Any trainer would feel blessed to have a two-year-old colt pacer as precocious and talented as Major Trick.
Brad Gray’s homebred colt by Art Major began his career with a second and a win in New York Sire Stakes legs at Saratoga and Buffalo raceways.
But Major Trick’s Ontario-based, 34-year-old trainer David Menary is doubly blessed. He not only trains an even-more accomplished two-year-old, Hes Watching, but he also co-owns him. Menary and Michael Guerriero spent all of $3,000 to purchase the son of American Ideal at the 2012 Harrisburg Yearling Sale. They subsequently sold a half-interest to Gray.
Gray will be thanking Menary for a long time because Hes Watching has been absolutely sensational since the first day he stepped on the track.
“It’s scary how fast this horse is,” Menary said.
He showed it in his first start, a qualifier at Mohawk Racetrack June 1. Hes Watching not only won by two and a quarter lengths in 1:56.4, he paced his final quarter in :26.1 to complete a final half in just over :55.1 with Chris Christoforou driving.
Horses just don’t do that in their first race, let alone two-year-olds.
“Chris said he’d never seen a horse go faster than that last quarter in his first time behind the gate,” Menary said.
Gray bought half-interest in Hes Watching the day before the qualifier, then watched him in that qualifier.
“I was pretty happy,” he laughed.
Hes Watching won a second qualifier by a length and a quarter in 1:57.4, going his last half in :55.4 and his final quarter in :27.
Those two qualifiers explained why Hes Watching was bet down to 2-5 in his first pari-mutuel start in a $46,631 division of the New York Sire Stakes at Saratoga with Jim Morrill Jr. driving.
Watching the race on TV, you could almost hear the collective groan of the crowd when Hes Watching broke midway around the first turn.
“My heart just dropped,” Menary said. “He never made a break in his life.”
Horses rarely make a break and still win a race. It’s absurd to expect a first-time two-year-old to do that, yet that’s exactly what Hes Watching did. Morrill quickly got Hes Watching back on gait and he began to close the distance between him and the rest of the field.
He was 14-1/4 lengths behind after the first quarter. At the half, he was 11-1/4 lengths off the leader.
Then, on the backstretch, Hes Watching hit another gear, closing within three and three-quarters lengths of the lead at the three-quarters.
“He’s flying,” Saratoga announcer Mike Sardella called.
And Hes Watching wasn’t done. He got up to win by three-quarters of a length in 1:55, thanks to a final quarter in :27.4 to complete a final half in :56.2.
“It’s as impressive as we’ve ever seen,” Sardella announced.
Horses just don’t do that.
So Hes Watching goes off at 1-5 in his next start, a $37,862 division of the New York Sire Stakes at Buffalo Raceway. Again, he takes a couple of bad steps early and breaks, again leaving him last in the field of seven. But again, Morrill quickly gets him back pacing.
What happened next was simply amazing. Morrill took Hes Watching to the outside, and in a furious brush on the outside, racing three-wide at one point, Hes Watching swept the field and was two lengths in front by the time the horses hit the half. He had paced his second quarter in :28.2 on the outside.
“The bike was going sideways because he was moving so fast,” Menary said.
Hes Watching kept going, breaking Heston Blue Chip’s track-record for two-year-olds, winning by a length and a half in 1:55.4. After that :28.2 second quarter, Hes Watching had paced his final half in :56.4.
Of course, Hes Watching can’t continue to make breaks and keep winning.
“He’s a guy with a big engine,” Menary said. “He wants to go from second gear to fifth gear too fast. He’s got to learn to not show off so much.”
For a trainer, that is what is called a “good” problem: a horse using too much of his natural ability.
Unfortunately for other owners of two-year-old Sire Stakes pacing colts and geldings, Hes Watching isn’t staked to many major races, which means he’ll focus on the Sire Stakes and qualifying for the $225,000 final on the Night of Champions at Yonkers Raceway, Sept. 28.
Though he’s based at the Stephenson Training Center near Mohawk Racetracl and has raced primarily in Canada, Menary has already enjoyed great success in the New York Sire Stakes program with Gray’s Tea Party Princess, the 2011 New York Sire Stakes Champion Three-Year-Old Filly Pacer. Menary took over the filly’s training in August of her two-year-old year.
“She had problems as a two-year-old,” Gray said. “She was dangerous. People didn’t want to drive her. He got her straightened out as a three-year-old.”
Tea Party Princess literally took Menary to places he’d never been before.
“I had a lot of fun with her,” Menary said. “I got to see a lot of tracks for the first time: Saratoga, Yonkers and Batavia. She gave me the tour. New York is real fun, just seeing the tracks. Saratoga is just a beautiful spot. Yonkers is really where the money is. You have to go where the money is. I liked Batavia, too.”
When he went to the 2012 Harrisburg Yearling Sale, he was looking for horses that could be successful in New York.
“I look at an obscene number of yearlings,” Menary said. “I like American Ideals and Art Majors. There are a lot of good sires in New York.”
He liked the American Ideal colt he saw at Harrisburg. However, Hes Watching, who is out of Baberhood by Real Desire and was bred by Brittany Farms and Robert and Karin Olsson Burgess, had two strikes against him: “He acted the part, but he was a little small,” Menary said. “And he was born in mid-June.”
That didn’t stop Menary from buying him.
“I liked the family,” he said.
He didn’t contact many of his owners about the colt. “My owners give me free reign,” Menary said. “They don’t want to hear about $3,000 yearlings.”
He also was conservative in staking Hes Watching.
“It’s hard to dream with a $3,000 yearling,” he said.
Menary staked Major Trick, a son of Art Major out of Tricky by Northern Luck, to a few major races, and he covered all the reasons.
“He’s a homebred,” Menary said. “His dam was a tough raceway mare. He acted like a good horse.”
Yet during the winter before their two-year-old campaigns, Hes Watching showed as much promise as Major Trick.
“I thought the speed was there all winter for Hes Watching,” Menary said. “The week before his qualifier, I let him shake loose a little bit in a training mile. He came home in :28 with a wicked last eighth. He opened a lot of eyes.”
He still is.
“There’s nothing that can go to the gas pedal that way,” Gray said. “He can really fly.”
Yet Major Trick isn’t far behind. After finishing second at Saratoga, he won his Sire Stakes division at Buffalo Raceway in 1:57.3 at 2-5.
“Major Trick is really good, but Hes Watching is tough for any horse to go against,” Menary said. “You always want a good horse. You just hope it’s not your last good horse.”
Having two good horses simultaneously is certainly a bonus, and they are likely to keep Menary and his partners smiling for a long time.
(Harness Horse Breeders of New York State)