Mistakes and mishaps can happen for any number of reasons. But while often unfortunate, some miscues just have a knack for working themselves out with positive outcomes. Such was the case with JK Cheerleader’s triumphant return to winner’s circle glory.
Absent from the raceway for nearly eight years, the now 14-year-old daughter of Bettors Delight won in just the second start of her unlikely comeback on Sunday, Aug. 11, riding the perfect pocket trip around the Skowhegan State Fair oval under the steady guidance of Kevin Switzer Jr. But her path back to the trenches was much less predictable than her route to victory.
“It was an honest mix-up,” said her trainer, Scott Farley. “The owner, Barbara Catabia, was supposed to send me two geldings and an unraced three-year-old filly to work with this spring. When the trailer arrived, I thought that was what I unloaded.”
Little did Farley know, there was a stowaway of sorts in that shipment.
“I worked with her like I would any young horse,” continued Farley. “She took to the harness right away and in just a matter of a few days I was jogging her alone in the cart. She was smart and seemed to enjoy the routine but when I started to turn her to go slow miles, man did she come up on the bit. I had a handful just to hold her back to keep her at 2:50.”
Farley would soon find that 2:50 was a piece of cake for this “filly.”
“I had got her down to about 2:25 and was quite happy with her when the dentist arrived to do teeth in the barn. She looked at this filly’s teeth and said, ‘This isn’t the mouth of a three-year-old.’
“She checked her microchip and that’s when we found out that the owner had sent me the filly’s mother instead of the filly herself! We couldn’t believe it. No wonder she had been so easy to break.”
There was nothing left to do except to make lemonade.
“Since the owner had been paying me to train her all spring and since as an aged mare she really was pretty close to being ready to qualify, I suggested we just continue and see how she did.”
The results have been pretty spectacular.
“She was second in her first start back at Topsham last week and probably could have won if the trip worked out better. And she dropped five seconds off last week’s time to win here at Skowhegan," said Farley of the mare's 1:59.1 victory on Sunday. "It’s a pretty unlikely story but a good one all and all.”
To make this tale just a bit more unlikely, Farley began his day at the fair by winning the first race with Lennys Pride N Joy (1:59.4), one of the two geldings who accompanied JK Cheerleader on that springtime trailer trip to Maine and who just so happens to be her six-year-old son by So Surreal.
Family ties and traditions run deep in the harness racing industry but to have a mother and son win together on the very same card is a rare occurrence to be certain. But some things are perhaps, just meant to be.
“Lennys Pride N Joy was named after Barbara Catabia’s late husband Lenny and JK Cheerleader was his favourite horse,” observed Farley. “Barbara thinks it might be some sort of cosmic sign that she was mistakenly sent back into training. And now that both of these horses won on the same day, I’m thinking that just maybe she’s right.”
In other news, driver Kevin Switzer Jr. held the hot hand during the opening session, steering four winners down Victory Lane, including both JK Cheerleader and Lennys Pride N Joy, while fellow teamster Aaron Hall nearly matched Switzer’s exploits with three wins of his own.
Maine’s fairground circuit continues at the Skowhegan State Fair with live harness racing on Monday, Aug. 12. Skowhegan’s simulcast will be available for viewing and wagering on most national ADWs and brick and mortar locations through an agreement with Great Pine Racing.
(Skowhegan Fair)