On Saturday evening (May 2), members of Prince Edward Island’s harness racing industry hosted another episode of ‘Virtual Tack Room,’ the seventh episode of a series created to bring some positivity to the world of harness racing during the dark days of racing.
Red Shores' Lee Drake & Peter MacPhee along with the show’s co-creators - Jerry McCabe and Kent Oakes - interviewed Steve Mahar, Jason Hughes and Dale Spence.
Veteran horseman Steve Mahar was the first to field questions, and he had a chance to reflect on a number of his career highlights including a 1981 triumph in the Gold Cup & Saucer with Henry Butler.
“I’ve watched it quite a few times over the years. It was always feels nice,” when asked to reflect on that victory. “Being in the Gold Cup is a thrill. When you go on the post parade and the lights come on it brings a tear to your eye.”
Mahar was also quick to praise a precocious youngster named Seltzer Blue when asked to recall some of the top performers he had a chance to be associated with.
“He was a very nice horse,” recalled Mahar. “I’d only raced him as a two-year-old, he raced 13 times and he won all 13 races. He was just phenomenal, he was just push button. You could have put a bag of oats on him and he could have won, I think. He was a nice horse to drive. You pushed the button and away he went. He could relax on the front end, and when somebody come he just wanted to take off. He was ways ahead of his time.”
On deck next was trainer/driver Jason Hughes, who was asked about how he and his family have handled things while dealing with the COVID-19 epidemic.
“We’re doing pretty good,” said Hughes. “My daily routine hasn’t changed a whole lot. My wife is working from home. She’s teaching my boys from home with online schoolwork. We’re surviving and everything’s going well.
“Currently we have 23 horses. We have 12 two-year-olds, we have six three-year-olds and the rest are racehorses,” he added.
Hughes enjoyed a number of highlights during the 2019 season, and one of his fondest recollections was setting a pair of track records – one at the Charlottetown Driving Park and shortly thereafter at Summerside Raceway with trotting mare Thunderaway.
“She wasn’t really that special, she was a big cranky mare,” quipped Hughes. “She could rough it. She’d get away slow, but she always keeps coming. Fortunately enough them two races we had quick fractions up front and she picked up the pieces at the end and everything worked out quite well.”
The final guest on the show was horseman Dale Spence, who recently returned from Florida where he and his fiancée spent the winter working for veteran horseman Ian Moore.
“It was just an amazing experience this winter,” claimed Spence. Ian and Nancy treated us nothing but first class. To get to learn from him on a day-to-day basis was just an honour to be honest with you. That training centre is a very special spot. There’s a lot of really good people there that treated us just phenomenal.”
The experience is one Spence won’t soon forget, and he admits it combined the best of both worlds – hard work and an opportunity to kick back and relax.
“We went to work around 5:30 every morning, we did our thing and we loved what we did," Spence added. "Come 12 or 1 o’clock you had everything all tidied up around the barn and the horses all put away then it was time to go golfing.”
When asked about some of his favourite two-year-olds that he had the chance to work with over the winter, he was quick to praise a pair of youngsters sired by a former Moore-trained star that is now standing stud in the Maritimes.
“Arthur Blue Chip is new to the Maritimes, and we were fortunate enough to have two of them in the barn,” added Spence. “We had a standout filly, he name is Lady Arthur. Gait, attitude – she’s the whole package as far as I’m concerned. Also, we had a colt Arthur Blue. He had the gait, the speed and the attitude. I really believe that Arthur Blue Chip is going to change things here in the Maritimes.”
The most recent episode is available for viewing below courtesy Universum Media.