A lifelong love of horses led to Chrislin Nother caring for a number of Canadian harness racing heroes in a behind-the-scenes capacity, but she's hopeful that a gelding who is just coming into his own as a four-year-old can propel her into the next chapter of her career in harness racing.
On July 23, Nother earned her first win as a trainer, harnessing Delightful Magic before his 1:57.4 maiden-breaking score at Grand River Raceway. After some early stumbling blocks precluded his ability to compete at two and three, Nother bought the Bettors Delight gelding outright, and — as the adage goes — patience is paying off.
"I worked for Billy Budd a couple years ago, and he bought this horse at the (London Selected) yearling sale," Nother told Trot Insider. "I bought a third, another guy bought a third, and Billy owned a third. The horse never raced any good at two; he raced, but he was sore and had issues. We shut him down and then we tried him again at three, and he was no good his first start out so Billy wanted out of him. I bought Billy out and I started training him just myself, but he was sick and he needed some more time, so I had to wait until he was healthy. And then, the racing shut down just when I got him ready to race, and so then I had to wait. Now, finally I get to race him and he's going good, but he was a tricky horse to get here."
After finishing eighth in his lone Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots start as a rookie and missing the board in all four of his sophomore starts, Delightful Magic seems to have turned a corner this summer. After registering a pair of second-place finishes in his first two starts of July, everything seemed to go right on July 23 as he — and Nother — tasted victory for the first time.
Delightful Magic landed in fifth along the pegs before latching onto second-over cover nearing the half. After being towed into contention up the backstretch through a :29 third quarter, Brett MacDonald switched him off cover through the far turn, and he surged clear before holding off a late challenge from Bettors Authority by a length.
While he's still admittedly a work in progress — Nother indicated she made a shoeing change to keep him from hitting his knee — he's developing confidence while also honing his ability and working out the last remaining kinks.
"The horse is confident," Nother said. "I've got him comfortable going in the race bike now — I had to get this horse so he was comfortable in the bike and teach him. He wears an ear hood to race because he still gets too hot in the race, and he wears a mini bit. Eventually I'll be able to take some of the equipment off, but for now, I'll just leave it on until he learns more."
For now, Nother plans on keeping Delightful Magic at Grand River for at least a couple more starts, owing to the kind, wide turns at the Elora, Ont., racetrack, and that MacDonald "gets along well with" the horse. In fact, he's slated to race again this coming Friday (Aug. 6) at Grand River, but with MacDonald committed to drive Atlantic invader Reggies Game for his dad, Ron, Nother has tabbed another product of the Atlantic — Austin Sorrie — to handle the driving duties.
As far as what the future holds for Chrislin Nother?
At 26, the Flamborough, Ont., resident has practically her entire life ahead of her. And with the experience she gained working for Budd, George Plyley, Dave Menary, Dean Nixon and Wayne Preszcator while taking care of the likes of Boadicea, Sintra and Nirvana Seelster, she certainly has the foundation to strike out on her own successfully.
"I've got support; I've got people behind me," said Nother, who maintains her one-horse stable at Stephenson's Training Centre, which her boyfriend, Mark Stephenson, owns. Before long, she hopes to expand the scope of her stable — but she understands the inherent challenges that come with it.
"It's difficult, but I figure that when I get my horse winning, people will start to notice," she said. "But still, you've got to be racing at Mohawk for more people to notice, but I'll get there eventually. I've tried claiming a couple of horses, but it's tough, and any horse that shows it's any good, there's a whole bunch of people trying to claim it. It's very tough trying to start your stable up."
The claiming game could certainly enable Nother to expand her stable more immediately if the shakes pan out in her favour, but she maintains that her ambition is to invest in yearlings — much as she did with Delightful Magic, but putting everything she's learned to this point all together on her own:
"I would like to get a couple yearlings this fall, like one trotter and one pacer. I'm going to get at least one yearling this fall and give that a try. Sometimes you get lucky. It's tough to get a good horse, so if you take a chance on a yearling, you never know — it might turn out to be a good one."