Scott Mogan knows that as Ohio’s best freshman pacer last year, Feelin Lika Winner, will have a bulls-eye on him when he races this season, so the veteran trainer is planning the pacer’s campaign carefully.
Trainer Mogan has given his champion a lot of foundation miles over the winter and is aiming him at the first leg of the Ohio Sires Stake at Lebanon Raceway on May 4.
“I was hoping to start him in the Hackett Memorial at Lebanon in late April,” says Mogan. “We had some bad weather this winter and I lost some time with him, so I’m not going to race him until the Ohio Sires Stakes. I was thinking of taking him to Hoosier Park for a qualifier, but then I thought I’d better give him a qualifier over the Lebanon track before the race there just to make sure he gets over that track okay.”
So Feelin Lika Winner will go in the Lebanon qualifier this coming week and then get a repeat qualifier over his home track at Scioto Downs.
“I hope to get a pretty good mile under his belt at Scioto,” says Mogan.
The champion pacer is owned by Mogan in partnership with Charles Guilder, AWS Stables, and Diamond Chip Stable.
In 2012, the gelded son of Feelin Friskie won three times in eight starts, combined with four seconds and a third. His seasonal earnings came to $96,785 and he notched a mark of 1:54.1f.
He saved his best effort for his biggest race and that was the $100,000 Ohio Sires Stakes final at Scioto on September 8. In that event, he started from post position five in a field of eight and went off at odds of 7-2. The heavy 3-5 favourite That Friske Feelin was next to him in post position six.
When the race started, driver Kyle Ater shot the favourite to the front and set a brisk tempo while Kayne Kauffman let Feelin Lika Winner ease along in sixth place for the first half-mile. Then the gelding took aim at the leader, and pulled alongside That Friske Feelin as they entered the homestretch.
The homestretch duel never developed as Feelin Lika Winner lived up to his name. He pulled away to win by 6-1/2 lengths over longshot Dusto.
Driver Kayne Kauffman was the only person to sit behind Feelin Lika Winner last year and Mogan says that he’s hoping that Kauffman will stick with the champion colt again this season. Mogan gives Kauffman credit for working out a perfect trip in the Ohio Sires Stakes final.
“It was great for us to have those other colts battling on the front end,” he says. “It doesn’t always work that your horse will get a good trip in a big race, but Feelin Lika Winner did that night. He can race either on the front end or from behind, but I think he’s better coming off the pace and chasing down other horses. Kayne and I talked it over before the Super Night race and we thought there would be a lot of early speed. That’s how it worked out, and my horse just exploded off cover.”
Last year Feelin Lika Winner won a leg of Ohio Sires Stakes competition at Northfield in 1:55.4, proving his ability to get around four turns in a mile race.
“He gaited up real good last year and showed that he had speed, but we had a little trouble getting him rigged so that he could be steered,” admits Mogan. “He would lay into the turns pretty good and that worried me a bit before the Northfield race, but by then he had learned to get around turns handily.
Mogan is confident that the tight turns at Lebanon won’t pose any problem for Feelin Lika Winner in the opening leg of the Ohio Sires Stakes.
Mogan says that his prize pacer has matured and grown over the winter and recently trained a mile in 2:00.
“He’s an easy and willing horse to train,” he says. “Actually, he’s easier to train than he is to jog because he sometimes gets to feeling a little too good when he’s out jogging and can be a handful at times. He’s got a lot of leg under him and has muscled up nicely.”
(Ohio State Racing Commission)