TROT reached out to eight prominent trainers and drivers, and asked them to tell us the name of, and the story behind, the best two-year-old they’ve ever been associated with. A few of the lucky ones had a bit of trouble narrowing it down to just one, but in the end we learned some very interesting stories that we share with you here. Compiled by John Rallis & Dan Fisher.
For the sixth year in a row, in what has become a very popular staple in our annual Twos In Training Issue, we’ve asked a number of participants to share with us the name of the best two-year-old they’ve ever been involved with, as well as a story or memory or two from behind the scenes about that same horse. Once again this year our interviewees didn’t disappoint, and we thank them all for taking part.
JOHN PENTLAND | Trainer
The best two-year-old that I’ve ever trained was LUCK OF MICHELLE. I bought her in Harrisburg with my vet, Dr. Caroll. We went down to the sale together… We were both interested in an Ontario-bred filly and we were both fans of Camluck… that’s how we came together on this filly.
I trained a horse called Bold Bidder for him the year before and he was a [OSS] Gold winner. That was the first horse I ever had for him, so it was a pretty good start for us as a pairing. We got her [Michelle] for $20,000, and truthfully we thought it was a huge bargain. I mean, she was out of a sister to Cams Card Shark and we thought she’d go for more… But we didn’t complain (laughing).
A quarter-way through my first lap breaking her, I could tell this was going to be a good horse. She never had a bad day, honestly. I would tell my groom all the time, every time I sat behind her, that Luck Of Michelle was ‘the best horse in Canada’.
She got a little hot just before she qualified, so I put an open bridle on her. She adapted to it nicely and qualified really well for Mike Saftic in both of those preps. I had about 10 days before the Flamboro Breeders race at Flamboro Downs, so I took her and Jans Luck over there [to train]. Michelle was on a line pretty good, so I brought her back to Dr. Carroll and he found a check ligament… So he injected it and away we went.
I was nervous about her steering so I put the blind bridle back on her for her career debut, and when she left the gate she took off. She got to the half pretty fast, and Saftic sort of controlled her, but when he asked her at the 3/4 pole, she took right off again. She won in 1:53.3 that night, setting a world record.
It was pretty surreal… You’re heading over to the winner’s circle and they’re announcing it’s a track record, and by the time you’re standing in the winner’s circle, they’re announcing that it’s a world record. If I never do anything unique in the business again, I’m one of the rare people who had a horse break a world record in their first lifetime start (laughing).
It was an amazing debut, but that effort also came with plenty of naysayers. As a result of her being so hot and kind of tough to rate in that outing, there were murmurs as to whether she would be able to sustain a high level [of racing] all season long, if she kept up that style. She breaks a world record in her career debut and next thing you know, there are doubters (laughing).
She was still wound up in her second start, which was a victory in her [OSS] Gold elimination. In her third start, Mike put her in a hole, and he moved her past the quarter pole at his will. He dictated what he wanted to do with her in that outing, and she won again easily.
The next day I saw Steve Condren at the qualifiers. I never said anything to him, but he came up to me and said ‘I see you boys have that filly calmed down… nice job’.
To me, that was the greatest compliment I’ve ever received in racing, and that still holds true, even twenty-something years later. I must’ve started in the business around the same time Steve started driving horses, and I always believed he was the best driver in Canada… I still think he’s the best ever who stayed in Canada.
Steve drove a lot of horses for me and I was legitimately a fan of the guy. I modelled the way I trained horses after the way he drove horses. It’s why I used Mike Saftic in the past, and it’s why I use Bob McClure now. They both have similar approaches to myself and Steve when it comes to developing young horses… I’m patient with them early on, I never want to burn them out.
It’s why I was frustrated with the naysayers and their comments pertaining to Luck Of Michelle. Truthfully, I didn’t give a shit what people said, except for maybe Steve Condren (laughing).
I was around 40-years-old at the time Steve made that comment, so I was a little beyond fan-girling, but it was the nicest compliment I’ve ever received throughout my career. I got that comment from a guy who knew that Mike and I didn’t want to race our filly that other way, and that meant a lot.
I trained five horses during Luck Of Michelle’s rookie campaign, and she was the head of the class during what was my first [and only] $1 million season as a trainer. All these years later she still holds the number one spot as my best two-year-old ever.
By John Rallis
ANDREW HARRIS | Trainer
When I started looking at babies that year [fall of 2023] MONSERRATE was the first one that I marked down as ‘Have To Have Him’... I put a star on the page and told Bill [Pollack] and Bruce [Areman] that I had found one that checked all the boxes, and who HAD to come home with us. That was when I saw him at Hunterton, and I didn’t change my mind when I saw him at the [Lexington] sale.
Fast-forward a bit and he’s training down great. He’s doing everything right and definitely seems like one of our best ones. He qualifies awesome and then we go into this battle of him making breaks. But it was because he was having a growth spurt - at the worst time - and because of that he started interfering a bit. The real problem was that if you pulled him in the turns and he got just a touch crooked, he’d interfere. And if he interfered just a little, because he never interfered training down and wasn’t used to it, he’d just blow up… So then, because he’s not performing, you get into this cycle of having a different driver on him every start. Now you’re telling every driver to please don’t pull him in the turns, and that you have to wait until the straightaway… finally, I got my brother [J Harris] to come down to The Red Mile to drive him. I just said, ‘Please just sit last with this horse. When you hit the stretch you can move him, but you cannot move him on the turn.’ So he goes off and wins in [1]:56 at odds of 37/1, and then after that he got his confidence and just kept getting better every week. We also added the trotting hopples that week, which helped keep him on his gait a bit better if he touched a little and wanted to get rough. After three or four races like that I think he started to realize that he could touch a little and it wasn’t going to hurt. He wasn’t scared anymore.
It’s tough when you really believe in one and can’t get the same driver every week. They have a better choice the next week so you lose them, and then whoever you get next week doesn’t know the horse or probably have much faith in him. After my brother won with him, Todd McCarthy was a close second with him, but then he picked-off to drive the big favourite [in the Bluegrass]. He was second that week for David Miller, and Dave drove him the rest of the year. Miller loved him, and that was a big deal because now we had the same confident driver on him every week. Young trotters don’t like that Russian Roulette of drivers. Dave fit him like a glove… we were a close second to Maryland in the Kindergarten final and then we won the Valley Victory. That was the biggest race I’ve ever won with a baby that I picked out and developed, so that was a special one.
I looked it up… ‘Monserrate’ is a mountain in Colombia that overlooks Bogota and has a beautiful church on it that’s been there for 2,000 years or something. It’s also now the horse that I’m hoping will take me to the biggest race in the world this summer.
By Dan Fisher
ANDY McCARTHY | Driver
I’m going to have to go with VOLUME EIGHT. He was unbelievably talented at two… He displayed both sheer speed and a will-to-win as a rookie. He was scary-fast, and maybe that was his problem to be quite honest. Every time he stepped foot on the racetrack, he wanted to set a new track record (laughing). Unfortunately, he didn’t really make it back at three, but as far as talent, pound-for-pound, he’d be my top choice.
Noel [Daley] debuted him at The Meadowlands, and while the line didn’t look great in his first career outing, I was very pleased with him. He won his second start in [1]:56.1 and he felt like a trotter who had more to offer - he proved exactly that going forward.
Starting out, he was a green, kind of pacey Chapter Seven, but he always showed an unbelievable high speed. He was quite immature and he wasn’t a very big horse, but Noel always knew he had great speed, he just had to wait for him to mature a bit. Once that happened, he showed what he was capable of.
He turned a lot of heads in his victory in the International Stallion Stakes in Lexington. He was really good in a 6th place effort there the week before… The following week, Noel pulled the shoes, we decided to go for it, and he responded in a big, big way [winning in 1:52.1].
It’s hard to know just how deep a horse is, but I knew if he felt good that day [in post-parade]. I was going to give him a shot off the gate. I saw that he was dismissed on the odds-board [38/1], but that didn’t sway me from what I was going to do. I figured we had something special there and he proved it. That day, I used him hard early and he trotted his last quarter as hard as a horse could… so we realized that day what kind of stamina he really had.
He never lost another start his two-year-old season and he continued to impress me. He won in [1]:52 in the Kindergarten final at The Meadowlands, and I’m not kidding you when I say I had him in a headlock (laughing). If I let him trot a little quicker in that middle half, he would’ve trotted in [1]:49 that night.
Honestly, I didn’t want to go that fast, especially knowing that he had the Valley Victory the following week, so I was trying to rate him as best I could, to preserve some energy for that… But there were times where you had to let him do his own thing and you had to let him roll. Luckily he still delivered in the Valley Victory.
It’s too bad his career was cut short early in his three-year-old year, because I was just as excited about the prospect of driving him that year as I was with Ramona Hill during her three-year-old season. Stuff happens unfortunately, but he still proved to be the best two-year-old I’ve ever driven.
By John Rallis
MARK MacDONALD | Driver
SPORTSWRITER was a crazy-good two-year-old. I think he’s the best two-year-old pacer I ever drove. He was never that sound coming back at three… his only win at three was the North America Cup. How often do you see that? But that was a good one to win. He was just great at two; he was a killer. I mean, in the Metro, Rock N Roll Heaven was third-up and I was second-up… we turned for home and fanned out, and I mean he just paced away. That was a good horse - Rock N Roll Heaven - and I mean we just paced away from him. Just jogged in [1]:49. I knew who was following me, and I knew Danny’s [Dube] horse had a huge kick in him… but my horse could come off a helmet and just sprint. That was a cool win in the Metro. His only loss that year was in the final of the Breeders Crown, but he just wasn’t quite right that night and he still only got beat a nose (laughing). He absolutely just laid over them (laughing).
KING OF THE NORTH was by far the best two-year-old trotter that I ever drove. Ray [Schnittker] trained him obviously, but I was around him and probably sat behind him once a week that first winter, ya know. He was my favourite horse in the barn too… I really liked him. He just oozed class, that horse. He comes from such a good family. He’s a Walner, and his dam is Check Me Out - a world champion. Then if you go one more dam back you get Jimmy Doherty’s old mare, No Nonsense Woman. It’s just world champion after world champion… and he was just such a good horse (laughing). He always just had a presence about him. You didn’t know if he was going to be a great horse, but man he was always just such a cool horse (laughing). It’s hard to say at that point if, when they get tired, if they’re going to lean through that or not, but I don’t know that he ever had a bad day training. He was training him down at one point with the two-year-old pacers, and you could just dust them anytime you wanted (laughing).
I can remember the race with both of them though, when I realized that they were really good horses. With Sportswriter he had won a couple of maidens from off the pace… ya know, with steel shoes and a Telstar… just trying to teach him. Then he drew the friggin’ 9 or 10-hole in the Metro elimination… f@#k! I said ‘Well there’s not gonna be a good trip to be had tonight’. I just knew that someone was going to dump me in, in-front of them, for cover… That’s exactly what happened, and there was nothing that I could do but come first-over, slow. In the last turn I could feel that he was kinda working, for the first time ever… you could feel him digging a bit. I had never really asked him until then, but we came out of the turn and I popped his ear plugs, and he just paced away from them. After that I said ‘They’re never going to beat this horse’. I said ‘If he didn’t lose tonight he’s not going to lose a race’ (laughing). I think that him, Malicious and Woodstock were all undefeated going into the final, and Rock N Roll Heaven was obviously in there too… but I got a second-over behind Timmy [Tetrick, with Woodstock]... we won easily.
It’s that first time they’re in a position where they get tired, and they’re in a spot where they have a good reason to lose but don’t… that’s when you know. And for King Of The North that was probably in the final of the Peter Haughton. They were flying off the gate… They went :26 seconds and a bit in the first quarter and I didn’t want to muck it up with that, so I got away about seventh. We had some excess cover and I just had to fan him out turning for home. I was like ‘Shit, I might be too far out of it here’ and he came home in :27 flat and just jogged (laughing). I was pretty sure he was a good horse before then… after that I knew he might just be a great horse - and he was.
By Dan Fisher
MARCUS MELANDER | Trainer
I’ve had so many talented two-year-olds, like Gimpanzee and Joviality S, but after this past year, I’d probably have to say MARYLAND.
The success that Maryland had throughout his rookie season, especially given the travelling he had to go through, setting multiple track records in the process, made it all that more impressive.
I’m a big Chapter Seven fan and given we’ve had success with them he was one of the yearlings on my radar. His page was great, and given he was going to be the first foal out of a quality dam, that made him even more intriguing. When I saw him in the sales ring everything checked out, and fortunately he lived up to his billing.
When he came home in :26.2 in his first lifetime start, to fight off Jim Campbell’s colt [Mr Walner Fashion], that’s when I really knew I had a colt who had a desire to win.
I realized early that he wasn’t a half-mile horse, so I kept him from racing in New York and his schedule was pretty light early-on. He came into the second leg of the Kindergarten Series having not raced in nearly a month, but he finished a strong second. I thought that set him up perfectly for his Wellwood elimination in Canada.
In his elimination he wasn’t 100% when it came to dealing with that final turn, and Dexter [Dunn] really had to baby him around there to make sure he stayed trotting. He finished strong, but he definitely had some issues that night.
We worked on him that entire week, and when I trained him on the Wednesday he felt great. When I warmed him up on race night, he felt amazing… like a different horse. I told Dex before the race that he felt great… that we made changes and that I was confident he’d be a different horse than what he was in his elimination.
Dexter was very confident in him too. You saw it in the way he raced him from the nine-hole, despite his issues in the elimination the week prior.
There were a lot of memorable performances that Maryland put forth during his rookie season, and each and every one of those victories were special in their own way, but I’d say that winning the William Wellwood Memorial was great, mostly because I’d say it was his coming-out party. He was 17/1, had the nine-hole, and after an even performance in his elimination it was really satisfying to see how after the work put in from our team that week, the colt bounced back.
We knew what he had in terms of ability, but he wasn’t really talked about in that regard by the pundits. Until you put the resume together on paper, people are going to have their own opinions and make their own conclusions.
Like Greenshoe… he didn’t really show a lot at two, but believe me when I tell you that we knew we had ourselves a quality colt. The general public didn’t think that, because you have to show it [in races] in order to get that level of respect.
Safe to say, however, that Maryland gained a lot of respect very quickly, because he finished the year undefeated from that point on, giving himself an incredible season. We know there’s a lot of pressure going into his three-year-old campaign, but we’re really excited about what’s in-store for him heading into this summer.
By John Rallis
JAMES MacDONALD | Driver
I’d be silly not to say CHANTILLY at this point. I mean, to go undefeated and just dominate from start-to-finish the way she did was pretty impressive… but I’d like to mention another horse too, if I could, because I did help develop LEGENDARY HANOVER as well… I’m the kind of guy that takes a lot of pride in bringing a horse along and teaching them. There’s kind of an art to it and I’m quite proud of both horses.
I had never sat behind either one of them before baby-races… I had heard grumblings about Legendary from Casie [Coleman] and other people who were thinking he might be something special. I remember after finishing fifth or sixth with him in his first baby-race, I had just followed along, I called a buddy and told them that I had never sat behind another horse that was even close to him. And that was coming off a couple of years where I had been driving some great young horses like Prohibition Legal and so on. Legendary was just unbelievable though.
Tony [Beaton] had told me that the horse could get a little hot, so I had him way off the pace that morning and we came home in :26.2. Tony has a great staff and they just love their horses. His big thing is that we don’t want to show them off in qualifiers - just teach them something and bring them back confident. Casie was going nuts though (laughing). She was so mad. So it was like a bag of mixed emotions after (laughing). Tony was beaming ear-to-ear because I told him how great he went. Then I’m getting texts from Casie saying, ‘I’ve been telling my owners how good this horse is and then you get him beat by 100 lengths in a qualifier’ (laughing). I remember texting her saying something like ‘We’ll let them win the qualifiers and we’ll win the races’... then in his first start he was just electric, and I think he won his first six in a row. She kinda got off my case after that (laughing).
With Chantilly, Nick [Gallucci] doesn’t get too high on them, and maybe even likes to downplay them a bit, but I remember when I went to qualify her he told me he thought she was pretty good… which is a lot for him to say about one at that stage. He didn’t say ‘special’ but he said she was really fast and probably his best one at that point. I think the plan was originally to race her in the first [OSS] Gold but because we went so slow in the qualifier [1:59.4] we weren’t sure what to do. We started Silver Label in a Grassroots in her first start too though, and it worked out for her, so we agreed to try that route with Chantilly.
I was really high on her after the qualifier, and when I moved her in that first start [and she won easily in 1:54] I was like, ‘Ok, it wasn’t just a fluke and it wasn’t because it just went in :59, this thing is for real’... then in her second start, in an OSS Gold, she came her back-half in :52.2, first-up. There was a big decision before that race actually, because I also had Tony’s filly [Wicked N Single] who had just won the Tompkins-Geers from way off the pace and won the first Gold by five [lengths]... but I took Chantilly. And Tony is the ultimate professional, he’s always understanding… but when I told him I was taking Chantilly he was actually like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ I said, ‘I know, I’m probably an idiot, but I have a good feeling about this filly’... then she rips off a :52.2 back-half. Wicked N Single was on top, and when I moved Chantilly she was pacing so fast into the last turn I thought she was going to run. She just cleared and kept going and going, right through the wire, and I said to myself ‘This thing is just unbelievable!’ I think, afterwards, Tony was like, ‘I get it now’ (laughing)... That was my ‘Oh My God’ moment with her, when I realized that she wasn’t just pretty good, or very good, but that she was next-level good.
By Dan Fisher
ANDY MILLER | Driver
One of the best two-year-olds I’ve ever been associated with came early on in my career - that was INCREDIBLE TILLIE. She went a perfect 12-for-12 during her rookie season and she showed early on that she was a complete natural. She had great speed, and is probably one of the first and only two-year-olds to ever go a first quarter in :24.4 - which she did during her win in the State Fair Final at Springfield. I remember being in the bike and thinking ‘Woah’. I mean, I knew we were going fast that day, I just didn’t know how fast (laughing). It was just her eighth lifetime start, and while she was already impressive in every start leading up to that outing, the performance that she put forth on that day even had me in awe. I knew she had gears, but she showed a different level on that particular day. For a split second, during the mile, I was wondering how she would fare finishing up in that performance, but it was just as impressive as the opening quarter was, and ended with a final clocking of 1:51.4.
When you think about it, for a two-year-old Illinois-bred [by Incredible Finale] to do what she did that day, that’s pretty damn special. She only got better as the year went on, and she remained undefeated the rest of the way.
I kind of knew that she was going to be a good one in advance because my brother Erv [Miller] trained her, so I was already aware that he had himself a nice filly - I just didn’t know she’d end up being that good. Her talent level carried over to her three-year-old campaign, as she stepped up against Grand Circuit company and she undoubtedly held her own extremely well in those spots too, which did not surprise me in the slightest… and that didn’t stop going into her aged career either. Like I said, seeing a [Illinois] State-bred filly be able to step-up versus stakes company is not something you see very often, but she proved she was able to handle the uptick in competition, because she was a special one. I’ve had a long driving career, and I’ve driven plenty of quality two-year-olds, but this filly in particular will always hold a special place in my heart, because it was much earlier on in my career and she was a springboard to a lot of opportunities that came after that as well… So when you approached me about the question of who was the best two-year-old I’ve ever been associated with, I didn’t even have to think twice about it.
By John Rallis
JACK MOISEYEV | Driver
I was lucky to drive a few nice two-year-olds in my day but I’d have to say that PRESIDENTIAL BALL really stood out on the pacing side. I think he made about $800,000 at two. I won The Metro [Pace] with him and that big race at Yonkers too [the Sheppard Pace]. [Bill] Robinson would send them down to Monte Gelrod, and I remember the first time I ever drove him because it was at Yonkers [in an elimination of the Sheppard] and he made a break (laughing). I was just letting him go up to the gate slowly and he touched his knee and made a break. That was the only break he ever made. We got away last [from the 8-hole] and I wasn’t thinking in my head that we had a shot at that point, but I three-deeped him up the backstretch and did he ever fu@#in’ go (laughing). Monster mile - I couldn’t believe we still won. I knew that he was a nice horse after that. The next week he just jogged in the final. I remember coming out of the two-hole with him, and going around that last turn he was pacing so fast the bike was going sideways almost (laughing).
The pacing filly that stands out that I drove at two would have been Stienams Place [the dam of Put On A Show]. I drove her for Bruce Riegle and we won the Sweetheart at The Meadowlands. Man, she was fast!
The best trotter I drove at two was probably THE GAME PLAN… I drove him for John Kopas. He was a brother to Pure Ivory but they only paid $20,000 for him. I think he made about half-a-million [dollars] at two. I think I might have trained him a few times before I qualified him… he was just so handy. I could do anything with him - take him back, leave with him… he was just a really nice horse. We won a bunch of [OSS] Golds and then we won the Wellwood. I don’t think he did much after that year though… I can’t remember if he got sore or what, but he sure was a nice two-year-old for us.
By Dan Fisher
This feature originally appeared in the May issue of TROT Magazine. Subscribe to TROT today by clicking the banner below.
