Prior to this campaign with Dial Or Nodial, the last time trainer Jim Campbell raced a five-year-old for owner Fashion Farms was 11 seasons ago --- and it worked out pretty well
. The horse was the pacing mare Galleria. She won the 2000 Classic Distaff and finished second in the Breeders Crown (missing by a nose to Rons Girl) and Roses Are Red on her way to $482,949.
Campbell, no doubt, would like to see history repeat itself.
Dial Or Nodial is coming off a fifth-place finish in the $246,000 Graduate at the Meadowlands Racetrack, where he was beaten by only one and three-quarter lengths. Last season, Dial Or Nodial was seventh in the Graduate before racing mainly in open handicaps. He won four of 21 starts and earned $176,415, but among the victories was a triumph in the Allerage Stakes at the Red Mile in October. The win helped pave the way for the gelding’s return this season.
“That was kind of a key thing,” Campbell said. “The way he finished up kind of encouraged us to want to race him again as a five-year-old. It’s a tough jump for them from a three-year-old to race against those (older) horses, especially last year because there were some really top horses in there. We took him out of there because he wasn’t competitive with some of them. Then he showed at the end of the year he was kind of coming back on again. He showed he could go with them. It was a really good feeling.”
Dial Or Nodial was a two-time New Jersey Sire Stakes champion and won 11 of 17 starts before a fifth-place finish in the North America Cup as a three-year-old. He was then found to have a foot injury, which derailed the remainder of his sophomore season.
Arlene and Jules Siegel’s Fashion Farms bred Dial Or Nodial, a son of Western Ideal--Smart Dialing. Arlene passed away in December at the age of 79 after a battle with cancer.
Dial Or Nodial has won 15 of 47 career races and earned $1,012,257. This year, he has two second-place finishes in four starts.
“He’s a little bit of a special horse to everybody involved,” Campbell said. “Mr. Siegel raised the horse. He was a good two-year-old and one of the top three-year-olds until he got hurt. Then he came back last year and showed that he’s a class horse. He’s one of those horses that is just a real nice horse to be around. You can’t help but love him.
“As long as he stays competitive with them, he’s staked to all the major races. The way he acts right now, he should be good, but like we’ve said, it’s a very tough group. They’ve got a lot of tough races ahead of them and you’ve got to be strong to survive it all. He’s really filled out a lot. He’s bigger in his chest and hind end. There’s a huge difference from (age) four to five. We know he’s got the speed; hopefully he can carry it further this year.”
This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit ustrotting.com.