Condren's Still Got It

For most horsemen, a 2:07.2 mile away from the racetrack might seem insignificant, but for Hall of Fame driver Steve Condren, it was a deeply personal moment, one that showed he hadn't lost a beat

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It was a picture-perfect April morning in Lake Worth, Florida, a city of roughly 37,000 people, nestled in Palm Beach County. At 8:30 in the morning, the sun was out in a cloudless sky and the mercury had climbed to 25 degrees Celsius.

Condren, 54, respected for his competitive nature and classy demeanour, hadn't contested a race since May of 2011, when he was forced to leave the sport he loves to focus his energies on battling the colon cancer he was diagnosed with one month prior.

And there he was on that April day, at the South Florida Training Center, where long-time friend and trainer Larry Rathbone is stabled.

“It was one of those mornings you are lucky to be alive and survive this stuff,” said Condren, who has 6,625 lifetime wins.

“We were getting Lady Andi ready for her racing season and Steve came to train her April 11th,” said Rathbone, who hopes Condren will be available to drive his three-year-old trotting filly in the Casual Breeze Stakes on June 1 at Mohawk. “I told him to go around 2:07.”

The conditioner was emotional when he saw his friend of 25 years back on the training track.

“The hair stood up on my arms,” noted Rathbone. “Just the look on his face and the way he sat in the bike, I knew he was happy. It was great. There were a lot of people there that did know Steve. It was great to see him and he looks as good as ever to me.”

When Condren came off the track, he had a big smile on his face.

“I hadn’t carried a stopwatch in over a year and I went the mile in seven and two (2:07.2), so I was actually quite excited and quite happy after that,” recalled the O’Brien Award winning driver. “I only missed by two-fifths of a second.

“It felt good,” he continued. “I hadn’t rated a mile or trained horses in over a year and to go out there and only miss by two-fifths of a second...that was pretty good.”

It took Condren five demanding weeks with a personal trainer to get to the point where he physically could drive again, but those couple of minutes proved to him that he hadn’t lost his touch.

“He showed me the stopwatch and his exact words were ‘I still got it,’” Rathbone said.

A week later, he returned and trained Lady Andi in 2:05, exactly what was asked.

“It’s just nice to even get back,” said Condren, who has had a distinguished driving career that spans 35 years, including over $109 million in career purse earnings. “There was a time where I didn’t think I could do that again.”

As for his impressive racing resume, including a victory in the $1 million North America Cup with Goalie Jeff in 1989 and being inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2011, nothing compares with a certain triumph.

His greatest accomplishment?

Condren pondered the question, drew a breath, then answered, “I think winning the battle with cancer."

A battle he fought with determination and dignity.

“He showed a great amount of intestinal fortitude,” said Hall of Fame trainer Bob McIntosh, who has been friends with Condren for about 30 years. “I just don’t think I would have had the strength that he had to go through all the treatments. I have a lot of respect for the way he handled it.

“When he got the news he got a clean bill of health, it was like he had a new lease on life and he couldn’t wait to get back driving.”

The conditioner was not surprised to hear Condren’s first time back in the sulky panned out.

“He was telling me he was quite proud of that,” said McIntosh. “It is quite an accomplishment to be that spot on after that much time off. But, he is such a veteran that it didn’t shock me. He’s always been great at rating a horse.”

Condren felt so comfortable holding the reins, in fact, the desire to drive again came quickly. He thought, “What the hell? I got nothing else to do. I’ll give it a go again.”

He returned to his Milton home after receiving a call from McIntosh wondering if he wanted to qualify a pair of his three-year-old trotting fillies.

The reinsman’s next test was on April 23 at Mohawk’s morning qualifiers.

The setting was different and so, too, were the terms. He was in his driving colours, not his training suit. He got around the track in 2:00.4, not 2:07.2.

But the gray-haired man in green and gold had a similar feeling to that time in Lake Worth.

“It felt great,” said Condren, who qualified Barbie And Ken. “Once I put the helmet on, it was just like going to work. It was nice to see a starting gate for the first time in quite a long time. Everything went good; timed the gate good, got away good and won the qualifier. It was kind of nice.”

Condren then made his first start under the big lights at Woodbine three days later.

“When I walked into the drivers’ room I received a lot of hugs and handshakes,” he said. “A lot of people were glad to see me and were on my side for surviving. I’ve been around a long time and it was nice to feel that feeling again.”

But his first race wasn’t as nice.

“He was a little bit rambunctious,” said Condren, of three-year-old trotting gelding Silence Son. “The stirrups were short on me. My knees were bouncing off my chin. It really wasn’t the best thing in the world. He ended up making a break down the lane. He was a hard horse to drive, but I got him around and felt fine afterwards."

McIntosh, like many, is thrilled to see Condren back doing what he loves. He knows it won’t be long until Condren starts raking in the wins.

“His record speaks for itself,” said McIntosh. “His consistency is unbelievable. I don’t think he’s lost a beat. You expect it would take a dozen or so drives to get right back in the groove, but he’ll be back and he’ll be a force to be reckoned with. He still has some years left in him, some good years left in him, on the racetrack.”

It was quite fitting that Condren’s first victory happened with McIntosh’s student Barbie And Ken on May 10 at Woodbine. It’s the same trotting filly that Condren won his first qualifier with when he returned to the WEG scene.

With the Woodbine meet having wrapped up Monday, Condren is looking forward to capturing more wins when live harness racing shifts to the Campbellvilletrack.

“Mohawk is kind of like home for me,” he said, of the racetrack that will celebrate opening night on Thursday, May 17. “It’s like being close to home for the summer. Surviving what I have survived, it is going to be a nice thing for me."

Simply being back in the game, Condren will tell you, is what truly matters.

“The main thing is to stay healthy and stay strong,” he said. “My biggest challenge is over. Everything now is just gravy.”

(WEG)