If you just took a snapshot of Grey Horizon crossing the finish line in this past Saturday’s $105,570 Ralph Klein Memorial a length and a quarter on top with the 1-9 favourite and trainer/driver Brandon Campbell easing up on him, you would have thought well that was easy.
It wasn’t.
Instead, Campbell had what he called a “heart in the throat moment.”
Actually Campbell had two of them on Calgary’s Century Downs’ Mid-Summer Classic program, which also included the $122,200 Gord & Illa Rumpel Stakes final won by Outlawguns N Roses.
The first came early. The second came much later.
First, the left hopple hanger, which is used by Standardbred pacers to help the horse maintain its pacing gait, came loose just as they were leaving.
“It was too late for a recall,” said Campbell. “It could have been a disaster. I wouldn’t say the hopples were touching the ground, but they were hanging low enough to make a fella nervous.
“Thank God, he’s a sure-footed horse,” said Campbell of the three-year-old owned by Jodi Loftus, Raymond Henry and George Rogers. “I thought as long as he keeps his hopples filled and doesn’t run out of gas we’d be alright. But I had to take a big hold of him.
"I had just ordered an extra large set of hopple hangers. Regular doesn’t fit him because he’s a big, tall, large animal with a long gait. We put the hopple hangers on the highest hole and they were still too low. I’ll either throw them away or wait until we get a Clydesdale.”
The second "heart in the throat moment" was even more precarious.
Exiting the final turn, Grey Horizon got very rough gaited.
“I had him trucking on fast,” said Campbell. “Then he threw in several very funky steps. I thought I was going to lose him. He just lost his footing. If I gave him his head, he would have galloped, which he almost did coming down the lane. I wasn’t sure if I could keep him on stride. It was 50-50. I almost lost him.
“I had to slow him right down; we definitely weren’t going the same speed. If that hadn’t happened, it would have been a 1:52 mile,” Campbell said of what was a 1:53 mile -- a personal best for Grey Horizon -- with trainer Kelly Hoerdt trainees Solar Solution and Rum N Custard finishing second and third. Campbell’s other entry, One Hot Minute, paced a personal best to finish fourth.
“I was having flashbacks to last year’s Western Canada Pacing Derby,” Campbell said of when Virtual Horizon lost as the 8-5 favourite to Blue Star Mercury. Virtual Horizon had won 13 in a row.
“I thought to myself, ‘Not again. Not now. Not this time.'
"Fortunately, Grey Horizon saw Hoerdt’s entry coming and took off again. He reset himself pretty handily and we were just flowing along. I had to hold him together and get him gaited again which he did. That’s my job as a driver.
“After that, honest to God, it was easy,” said Campbell with Grey Horizon sent off at 1-9 and paying just $2.10 to win, $2.10 to place and $2.10 to show as a result of his eight-length win in the eliminations.
“He saw those other colts of Kelly's coming. At that point -- as soon as he got going again -- he wasn’t going to let them go by. Thank God we got lucky.”
The Ralph Klein Memorial was Grey Horizon’s ninth win in 17 career starts. Ultra consistent, Grey Horizon has also has six seconds.
On June 15 at Century Downs, Grey Horizon won the Moores Mile by nine lengths.
“I went into the Klein super confident. But, as I said, it’s a horse race and things can go wrong. Things went wrong on Saturday, but he overcame them. You almost always need some racing luck. Last month, everything seemed to go wrong for our barn, but the last couple of weeks things have gone really good."
There appears to be a lot more to come. And not just with Grey Horizon, who still needs to qualify for the Alberta Sires Stakes Super Finals on Nov. 3.
“This race and the Moores Mile don’t count towards the Super Finals so we have to race good in a couple of weeks in the Plainsman,” said Campbell, who has a barn loaded with young talent. “The May 18 Marksman was a point-race for the Super Finals at Century Mile, but we drew the eight-hole and he just crapped the bed.”
The July 13 Maverick also counted towards the Super Finals, but in that race, Grey Horizon hooked wheels with One Hot Minute and neither horse finished the race.
“He’s still got work ahead of him.”
According to Campbell, always one of Western Canada’s top trainers and drivers, Grey Horizon came out of the Klein “super good."
“On Sunday, he was bouncing and playing. It was as if he hadn’t put any effort into the race. He blows out quick. He’s got a good set of lungs. He’s one of those amazing animals. He holds his fitness well.
“He’ll get this week off to recuperate. Then I’ll jog him lightly. I probably won’t even train him between starts; he’ll be fresh.
“I’ve got a really, really, really great team -- nice partners, nice horses. I’m really excited for the rest of the stakes season."
(Curtis Stock / thehorses.com)