"We missed the Hempt to keep him fresh. I’d been kind of second guessing myself about that."
Ohio-based trainer Danny Collins hopes his meticulous management of Twilight Bonfire and continued good fortune result in another big payday in the $635,750 Meadowlands Pace on Saturday, July 13.
“I moved to Ohio at a very early age and frequented Scioto Downs. That’s where I’m based now. My father was a coal miner and came looking for other work. I got started with my uncle Billy T. Hobbs, who had a nice horse named Lumbering Mel," noted Collins, 56, from Williamson, West Virginia. "I worked for the Nordins for the last five years they were here in the States, and I’ve won races at the Meadowlands. The Nordins left me a horse called Valley Boss Bi, who won a heat of the Hambletonian for me in 1992.”
Collins is still buzzing about his colt’s second-place finish to Captaintreacherous in the $1,000,000 North America at Mohawk on June 15 at 96-1 with fellow Buckeye Dave Miller in the sulky.
That $250,000 cheque made the son of 1999 Pace champion The Panderosa one of three colts who received a bye into this year’s Pace Final based on 2013 money earnings.
Twilight Bonfire, owned and bred by Robert Key of Leechburg, PA, has four wins, four seconds and three thirds in 18 career starts, and sports a $566,544 bankroll.
“I’ve had horses for the last two or three years with Bob Key,” said Collins. “I got this colt as a yearling and broke him. We started late with him, raced him in the Stallion Series and Pennsylvania Sires Stakes. He just kept on progressing and showing more as time went on.”
Twilight Bonfire took a major step forward in late September of 2012, which catapulted him into the deeper waters of the Grand Circuit.
“John Campbell won with him at Delaware, Ohio in the Standardbred and decided to try him on the front end,” Collins recalled. “The colt raced greenly, but very well winning in 1:55 there. After that we decided to take a shot and see if he belonged with the top ones. At The Red Mile, he won a division of the Bluegrass in 1:52.1 and finished second [1:51.3] the following week. He exceeded our expectations.
“He finished his freshman year very strong with a fourth in the Breeders Crown, and then won the Matron Final in 1:51,” Collins continued. “He got that late start, and that enabled him to stay fresh even though he had a lot of starts [14].”
Twilight Bonfire transitioned nicely from that $257,848 freshman campaign into a legitimate contender in the glamour boy division.
“He grew up a bit, but not that much,” noted Collins. “He’s a medium to smallish sized colt, but he really filled out nicely. In his first start of this year he finished second in 1:49.2 with a back half of :53.4, so that was pretty strong. He won his next start at the Meadows in 1:50.1.”
Next up, Collins embarked on what would be a thrill-of-a-lifetime ride in the North America Cup at Mohawk. First of all, he was lucky enough to be one of three fourth-place finishers in the eliminations to draw into the final.
“Shipping to Mohawk took a little bit out of him, yet he raced well enough to qualify for the North America Cup,” said Collins. “In that final, we were racing for a check, and everything went our way. They battled up front as expected and we were still fresh coming home. I had lost him while watching the race, then I looked at the big screen TV and saw that he wasn’t among the last four. I caught him past the finish line, and when they came by us at the paddock he was in front there. I thought for a second ‘My God!’ Then, everybody was yelling for Captaintreacherous, but I couldn’t have been happier with second in the biggest race I’ve ever been in.”
While taking the bye into the Meadowlands Pace Final was a no-brainer, Collins was a bit concerned about keeping his colt on his toes.
“Getting the bye into the final means we needed to get a start into him, so he’s racing at Scioto Downs on Saturday night," said Collins. "He’ll be racing against older horses in the Invitational from the rail, and we’re looking for a good tightening mile. If we had raced in the Pace elimination and drew the ten-hole, then maybe we don’t make the Final. So we had to take the free pass."
Saturday's card of harness racing also features NJSS two-year-old pacing colts and fillies, as well as two $50,000 eliminations for the William R. Haughton Memorial Pace. To view entries for Saturday, click the following link: Saturday Entries - Meadowlands Racetrack.
(Meadowlands)