Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Hambo & Hambo Oaks Quotes

August 3, 2005

Mike Lachance On Muscle Bound: "I am thrilled to be in it this year with Muscle Bound (post 8). A decent post would have helped him more-I can't leave with this horse. If you do, you won't finish well. But he closed strong last week, and is in good shape. I think he can get some of this. This is exactly why I came back. For the big stakes races. I qualified into the final for every race I was in. I'm happy and hope to have a few chances." Roger Hammer sends out elimination winner Vivid Photo, and Mike goes way back with Roger. "You know how long I know him? 35 years! What a great guy! Not a cry baby, does things his own way. The year I won the Jug with Magical Mike, he drove his own in there (Keystone Luther). There were a lot of top drivers sitting there waiting for a chance, too."

Tom Crouch On Classic Photo: "When you raise a lot of horses, it's tough to say whether you remember one in particular. It's hard to say now that he stood out. Classic Photo was like a lot of other S Js Photos-not real big. But this colt never had a bad day. He was always the first to the feed trough. He'd fight his way in with the big boys if he had to. He was a tough colt. He wasn't a 'kids' horse. He would strike at you or bite if he had to." (Breeder of Kentuckiana Farms)

Brian Sears on Jersey Gal & Blur: My gut instinct it probably to stay with Trond (Blur). I feel comfortable there. I know that filly will probably be better next week.
On Muscles Memory & Strong Yankee: They're both decent horses. They can trip out, maybe get lucky and win the race. I just got to think about that for a few more minutes. Strong Yankee's got a great spot. We'll keep making a couple more changes, try to get him a little bit better for the race. Muscles Memory is a sweetheart of a little horse. Drives real hard. Loves to go by other horses. Last week got roughed up, but was still able to make the final.

Erv Miller on Classic Photo: I like the Post Position (5). The mid pack I think is a good spot to start from for him. Now we just have to see how things fall. I think he can handle it either way. I think the start before last -- the elimination for the Dancer, come first up, kept going. I think he can do it either way. You can tell he's full of confidence just being around him. But he showed some real good speed there late in the year last year when we started him a couple times and he closed up real strong on the end of it.
On Ron Pierce vs Andy Miller (Erv's brother & top Chicago driver): We asked Ron to drive him when Andy couldn't make it out here to drive him a couple times. He happened to get along with the horse real well.

Don Swick on Racino & Self Professed: Racino is on a personal mission. For five years I lived with the fact that I thought I let Fast Photo down in The Hambletonian. I was inexperienced, probably didn't do the right things that he didn't win. This colt, we bought him. It's just in the back of my mind, like I say, a personal mission I was going to make the best we could out of him and help his mother a little bit. I just like the horse. I just like him. He tries hard. That's the one thing about him, he always tries hard. This horse is playing catch-up with the others. He's so far behind. Without racing or even qualifying last year, it's leaps he's made just to get this far. But he shows a couple breaks. He's always coming hard at the end. I really believe he'll do it again this week. I don't have expectations that this horse can win, I really don't. But I'd be really personally surprised if he doesn't get a check. Self Professed, the other day, when he raced, even though he raced good, I didn't see his really big kick that he has at the end of the mile. When he pulled up, I noticed when I took his overcheck off, he was just hanging, just head hanging heavily in the overcheck. I should say chin strap. All the trainers here know when horses do that, they don't perform right. There's something wrong when a horse's head is hanging that heavy. They don't work right, don't get their air right. Last year we wore an overcheck bit on him all year. Truthfully, this is Gurfein's fault. He's always telling me, "Let those Valley Victories head down, get a chin strap on them." This spring when I was getting him ready, I dropped his overcheck, put the chin strap on him, and he's been great that way. I think he's got to a point in the year where he needs his overcheck. We put the bit back on. I think he'll get his air better. Other than the two races where he got horrendous trips, he's been first or second. I have a lot of faith in that horse. He doesn't give up.

Jimmy Takter on Ken Warkentin's Break: We're not sure really what happened to the horse. We thought he maybe got a little scared of the whip from Roger Hammer when he waved it out. I don't know. He was completely shocked after the race, thought he had the race won. That's horse racing. I've been here before. Last year I thought I had a winner. Things didn't work out either. I had tears in my eyes on Monday when I jogged him, he felt so good. A lot of races coming up after, too, that could be interesting. Hopefully it's not over just because The Hambletonian is over for him. I think it's a very interesting horse. I just love the horse.
On Muscle Memory: You know, without Ken here, looks like Classic Photo is maybe slightly better than all of them. This is Hambletonian. A lot of things happen. Not many favorites in the races. Post 1, it could be very good, especially a horse like him. I consider him like fourth or fifth horse in the field. One post, he's good out of the gate. Anything can happen. He been carrying a lot of weight up front. We light him up a little bit last week, a couple small things. Hopefully we can get him adjusted to suit him here.
He had a bad post in the elim. Brian thought that not many horses inside was leaving, so he took his shot to leave. He thought the situation was he had to take back. Unfortunately, on the momentum to go, you have to stop your horse, of course, take a lot out of a horse.

Mark Harder on Northern Ensign: Came back from Canada because he got a bad limestone infection in his heels. Something didn't agree with him up there. The two breaks up there can attribute to the bad cracks in his heels. He made a break for George a couple starts ago. I think he had him on the gate a bit early. John drove him early. Qualified him three times. Drove him a couple of times. Never had any trouble with him here, no trouble with him last week. I'm not a big trotting man. I'm happy I'm here. I didn't pick the horse out. Brian Montgomery, John Fielding had much more to do with this horse. I'm just lucky to have him here.

Ron Gurfein on Muscle Bound: As far as drawing the 8 hole, I'm not a happy camper about that. My horse seems to have developed into a one-dimensional horse. We tried to use him a couple times early in the Sire Stakes. He just didn't have much punch finish than if we used him early. We've changed our tactics. We've raced him from off the pace. The last two starts, he's been awesome. I figure if I had the rail or the 2 hole or something like that, I'd have an excellent shot. Now we have to go back to the drawing board and take some other chances. This is the time of year you start taking weight off (their feet). Went the speed route rather than the very normal route that I usually take trying to get by doing things in a simple fashion. There's nothing like it (winning the Hambo). Absolutely nothing like it, except maybe having your first child born or something like that. But I would equate it with that. Some are more exciting than others, but they're all exciting. Just winning is always wonderful. I've always had the favorite. I've never gone into the race with a rank outsider like this. It would be just as much fun as when it was Self Possessed.

John Campbell on Northern Ensign & Mr Dream Om: I thought Northern Ensign was going into the race a little bit better shape. Mr. Dream OM had some problems early in the week. I believe he's going to get better; I just don't know if he's going to get better for this week. Nothern Ensign raced very well. Used him hard to keep the two hole filled, following Jack Moiseyev around the first turn. He got out ahead of the stretch. Wasn't a match for Classic Photo, but I was very happy with the race. If you look at his card, it's really the first good mile he's had in about three weeks. I think he's going to improve off that race. He won two or three in a row, then went to Canada, won an Ontario gold sires. As Mark alluded to, he had a few problems with his heels. I thought he was trotting better than he had all year the other day in the elimination race. Angus Hall, his sire, was a big, strong horse, hard to drive, behind the gate a little. Wasn't near as handy as this horse. This horse is actually more professional than his father was. If you win the race, doesn't matter what you pay. As Ron alluded to, it's what we all strive for in this industry. Every one of the entrants here are happy to be here, excited to be here. It's a thrill to be in this race each and every year. If you're fortunate enough to win it, it's just the pinnacle of what we strive for in this industry.

Paula Wellwood on Gettingdownanddirty: I'm going to treat him a little different. I'm going to do a shoeing change, like everybody else, lighten him up a little bit. Otherwise basically treat him the same as I've been treating him, but maybe a little more aggressively. He needed to be controlled a little bit in his last race. He definitely has ability. He just hasn't stepped up to the highest level yet.