Saturday night’s fifth race at The Meadowlands has one starter that may have onlookers rubbing their eyes in disbelief.
Yes, Always B Colour IR looks different. So different, in fact, you’ve likely never seen one behind a starting gate that looks like him.
You see, Always B Colour IR is a pinto, or skewbald, as they are known in Australia.
A pinto is “a horse or pony of various breeding that is marked with patches of white and another colour,” according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary website, but the definition doesn’t do justice to just how striking one of these horses are once one sees them up close.
“I grew up knowing these horses to be called skewbald,” said Shane Tritton, trainer of Always B Colour IR. “They’re very rare. Obviously, it’s the colouring. They have skewbalds racing in Australia and Europe, but they’ve always had a notorious history of not producing the best horses. People want these things and try to breed them because they love the colouring but not many of them have turned out to be high-quality racehorses.”
So, what is Always B Colour IR doing at The Meadowlands?
“In certain parts of Ireland, they predominantly only race the skewbalds,” said Tritton. “Every now and again, one ventures out of their little racing community to try and mix in with the other racehorses and some of them rise up and there’s been a couple who’ve done fairly well. But this horse, we believe, is on a whole new level, and that’s basically why he’s come to us, because they believe based on what they’ve seen of him in Ireland, he’s possibly the best one that’s ever been produced and that’s why he’s here. To give him a shot to prove that.”
A four-year-old son of Always B Miki-Mamma Said who has drawn post four on Saturday in his first start on American soil, Always B Colour IR showed speed before finishing third in what was a solid qualifier. According to Tritton, his mile time of 1:52 was the fastest-ever for the breed. His last charted line before that was a third-place finish racing in Ireland seven months ago.
“We went to the Vincent Delaney Memorial in Ireland last year,” said Tritton. “He raced that day and my wife Lauren fell in love with him straight away, as she does. He raced quite well and we approached the trainer and said he’s a beautiful horse, and mentioned that if he wanted a home for him, we’d love to have something to do with him if he progresses.
“I think it was three or four months later we got in contact with a couple of people, the breeders from over in Ireland that put the owner, Shane Curtin, in contact with us and he kind of reached out and said, Would you be interested in giving this guy a shot? I think he could be pretty special.' We were happy to give him a go. We’ve had a bit of luck with these Irish horses. We know that they can step up to the plate in this country. I do believe he is every bit as good as they think he is and, hopefully, with a bit of experience racing over here, he’s going to prove it.”
Shane is his stable’s trainer, but when it comes to Always B Colour IR, Lauren, who is the horse’s driver, was the person who got this all started.
“He’s a really lovely horse to have around the barn,” said Lauren. “I saw him in his stall at the Vincent Delaney Memorial and there was no one around. I walked past him and I said to Shane, ‘Find whoever owns or trains this horse, because we are taking him home.’”
Lauren, a two-time winner of the driver’s premiership back in her native Australia, is looking forward to the process with her new horse.
“He has a lot of learning to do,” said Lauren. “When I first sat behind him, I felt so much raw talent but he just didn’t know what to do with it. He needs help. He’s good gaited and has lovely manners. It’s not going to be hard to teach him. I’m really excited to be a part of this. This type of thing is something the industry needs right now.”
Due to the small purses he raced for in Europe, Always B Colour IR, who is in a non-winners of two on Saturday, fits the maiden four-year-old class, so Shane is hoping a win will come shortly.
“The mother looks the way he does,” said Shane. “She was good in their racing. He’s the most unique horse you’ll ever see. We were walking back from the qualifiers to warm up and there were 30 people that stopped him on the way to the track. He is certainly something people don’t see every day.”
Shane is optimistic about what lies ahead.
“I have a very high opinion of him,” said the trainer. “He’s held his own against some of the nicer horses we have at home. I know he’s still very green but my dream is that he’s going to be the first horse with colouring like this to break 1:50. That would be what dreams are made of.”
(With files from Meadowlands Racetrack)
rewind
Anybody remember a horse Erwin Stewart had back in the day who was uniquely coloured?
He wasn't exactly a pinto but was eyecatching - chestnut with a broad white stripe around his middle.
He was pretty good as a two year old, if I remember correctly.
A trotter...(something) T, was his name I think.