“I wish we had a farm, but it is probably a good thing that we don’t, or I would probably have a lot more.”
Nancy Campbell laughs at her own words and at the very thought of having dozens of standardbreds of her own.
That said, she would love nothing more for that dream to become a reality. But she knows it’s just not plausible.
For Nancy, the wife of veteran trainer Cal Campbell, who has seen many horses come and go in her life, there is one in particular who holds a truly special place in her heart.
Newton Angus, a regular on the Woodbine Entertainment Group circuit in the claiming ranks between 2005 to 2010, has been in the Campbell’s stable a total of three times.
Nancy and Cal first had ‘Newton’ for one start in December 2005, then three starts in March 2007, before claiming him back on October 12 of the same year. The Campbells have had the pacer ever since.
“We’ve had him long enough where he is part of the family,” said Cal, who calls Newton Angus their 'barn mascot.'
“He is just a fun horse to have around,” added Nancy, who owns the hard-knocking pacer that crafted 30 victories while banking $458,896 in lifetime earnings. “When a horse likes his work and tries that hard, it’s hard to just sell them to someone else. I fear they may not have the same attachment.”
Now at age 12, the son of Lantern Light will trade a sulky for a saddle, and much to Nancy’s delight, he will remain under her care.
“I just get very attached and I keep telling myself that I should learn to get past that, but I’m 55, I don’t think that is going to happen,” quips the Milton resident, who plans to break the gentle gelding to ride. “I am lucky I have a husband who is okay with it.
“He tells me we can’t keep them all,” Nancy continues. “But, we have kept a few more over the years.”
Newton Angus, whose dam, Brets View, is a candidate on the 2012 Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame ballot in the Veterans category, will join retired Free For All pacer Alexandras Hat, who Nancy rides on a regular basis.
There are others.
“We kept a horse called Coolidge once upon a time that won a lot of races for us and then there was ‘Chippy,’ Nancy recalled. “That was the horse (Runaway Chip) that I bred and raised and he kind of came into the marriage when I married Cal. We kept him for 28 years.”
Newton Angus has undoubtedly left his hoof prints on their 22-year marriage.
“Cal and I just always liked watching him race and taking him to the races,” Nancy offered. “It is something we would do together as husband and wife. It is something that we shared. We would always joke that going to race together was like date night.”
And on many of those nights, Cal recalls how thrilling it was for them to watch ‘Newton’ race.
“It took him a half a mile to get into gear,” he laughs. “But when he did, he kicked in. He always gave it his all in the last quarter. He always raced tough.”
Cal admitted he also gets attached to his trainees, but not to the extent that Nancy does.
She just can’t help it.
“There are just those ones,” Nancy says. “They find a way into your heart.”
Just like Newton Angus did, several times over.
(WEG)