Blaze Of Sonshine’s last pari-mutuel line was recorded in December of 2011. He has been off the radar of the North American harness racing industry for almost seven years now. That being said, if you were to shift your focus to the show horse realm, you would see the that 14-year-old gelding has truly found his calling.
In 2006 and 2007, the Ontario-bred trotter visited the winner’s circle five times and earned over $93,000 courtesy of Ontario Sires Stakes races. Blaze Of Sonshine’s race career concluded in 2011. After 142 starts, the Son Of Grace bay had compiled 15 wins, 19 second-place finishes and 24 thirds, good for $173,557 in overall purse earnings. Now 14, the gelding that was bred by Guelph’s Gregg McNair is a regular visitor to a different kind of winner’s circle – one found at horse shows.
During the recently concluded World Championship Horse Show in Louisville, KY, Blaze of Sonshine, who competes under his show name ‘Ring of Fire,’ was crowned the 2018 Amateur World Grand Champion Road Horse. The flashy trotter was expertly steered by James Miller and ended up being the judges’ choice in an extremely competitive class of top-notch road horses, which included one driven by Canadian-born actor William Shatner. To watch Ring of Fire in action, click here.
Blaze of Sonshine is not new to the show horse world, as he has competed since 2012 when he won the USTA Green Class, which features Standardbred road horses in their first or second year in the show ring (when he won the Green Class he was with trainer Luman Wadhams for owner Anne MacMurray Cox of Hampton, NB).
Immediately following the 2012 win, Hillcroft Farm of Paris, KY – operated by Misdee Wrigley Miller and husband James Miller – purchased the then-up-and-coming show ring star (Kentucky-based Road Horse and American Saddlebred trainer Larry Hodge now receives training credit). In addition to campaigning a string of three Standardbred Road Horses at horse shows in the U.S., Hillcroft Farm also competes with world class American Saddlebreds, and may be familiar to attendees of the Royal Horse Show in Toronto where they are frequent exhibitors with their four-in-hand of coaching horses. Wrigley Miller was recently named to the U.S. Equestrian Combined Driving Team, and is scheduled to compete in the upcoming World Equestrian Games in Tryon, North Carolina.
Blaze of Sonshine was not the only Canadian-bred Standardbred to find success at this year’s World Championships, which offers competitions for Hackney Ponies, American Saddlebreds and Road Horses as part of the Kentucky State Fair. Other Canadian-bred Road Horse class winners included the following:
Ladies Road Horse - Chanteur PV, by Authentique PV out of Petite Strength, bred by Marcel Brouillard, St-Marcel-De-Richelieu, QC, owned by Debra Butler of Gainesville, FL and driven by Judy Davis McNeish, Shelbyville, KY.
Kentucky County Fair Champion, Reserve Champion Ladies Amateur Road Horse – Slabtown Ruckus, (shown as Nothing Else Matters), by Arctic Sky out of Slabtown Lady Love, bred by Slabtown Farms, Croton, Ont., owned and driven by Judy Davis McNeish, Shelbyville, KY. Trained by Raymond Shively.
Numerous other Canadian-breds made appearances on the legendary green shavings of Louisville throughout the 10-days of competition. Of special note was Impressive, owned, trained and shown by Clare Hayes of Lindsay, Ont. The ten-year-old Duke of York gelding accumulated over $91,000 in earnings during a race career of 121 starts (15-16-7). Impressive was the winner of the Green Roadster Classic at the 2017 Royal Agricultural Winter Fair.
(With files from Linda Rainey)
Congratulations, Ring of Fire
Congratulations, Ring of Fire :)