahead.”
Accomplished veterinarian Michelle MacDougall worked with Boston Red Rocks during his racing days and described him as “a class act and sheer determination.” She added, “He caught my eye right away and that was just one reason that I bred my own mare to him two years ago. The result was a beautifully conformed filly...so impressive looking that I bred three more mares back to him and am anxiously awaiting their arrival.
“In watching his first crop in training, they have great builds, beautifully sized and very slick gaited. In fact, most were pacing free-legged by the second or third day after being hooked. I am very excited to see what the summer brings for the first crop of Boston Red Rocks.”
Some think an investment in Boston Red Rocks just might be comparable to buying Apple stock or Microsoft in its infancy. If some of these great looking Boston Red Rocks upcoming two-year-olds perform to their capabilities...well, they just might be on their way to a pennant winning season themselves, completing the full circle of Peter Blood’s grand career playing every instrument in the orchestra in our sport from trainer, driver, owner, breeder and, of course, judge...and it only took him a little more than a half century!
Peter says, “I don’t have to win a world series with them...a few Ted Williams home runs will do just fine...maybe one will be a ‘grand slam.’”
(With files from Pompano Park)