Terry Brewer has worked on The Meadows backside for 43 years as a caretaker, assistant trainer and second trainer. But despite his obvious commitment to, and love of, the sport, he’s never owned so much as a small percentage of a horse. Until now.
That milestone purchase for Brewer, the three-year-old filly trotter Night Flyer K, will race Thursday (July 22) at The Meadows in a $9,800 conditioned event that goes as Race 13. Mike Wilder will drive for trainer Norm Parker.
Brewer launched his career in 1978 in the stable of the late trainer Herman Hylkema. Brewer later served as assistant trainer for the late Buck Waugh and has been with Parker for 19 years, currently as second trainer.
He’s well known on The Meadows backside for his thorough, affectionate treatment of horses — and he’s handled some good ones. He chauffeured the great pacing mare Artbitration ($727,129, 1:52S) all across the continent, often treating her with the duo’s favorite snacks — Mountain Dew and cinnamon doughnuts. So it was only natural that owner Tom Klosky, Jr. named her first foal Dew N Doughnuts ($453,124, 1:51.1F) to memorialize Brewer’s contribution to the family.
But somehow, ownership always seemed out of reach.
“I was never really financially stable enough to even think about doing it,” Brewer says. “I’m finally at that age where I am.”
And though Brewer doesn’t say it, Artbitration’s death in 2020 and the retirement of Dew N Doughnuts may have left a hole in his heart that he needed to fill.
Enter Night Flyer K, a daughter of Winning Mister-Soaring Flight that Parker trained as a freshman for Bob Key. With Key’s death and subsequent partial dispersal of his racing stock, Parker wanted to purchase the filly and keep her in his stable. He put together a team that includes George Romanoff and Norm Parker Stable. Then Brewer stepped up.
“When Norm mentioned the price, I said, ‘I’m in.’” Brewer said. “I’m glad I was able to do it with this horse because she’s special. She has an amazing attitude, does everything to try to please you. She has such personality, and she’s physically beautiful. I’m glad she’s my first one.”
Brewer enjoys his ownership role so much that he bought into a second horse, a two-year-old Pet Rock filly pacer named Rock Garden.
Although Night Flyer K hasn’t made a fortune for her owners, she’s done okay by them, with more than $26,000 on her card so far this year and a mark of 1:56.3. Perhaps more important for Brewer than the dollars and cents, she’s helped restore some of his passion for the sport to which he’s devoted his career.
“When I was traveling and racing with Artbitration and she’d come off the track, I’d be in tears — sometimes tears of joy, sometimes tears of sadness,” he says. “I seemed to lose a little bit of that. I’ve got that sense back.”
(The Meadows)