She may not have caught anyone’s attention in her early days, but throughout the summer, L A Delight showed the racing world that she just might be the best one yet from a star-studded family. By Chris Lomon
The secret to her success? In this instance, Hall of Fame horseman Bob McIntosh isn’t being coy when he tells you it’s all in the ‘L A-DNA’.
Whenever he watches his fleet-of-foot young star perform, he can’t help but think of her dam and grand-dam, a dynamic duo in their own right, each of whom made their own respective mark on the racetrack for the McIntosh Stable also.
L A Delight, a homebred daughter of Bettors Delight, has been, pardon the pun, an absolute delight for the standardbred veteran, a two-year-old with a bright future.
Nearly perfect –- 11 wins and a third from 12 starts -- in 2015, she has stamped herself as a feared competitor in the Ontario pacing-filly division ranks, following in the hoofsteps of her dam, West Of L A, and grand-dam, Los Angeles.
An odds-on favourite for the two-year-old pacing filly O’Brien Award (and perhaps even more hardware), L A Delight’s name brings about a small chuckle from McIntosh when talk turns to his early impressions of the rookie sensation.
L A Delight was by no means a handful, anything but ornery, and hardly a bother, but certainly not one to stand out in a crowd.
“I thought she was a nice filly,” he recalled. “She was so easy to get along with, to be around. But, early on, I didn’t think we had anything special, to be honest. “She’s very quiet and unassuming around the barn. She still is.”
Multiple trips to the winner’s circle and many head-turning miles later, McIntosh knows that so-called ‘nice filly’ is much more than that.
Yes, the shy youngster brings some big-time talent.
Think of it in terms of the soft-spoken athlete who does their talking on the field.
“Her training wasn’t particularly flashy, but once she gets behind the starting gate, the competitor in her really comes out and so too does the talent.”
The National Hockey League has its champion Los Angeles Kings, but McIntosh has netted some memorable wins courtesy of a trio of his L.A. queens.
Los Angeles, the Camluck mare, bought in Kentucky for $115,000 as a yearling, made a name for herself on the racetrack under the watchful eye of McIntosh. Winner of multiple OSS Gold events, the biggest payday of her career came in the final of the Shes A Great Lady at Woodbine where she earned $92,136 for finishing 3rd to Kikikatie in 2003. Retired after her three-year-old campaign, boasting a lifetime mark of 1:53.4 and with $289,213 in earnings, she then began her new life in the breeding shed.
In the nearly dozen years since the change in roles, Los Angeles has produced eight horses with earnings of over $2.5 million.
Notable offspring include multiple stakes champion, harness heavyweight Thinking Out Loud, whose victories include the North America Cup, the U.S. Pacing Championship and the 2014 Breeders Crown Open Pace, putting almost $2 million in his connection’s coffers. The horse has recently been retired to stud at Seelster Farms.
Los Angeles’ first foal was a Western Hanover filly dubbed West Of L A.
“We bought Los Angeles as a yearling and she turned out to be a really solid race mare, and then she turned out to be a great producer,” McIntosh told TROT. “She has produced a couple of really great horses, and West of L A was a very good filly. The family worked out really well for me.”
West Of L A earned $257,150 for McIntosh, CSX Stables and Al McIntosh Holdings Inc., notching a 1:53.2 mark at the Red Mile at age two. She was retired off her fastest career mile, a solid 3rd place finish in the Matron Final where she was race-timed in 1:50.1 at Dover Downs, at the conclusion of her three-year-old season.
Once again, McIntosh had another off-the-track star for his broodmare band.
West Of L A first produced Somewhere In L A, a Somebeachsomewhere colt, who, to date, has earned 14 victories, a mark of 1:50, and $743,595 in purses.
These days, there’s been more California Dreamin’, so to speak, for McIntosh, with the emergence of L A Delight… West Of L A’s third foal.
It’s a pleasant reminder of a familiar family tree full of impressive achievements.
“I think the one common trait they all share is being great-gaited,” said McIntosh. “Of course, they were different in many ways, but each of them are very impressive in their own right.”
Impressive is an apt, yet perhaps not worthy enough, way to describe L A Delight’s first campaign at the races.
After sitting near the back of the pack and closing in :27 seconds to finish third in her career bow in June, she proceeded to reel off 11 straight scores, picking up victories in the Whenuwishuponastar (McIntosh trained the champion horse the stake is named after), Eternal Camnation, Shes A Great Lady, Champlain, as well as an OSS Super Final crown.
The latter victory, in the $250,000 event, gave McIntosh his ninth Super Final win, the most of any trainer in OSS history.
“We’ve proven it over and over again that Ontario-breds can go with anybody in the world and she’s just another case of that,” said driver Randy Waples.
L A Delight’s fastest victory to date is 1.51.2 (she did that in the Shes A Great Lady final and the OSS Super Final), accompanied by $704,335 in purse earnings.
The filly would have been sure to be one of the favourites had she been eligible to the Breeders Crown in late October, but like McIntosh stated many times, she didn’t show anything special training down so they opted not to keep her paid in.
The trainer thinks there are even better days ahead.
“I’m just really proud of her consistency and the ease in which she wins her races,” he praised. “I still believe she can get better. I don’t think she’s been to the bottom of the tank yet.”
At this rate, should McIntosh – yes, he has been to the city of L.A. - consider bestowing the name L A on some of his future standardbred performers?
“Well, if they turn out to be as good as these ones, I suppose I should think about it,” he laughed.
For now, though, he’ll continue to marvel at the reserved filly with the undeniable top-shelf skill.
L A Delight also serves as a reminder for why the Hall of Fame horseman didn’t throw in the towel amid the uncertainty that had plagued the industry over the past few years.
“I definitely had a few sleepless nights with what had been going on,” said McIntosh. “It felt as though someone had punched me in the gut. But, we hung in there. There have been some good incentives for breeders, but so many people took it on the chin. The one thing that I’d really like to see is a long-term guarantee for the health of the industry.”
And perhaps a few more standouts in his barn like his L.A. ladies.
