A win by Artful Impulse in Sunday’s $65,800 Kin Pace at Clinton Raceway would be particularly poignant for Dwight Stacey. Not only is the 81-year-old Mitchell man the local connection in the eight-horse race for Ontario-sired three-year-old pacing fillies, Artful Impulse is one of the last two horses Stacey has left after more than 30 years of horse ownership.
“This is going to be my last year. I’ve just got one other colt,” Stacey said. “I’ve been winding down. I sold the broodmares four or five years ago and have been winding down because I’m getting too old to go to the races.”
Stacey said winning the revival of the Kin Pace “sure would be great.”
Though he said he’s not thrilled that Artful Impulse drew post six, he is blessed to have two Hall of Famers handling his filly. Steve Condren, who was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2011, will drive Artful Impulse. The pacer is trained by Bob McIntosh, who was inducted into the U.S. Harness Racing Hall of Fame in 2002 and the Canadian hall in 2010.
McIntosh, of LaSalle, Ont., bred Artful Impulse with two other partners. Stacey and James Walker of Port Perry, Ont. bought shares of the filly in the spring of 2013, when Artful Impulse was two.
“She had trained down and she looked very good. Then she had some health issues last summer, like allergies, and then, all of a sudden, she grew a foot in a month and you know what happens to two-year-olds when that happens, they just get gangly,” Stacey said. “Now she’s settled down and she’s doing well.”
Artful Impulse had one win in 11 starts in 2013 and earned $20,000. This year, she sports a record of two wins, a second and three thirds in nine starts, earnings of $43,000 and a mark of 1:52.2 taken at Mohawk Racetrack in Campbellville, Ont.
In her Kin Pace elimination on June 29, Artful Impulse was a distant second to Born To Dream, but Stacey said his filly was just recovering from a bout of sickness a week ago. He expects her to be in good shape for the final, which is one of the richest races on the Clinton Raceway calendar.
Artful Impulse is the 9-2 fourth choice in the morning line, behind Skippin By (3-1, post 5, Jody Jamieson), Shadows Wonder (5-2, post two, Trevor Henry) and Her Own Land (2-1, post 1, James MacDonald), a filly that set a 1:55 track record at Clinton last week while winning her Kin Pace elimination.
The Kin Pace will be Race 10 of a 12-race Clinton Raceway card that kicks off with a 1:30 p.m. post time and ends with a barbeque chicken dinner. The race, which was first held in 2008, went on hiatus last year. It is named in tribute to the Clinton Kinsmen that started pari-mutuel wagering at the track in 1970.
Dwight Stacey traces his time owning horses back almost that far. He said for the better part of 30 years he’s had horses with McIntosh.
As for being the local hopeful, Stacey joked, “It puts a lot of pressure on you. You want your horse to do well on the local scene. I’ll be pretty excited on Sunday.”
(Clinton Raceway)
To view entries for Sunday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Sunday entries – Clinton Raceway.