It's common to see horses competing in North American harness racing from overseas. One country that many wouldn't consider a strong exporter of Standardbreds is Great Britain, and perhaps one speedy 'son of a gun' will change that.
One of the best horses in the U.K. over the past few seasons has been Evenwood Sonofagun. Named the Horse of the Year in 2017 and 2018 by the British Harness Racing Club, eight-year-old Evenwood Sonofagun made his North American pari-mutuel debut at Woodbine Mohawk Park on November 23, 2019. He finished a solid fifth -- beaten by just over a length -- in a conditioned race for his UK-based connections of trainer Alexis and driver William 'Rocker' Laidler. A week later and with a touch more acclimation under him, he paced to victory in a wire-to-wire performance and tripped the timer in 1:51.2.
The rise up the ranks at Mohawk has been steady and strong for Evenwood Sonofagun. Three months after that initial win and now in the stable of Colin Johnson, the son of The Firepan - Im The Last has picked up six more wins and most recently conquered Preferred foes on February 29.
The owner of Evenwood Sonofagun, Raymond Hushcka of Penrith Cumbria, Great Britain is thoroughly enjoying the Canadian ride with ‘Gunner.’
“My brother Frank and I have always been partners when it comes to horses and business,” Huscka told Trot Insider. “We work well together and have a great love of harness racing. As a matter of fact we have been involved in harness racing for 50 years and in the past five or six years, we have been the leading owners in the U.K. with our horses under the care of the Laidler Stable.”
While Evenwood Sonofagun is the only horse Hushcka currently has racing in Canada, the longtime owner still has prospects to follow back home with the potential idea of maybe someday having more horses compete in North America.
“Right now we have nine horses in training in the UK along with having ‘Gunner’ in Canada. We also have two broodmares, but breeding isn’t really our thing -- it’s much easier to buy something that catches your eye at the sales. We sent ‘Gunner’ to Canada as a trial run, I think Rocker and Alexis are planning to return to Canada in October with a couple of our other horses from the U.K.”
Evenwood Sonofagun is rightfully held on a pedestal by his connection; the bay gelding has won every major handicap in the U.K. and easily crushed race records that hadn’t been touched in years. He also set a new world record for pacing under saddle in 2017 in 1:58.
“Alexis and Rocker always talk about how intelligent he is, he knows you mean business when you ask him to leave but he is also so well-mannered that you can easily race him from off the pace. He loves to race first up as that is the typical style in England, and the driving style is different as there are no favours given out on the track -- so he is used to being parked first up and still has the will to win. Everything we have ever asked of ‘Gunner’ he has always given his all, win or lose. He raced great on the hard track and he’s raced great on the turf track, no matter the distance, no matter the weather, he has always found a way to win. He is just a horse that loves his job.”
That love for his job and that accomplished resume earned Evenwood Sonofagun a flight to Canada.
“We think a lot of him and although he is now eight years old, he still has lots of race left in him. He accomplished everything in the U.K., so why not try to live out the dream of having a horse that might be good enough to compete in Canada?” said Hushcka. “We always knew he would try his best but we never expected him to do so well and when he won the Preferred on February 29 was just amazing -- what a ride has taken us on.”
While Evenwood Sonofagun now races from the Colin Johnson stable, Hushcka praises Alexis and Rocker Laidler for the amount of time the duo spent ensuring ‘Gunner’ was happy, healthy and fit to race in Canada.
“The Laidlers both adore ‘Gunner’ and were very keen to keep him on a schedule that he was used to. But, at the same time they had to make sure his program still worked for him while racing in another country. They absolutely loved the experience and while they hoped to have more races with him, he unfortunately lost a lot of weight and conditioning during his transit from the UK to Canada. So, it took them a lot longer than they originally planned to get him back where they were happy and comfortable to race him. Because he is eight years old, Alexis and Rocker want to make sure that he isn’t over-raced.”
Evenwood Sonofagun is one of the seven pacers entered tonight (June 6) in the $36,000 Preferred Pace at Woodbine Mohawk Park. He has drawn post six and will be driven by Bob McClure for trainer Johnson, who Hushcka praised for the job he's done with the family’s prized possession.
“Colin is good friends with Alexis and Rocker. They both love how he and Debbie take care of their horses, so that made it easy for us to leave him with Colin. We wanted him to go somewhere where we would still know everything that is going on with him and know that he is receiving five-star treatment -- and he is, they give him everything he needs and have made our experience of racing in Canada very enjoyable.”
With Gunner’s health and happiness always coming first to Hushcka, the pacer will never have to worry about not being taken care of as that flight he earned to Canada most definitely wasn’t a one-way ticket.
“We are over the moon with how everything has gone with him in Canada and we plan on continuing to race him until he becomes uncompetitive -- and when that day comes he will fly home and be a riding horse for Alexis and enjoy the rest of his days.”