Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Odds On Racing's

Trainer of the Month
for February 2009

Homer Hochstetler

Homer Hochsteter, 56, was inducted into the IHHA Hall of Fame at their annual awards banquet on January 24, 2009.

The Bremen, Indiana native has trained 1,362 winners to $15,091,342 in earnings and driven 1,328 to $10,843,930 through his career. He thanked long-time partner Gary Wilcox for getting him started in Chicago.

Homer Hochstetler

"I came to Chicago to Sportsman’s Park in 1979 with a few horses for Gary and saw Jerry’s (Graham) trunks lined up through one whole end of the barn and thought I’d like to have that," Hochstetler recalled. "Since then, there’s been a lot of highs and lows, but I’m thankful for everything I’ve been lucky enough to achieve. The horses I’ve had, you just have to steer them and not get in their way for them to be successful."

It was Wilcox who gave Hochstetler his start in racing around the Chicago ovals. One of his first top horses was Demon's Bret, a $1,800 purchase that earned $185,931. Another top favorite was Brooklet's Pride, a pacing mare that won 23 of 35 starts for Hochstetler with earnings of nearly $175,000 at 4 and 5, with a mark of 1:54.1f in 1984.

"She was just as close to push-button as they come," Homer noted. "She made me look good!"

In 1994 Hochstetler bought the yearling filly Quillo from Beulah Dygert, but the trotting filly slipped on a patch of ice and was injured in training. When she recovered, Hochstetler trained her just enough to see that she had speed and a great attitude. Mrs. Dygert later gave the filly to Homer's wife Connie and they agreed to breed her. Her inital foals were by stallions trained by Connie's father Doug Ackerman, and her second baby was a colt named Lifes A Holiday, by the stallion Primrose Lane.

"He was squirrely and acted alike a fool when we first starte dtraining him," Hochstetler remembered. "I told my wife not to bother staking him to much, but she stakes every horse than breathes. Lifes A Holiday had a lot of desire."

That desire morphed into 41 wins and $721,659 in earnings. But Quillo's next foal was even mightier--Kadabra.

"He was good from the beginning, but had big ears that made him look like a donkey," Hochstetler noted, and later sold the colt to East Coast trainer Jimmy Takter for six figures. The youngster won over $1.2 million for Takter and is now a stallion standing in Canada.

Hochstetler has trained such standouts as Kadabra (shown above) , 1:51.3 ($1,806,779), Demons Bret, p,5,1:59.4h ($185,931)and Brooklet’s Pride p,5,1:54.1f ($181,469).

Hochstetler is also the conditioner of My Boy David, (shown below) p,3,1:47.4 ($1,227,077). "He's very sound," said Homer. "He likes to go to the track and race."

Homer doesn't drive as much as he used to these days, but still enjoys racing. He and Connie have a son, Jay.