When Dovescry, the 2019 Dan Patch Award winner for Three-Year-Old Filly Trotter of the Year, will return to the races in 2020. There are still two question marks, however: when will that be -- a question that applies to all horses -- and who will be the trainer.
Co-owner Bruce Soulsby told Harness Racing Weekend Preview that her race schedule wasn’t expected to begin until July. Although When Dovescry may not be immediately impacted by the shutdown of racing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, one thing that is certain to change in 2020 is her trainer.
The barn change will come as a result of last months’ indictment of trainer Rene Allard as part of the doping scandal that led to a total of 29 indictments of members of both the Standardbred and Thoroughbred industries.
“We have to decide who is going to train her,” said Soulsby. “We’re trying to get that figured out and that’s a headache in itself.”
When Dovescry wins the 2019 Hambletonian Oaks at The Meadowlands. (Lisa Photo)
In addition to a trainer change, the Meadowlands issued a statement that advised, “any horse that was being trained by a trainer named in the recent Federal indictments at the time those indictments were handed down will not be accepted to race at the Meadowlands, Tioga or Vernon Downs in overnights or stakes for 60 days from the date that the tracks reopen for live racing.”
When Dovescry has been nominated to the John Steele Memorial Trot for mares, which is scheduled for Hambletonian Day (still slated for August 8) at the Meadowlands.
Soulsby shares ownership of When Dovescry, as part of the Go Faster Stable, with Yves Sarrazin, Kapildeo Singh and Lawrence Dumain. In addition to Soulsby, U.S. Trotting Association records show that Go Faster Stable is also comprised of John Lengacher of Indiana and Allard Racing Inc., which is Allard’s mother, Danielle Henri.
Soulsby said When Dovescry is currently at a farm in North Carolina.
“Her first stakes race was actually in mid-July so there is no real hurry there,” said Soulsby. “The four-year-old year is always a tough year coming back, but she looks outstanding.
“I’m probably looking at seven or eight races; I don’t think we’ll over-race her. But we don’t even know what the landscape of racing is going to look like, and that’s really sad.”
When Dovescry has started 20 times over her two-year career, never missing the board for a 10-6-4 ledger. When Dovescry comes into 2020 with lifetime earnings of $935,090, with her mark of 1:50.1 coming in a Bluegrass division last September at The Red Mile. The effort bested her previous mark by one-fifth of a second taken while capturing the $500,000 Hambletonian Oaks at the Meadowlands.
“We never really raced her a lot or raced her hard at two and three anyways,” said Soulsby of the daughter of Muscle Hill - Cedar Dove. “It’s not like she’s a freak of nature. Her breeding is unbelievable. She’s bred to be a world champion. We paid $210,000 for her so it wasn’t like she is a fluke.”
(Harness Racing Weekend Preview)