It's a true serendipity – following a twist of fate (or two) father and son Mike and Joe LaCova found themselves in possession of a quarter share of a pretty American Ideal filly under the tutelage of much celebrated trainer Casie Coleman. One year later, Idyllic has shown the LaCova family that a few thousand dollars in fantasy football winnings, some casual miscommunication, and a little luck can go a long, long way.
By Perry Lefko
It took Mike LaCova more than 45 years of racing horses to find one that would make it all worth the wait. It took his son Joe just one year.
Ironically enough, we’re talking about the same horse for both, a horse in whom they collectively own a quarter interest with a group that includes celebrated Canadian trainer Casie Coleman. The horse is Idyllic, the three-year-old filly pacer who brought a mere $13,000 as a yearling, banked $805,829 in 2010, and capped off her first on-track season by pocketing her division’s O’Brien Award last month.
Idyllic’s name is apropos for all that led to this ideal happenstance of a father and a son and, by extension, a wife, a mother, two siblings and a daughter-in-law.
Mike, a 63-year-old retired accountant, has owned mostly claimers over the past four decades. Some of those horses have performed well, but none of them quite as well as the impressive Idyllic, who won seven of her eight races last year, clinching that O’Brien that the native New Yorker says is “like the icing on the cake.”
His 87-year-old mother, Ann Behrend, is partners with him in three claimers and actively attends the races. Mike’s wife of 36 years, Lynn, has literally been along for the ride as well, travelling tens of thousands of miles in a van with the family to watch their horses race. “It’s been a dream come true,” Lynn says of finally hoisting the holy grail of horse racing. “We had luck with horses before, but this is just amazing.”
The experience with Idyllic is that much sweeter for the LaCovas because it involves one of their sons, Joe, a special education biology teacher in New York, and his wife, Desiree. Mike and Lynn’s other two children, Michael and Laurenann, are part of this family story too. “My dream was always to have my sons involved with me,” says Mike. “I always wanted to have ‘LaCova and Sons.’ I have my one son, but now I’m bringing in my other son, and my daughter and my wife, who was never an owner. Half of what I own is hers anyway. But she’s always with me. I don’t go anywhere without my wife. I have a great wife and great kids. That’s very important. And a great horse.
“I got it all. I just wish I had a new back,” he adds with a laugh. “If there were more families like ours, this business would be booming. I brought my sons into it, now they’re going to bring their children into it. We got lucky, but we’ve also been doing it for 45 years. Our kids have been doing it since they were born, even without having a horse like Idyllic. Even with the claiming races, we put eight people in our van and we go to whatever track where we’re racing at. We watch our horses no matter where they are.”
How Joe became involved is pure serendipity. In 2009, the then 30-year-old finished first in a winner-take-all football fantasy pool out of a group of 12 players, each of whom put in $200. His team snuck into the playoff round of the pool as the last qualifier, but he got on a hot streak and won, pocketing the $2400. He decided to use the money to join his father in claiming a horse, but nothing appealed to them. They opted instead to become partners with Coleman in a yearling.
Mike’s association with Coleman began midway into 2008 during what he calls the worst time in all his years of ownership. His handful of horses had diminished to just one, a gelded pacer known as Race Track Ruler, whom Mike owned with a partner. That partner was antsy to switch trainers, and Mike’s son Michael suggested Coleman, who had arrived in New Jersey with a string of horses. The switch worked in their favour – Race Track Ruler won six of 17 races in half a year with Coleman, mostly in the condition ranks, and soon escalated to the invitational ranks. Eventually he found his way back into the claiming ranks, though, and was haltered for $25,000 in March of 2010.
“Casie has so much success and she has such a good eye with babies that we took a chance – thinking that maybe we could luck out also,” grins Mike. Coleman bought a variety of yearlings at the Lexington Selected Sale in October 2009, two of which she mentioned to the LaCovas – an American Ideal filly (Idyllic) and a Cams Card Shark colt. She offered Mike an opportunity to own a quarter interest in Idyllic, and when Mike called back two weeks later to inquire about both horses, he thought Coleman told him that partnerships in both had been completed (without him). It seemed he had been shut out by playing the waiting game, but about a month later the trainer called Mike asking for his quarter interest payment for Idyllic.
Mike had clearly misunderstood Coleman when she first made the offer, thinking he had a chance to become a partner in either the filly or the colt, and it seemed he didn’t act quickly enough. But it became an ideal (or Idyllic) example of how a misunderstanding can work out for the best in a business that is often about luck. “I thought... if she liked the horse, I definitely liked it – never thinking we’d get something like this,” Mike admits. “This is over the top!”
“Idyllic is from the first crop of American Ideal, the first major stakes horse whom Coleman trained and who was consistently unlucky throughout his career to draw lousy post positions for most major races. Nevertheless, he cobbled together significant earnings of more than $800,000 and posted a track/stakes/Canadian record time of 1:50.3 in winning the 2005 Confederation Cup, missing the world-record time for a three-year-olds on a half-mile track by only a fifth of a second. At the time of his retirement he also owned the World Record of 1:47.4 for three-year-old pacers on a mile track. Idyllic’s dam, Magical Dreamer, banked $167,044 in 41 races, eight of them wins. She has had four foals to date, the first earning a scant $11,061, while the second never even raced. Idyllic is the third.
Joe didn’t initially tell Desiree (his wife of just a few months, at that point) that he had become a part owner in the horse. It took some weeks for him to disclose the information, which he mentioned casually at the dinner table. “I was surprised,” admits Desiree matter-of-factly.
But the two had dated for more than seven years and had an 18-month engagement, so it wasn’t breaking news to the young lady that becoming a LaCova meant becoming a fan of owning racehorses. “Now it’s part of me, too,” she says. “It’s a nice bonding experience.”
That it took Joe so long to enter into a marriage and by contrast a relatively quick time to become a horse owner amuses him. “Got to prioritize, you know,” he grins.
And it soon became clear that Idyllic was, indeed, going to be a top priority.
In January, Coleman’s New Jersey-based assistant trainer, Andrew Harris, asked Mike how he would feel to have the favourite in the Shes A Great Lady, a September race at Mohawk with a purse in excess of $600,000. “Are you out of your mind?” Mike recalls saying to Harris. “‘Maybe she’ll be a New York sires horse,’ I said. ‘She’ll never see New York,’ Andrew told me.’”
Up to that point, Coleman had tried to keep a lid on the expectations she had for the horse. It was the Lacovas first yearling, after all, and she wanted to avoid inflating their hopes in case the filly didn’t make it to the races. But the trainer told Harris as soon as Idyllic began training that she would be a good one.
Idyllic paced her first qualifier on July 3 at Mohawk, and won by two and a quarter lengths in a time of 1:58.3. A week later in her second qualifier, she crossed the wire second by a head in 1:56.2. Her first pari-mutuel start would come 13 days later at the Campbelleville oval. She was entered in a two-year-old filly non-winners of $8,000 lifetime, and went postward as the favourite at just over even-money odds. Driven by Mark MacDonald, Idyllic’s performance verified all of the great expectations in the Coleman stable. The gutsy filly was sixth by a whopping 13 lengths after a quarter mile in the field of 10 and still fifth by eight and a half lengths after the opening half. She advanced to fifth just past the three-quarter mark, but remained in fourth by two and three quarter lengths at the head of the stretch. Down the lane she passed the leader and won by a half length in a time of 1:54.4, covering the final quarter mile in a snappy 27.1 seconds.
The LaCovas were at The Meadowlands watching a simulcast of the race, but a local storm wiped out the signal. When it came back, they saw Coleman in the winner’s circle with Idyllic. The Meadowlands lost the signal again, though, just in time for the replay. “We never saw the race until we went home that night, but that’s the way it started out and it got better from that time on,” Mike says of her early career. “It was so ironic that we never saw the actual race that night.”
Now, Joe relishes all of Idyllic’s races on a disc compilation he admits he views often. “I just relive every moment,” he grins.
Idyllic made her second pari-mutuel start at Georgian Downs and won by a neck in 1:53.2. She next emerged victorious by a quarter length in 1:53.4 in her $100,529 division of the Eternal Camnation stake, contested a week later at Mohawk. It was a race that the LaCovas now recall as the one that showed them she was something special. “She was locked in for about nine-tenths of the mile, weaving around in and out of traffic, and she exploded home,” says Joe. “It was like, ‘wow, this horse is something else.’ Now she’d won with a pretty bad trip and beat some nice horses. I knew she was good that night. That was her first real test of class.”
A week later she captured her elimination for the Shes A Great Lady in 1:51.4 and the following week won the $688,000 final by three-quarters of a length, overtaking odds-on favourite Pretty Katherine in deep stretch, one of three horses Coleman had qualified for the final. Next came the $93,130 Champlain Stakes and Idyllic, like the star she was proving herself to be, made it six consecutive wins.
She was on course now for the Breeders Crown at Pocono Downs in Pennsylvania, her biggest race thusfar and her first outside of Ontario. A shipping problem prevented Pretty Katherine from making it to the retention barn on time, forcing her to be scratched. Idyllic made it by a mere 10 minutes to qualify for the race because her division started later in the program. The time crunch had little effect on the filly though, as she led at every call and won by a half length in 1:52.
Idyllic was shipped back for the $600,000 final eight days later to face a field that included See You At Peelers, who was then undefeated in 12 career races. As the 3-5 betting favourite, the Bettors Delight filly took control of the lead after half a mile and led the rest of the way, finishing on top by a length and a quarter in 1:52.1. Idyllic, out of the two-hole placed third by one and a half lengths, sitting in second from the half-mile pole to the top of the stretch, giving way to 15-1 longshot Strike An Attitude in the drive to the wire.
“She raced her heart out,” says Harris. “I don’t think she agreed with the two weeks being down here. I’m sure a little bit of sickness got in there somewhere. Most of the time when a horse goes from Canada (to the U.S.) they’re great and then all of a sudden, boom, it seems like every horse gets sick. I don’t know why that is, but it just seems that’s the way it goes. But I thought she raced great and ran into a nice bunch of horses and I’m sure she could go with those horses but she just wasn’t all there that night.”
“She got beat by a horse that won 13 in a row, no shame in that,” Joe agrees. “On a level playing field, I think we’re a better horse, but it was tough for a two-year-old to travel down like that, so we’ll see. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to race against her again and let the best horse win.”
She was given some time off and was entered in a qualifier 20 days after the Breeders Crown, winning by a whopping 25 lengths. A week later at Woodbine, she raced in the $501,000 Three Diamonds final, going postward at slightly more than 5-2 odds. Mike was having some health issues and he couldn’t make the trip, so Joe went with Desiree. “It was weird, different,” Joe recalls. “I was nervous that night because she had just lost her last (pari-mutuel) race. I was thinking at the time that maybe she was tailing off, maybe she was getting a little tired.”
But Idyllic put in her finest effort of the season, leading at each call and winning by a head in a stakes-record/track record time of 1:51, pacing the final quarter in 27 flat. “We definitely had a little doubt after the Breeders Crown,” Joe admits. “She did a lot of travelling, and she had a tough trip getting there, so I was a little nervous if she would bounce back, but it was the best race of her life. We’re hoping she continues to progress like that [in 2011]. She’s a once-in-a-lifetime horse and she happened to come early, but I think this sets a goal. This is what you want… this is what you strive for.
“I’m very appreciative to have her,” he adds. “Anything can happen. I’ve seen the highs and the lows with my father’s horses. They were like my own. That’s how we grew up. We’ve had high moments at the track and low moments, too. I’ve been on the roller-coaster many times, especially with the claimers. Highs and lows.”
“We’ve survived 45 years, so that’s pretty good in this business,” agrees Mike. “We’ve had longevity. That means we’re doing something right. I think a lot of it has to do with the right trainer and driver. If you have the right trainer, you can make a lot of money in this business.”
Last month at the O’Briens, Desiree recalled a conversation Joe had with her a few months back while sitting in the pool.
“He said: ‘if this happens.. and if she wins this race… and if she wins this race…’ And I said: ‘that’s a lot of ifs!’ But now we’re here,” she laughed. “I just turned to him and said, ‘You were right’ and he said, ‘Never doubt me again.’”
Mike and Joe have used some of their share of Idyllic’s winnings to invest in partnerships with Coleman in three new yearling pacers. Mike will race one of them alongside Lynn, Joe and the couple’s other two children, and their stable will be named after Mike’s father and sister.
“I feel like I’m very lucky... extremely lucky,” grins Joe. “I’m lucky to have an opportunity to do this with my dad… it’s great. I love my life. I wouldn’t change a thing about it. We’ll just keep racing, keep doing what we do. Nothing’s going to change.”
Harris, who regularly sees the LaCova entourage at the races in New York and New Jersey, says it is interesting watching them experience their horses race. “They’re so humble. They know how to win and they know how to lose,” he says. “That’s just the type of people they are. They’re never mad at their horses, ever. Mike’s mother comes to the races just as much as he does. Her energy will lift up anybody in the room when it comes to racing. She’s so excited. She always compliments the horses on how they’re looking and how they raced. Whether the horses are good or not she’s just excited to be there. If (the LaCovas are) racing at the Meadowlands you can bet your butt they’re going to be there. Last year I don’t think they missed a race. They were there that often. They had a whole slew of horses. They had good horses – claiming horses – and they never ever got real high on them. They took the good with the bad, as they’re saying all the time.”
Joe and Desiree have pictures of Idyllic in their hallway at home, and Mike and Lynn have a replica of a winning blanket she won in a race. Joe, Desiree, Michael, Laurenann and Lynn bought it for Mike as a birthday gift and it lies now at the end of their bed. Lynn started a scrapbook about the horse from day one, and has been filling it with programs, pictures and stories. “She’s a baby and it’s something new,” she gushes. “The kids are involved with it… it’s just an exciting thing.”
“It’s like a baby scrapbook,” adds Mike with a laugh.
This is the effect Idyllic has had on the LaCovas. She’s like a baby that’s the newest member of the LaCova entourage – and they couldn’t be prouder. “It’s a family thing,” Lynn smiles.