Where Is Windsun Revenge?

For the past two years, Windsun Revenge has raced competitively in the Preferred ranks on the WEG circuit and participated in the Maple Leaf Trot Final. But with just one start this season, the trotting speedster is conspicuous by his absence from both Canada's top trotting class as well as this upcoming stakes event.

Trainer and co-owner Jeff Durham told Trot Insider that Windsun Revenge is still in training but suffered a setback earlier this year.

"Well, he got hurt his first start back in April. He hurt his right hind suspensory; no holes or tears," said Durham. "I just got him re-ultrasounded [last week] from Melissa McKee. We did a little bit of work over his back... I'll probably jog him for another few weeks and then I'll start turning him and training him.

"He's back going, we're just trying to be careful with him."

Careful is key, especially when bringing horses back from injury. Durham knows all too well, however, how quickly fortunes can turn. He recalls how well his horse was situated in the Maple Leaf Trot last year until racing luck went against him.

"Last year in the Maple Leaf Trot Final he got hurt. Up the backside he got jammed up behind a horse and he hurt his right front suspensory and blew his left front leg up so we took our time with that and brought him back and he took a bad step [in April]. He raced really good his first start back and he couldn't be any happier, it's just that things weren't right. What do you do? They're not machines."

Now seven, Windsun Revenge (Kadabra - Oaklea Polly) has banked more than $472,000 in his 75-start career, with a 19-12-16 summary in those starts for Durham and co-owner/breeder Robert Van Camp. Durham feels that start total plays to his advantage as the trotter would have less hard miles than most horses his age.

"This horse, I don't think we've overraced in the last couple of years. We're just trying to pick our spots," said Durham. "Melissa's really happy with the progress with him; she would have told us if it was time to retire him.

"He doesn't owe us anything. He wasn't the top horse, that's for sure but to race in the Breeders Crown and finish fourth...Scott Zeron said coming around the last turn he thought he was going to win his first Breeders Crown [in the 2016 Open Trot] but the headwind was so strong that night it was a little taxing on him, that's all. Not many people get to race in the Breeders Crown."

Not many people get to race in the Breeders Crown, and even fewer have that opportunity with a horse that was a yearling sale buyback. Durham took part ownership and managed the colt's development with co-owner and longtime business associate Van Camp. For more than 20 years, Durham has sold horse feed through Van Camp’s Brooks Performance Horse Feed.

If the story sounds familiar to that of another Canadian-based trotting titan, the connections don't stop there. Hall of Famer San Pail is located just a few minutes from Durham at the farm of Rod Hughes, who's also Durham's blacksmith. While his trotter doesn't have the cult status of San Pail, Durham notes that Windsun Revenge has a bit of following of his own with industry participants pleased to see a stable of smaller stature succeeding on harness racing's top circuit.

"Anthony Montini always jokes with me. The day he won in 51 he said 'I was pretty excited to see the horse win like that, but you probably are too eh?' You don't realize that people know the horse and people like the horse.

"I was out knocking on the training centre doors and I was talking to Nick Gallucci, and Nick was talking to one of his girls and said 'this is the fella that owns and trains Windsun Revenge.' She replied 'I just love that horse!'"

For those that share these sentiments, Durham is aiming for a mid-October return with Windsun Revenge. That timeframe would roughly line up with the Breeders Crown elims but Durham kept the stakes payments modest given the injury and an experience from 2017 that didn't go as well as he'd hoped.

"We didn't pay him into the Breeders Crown because we raced him last year over at Georgian Downs and he doesn't negotiate the [five-eighths] turns; two turns are better than three for him...He likes to wheel on the front and make his own speed."

In addition, Durham recognizes that some of the other barriers to racing his horse in the major stakes events, including entry based on seasonal earnings or the requirement of stabling within a certain geographical region. Thus, expect to see Windsun Revenge competing mainly at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

"Rick [Zeron] has often told me that on the right night he'd trot Mohawk in 1:50. We're not worried about speed miles, we're just worried about getting him back to the races and having a little fun."