When people in harness racing think of Ken Middleton, he's usually part of the soundtrack of the sport with his racecalling prowess or handicapping insight. But when he's not active as of the broadcast team at Woodbine Mohawk Park, he's still thoroughly involved and hands-on with horses.
Middleton was recently interviewed by Woodbine Entertainment during the downtime of the industry amid the COVID-19 pandemic and discussed how he's keeping busy with a promising pair of homebreds that he has stabled at the farm of Richard Moreau.
"At this farm, I've got two two-year-olds...homebreds that are out of the first two yearlings I bought. So it's kind of a fun experience."
Middleton's two-year-olds are Fonzie Chacharelli (Betterthancheddar - Little Miss Sporty) and a filly that Middleton admits lives up to her name at times, Shes A Sassy Beach (Sunshine Beach - Lady Marina). The broodmares to those rookies are back now in foal at his farm.
"I purchased a hobby farm in Cambridge just before Halloween last fall. I've got two broodmares there in foal. I've got one other mare that's going to be a broodmare. And I've got two yearlings, the siblings to the two two-year-olds that I have here at Richard's farm."
As a participant that's not only active with the horses in the morning but also at night for the majority of evenings at Mohawk, Middleton misses the people he can't interact with as a result of this new normal of physical distancing and no live racing.
"The thing I miss most about racing, the camaraderie of everybody coming in and talking to you or talking to, you know, friends up in the press box. Bobby and Lori and Julie and the judges and Donnie, the photo finish guy and the people in the paddock too. I feel for everybody. It's hard because you know your life is changed so much now, it's hard to fill the hours some days."
Middleton is looking forward to returning to the announcer's booth and calling Canada's premier harness race, the 2020 Pepsi North America Cup. He also feels for the industry's horsepeople, especially those pointing their prized pupils for these preeminent stakes events.
"There's some uncertainty still, obviously, with regards to when [the North America Cup] is going to be held...that's a real tough category because I feel bad for those trainers because it's down to a science. They want to have the horse peak and ready for that exact date and now everything has just been totally blown up and changed, so I feel bad for those people."