Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Donna Lee: A Lifetime Of Training

Steger, Illinois resident Donna Lee-Ozment has trained a formitable stable on the grounds of Balmoral Park for over 20 years. The 51-year-old mother of two has conditioned the winners of over $1+million lifetime and scored her best season in 2000, when her horses earned $188,314 and she scored a 16-30-26 record from 190 starts.

The Fairfield, Illinois native says she attributes her success in harness racing to the KISS theory: Keep It Simple Stupid.

Donnalee&horse

Trainer Donna Lee & friend

“I like to start out as simple as possible with all my horses,” Donna said. “I start out simple with everything and then progress from there. The less I bother my horses in terms of rigging and everything else, the less they’re going to fight me.”

Are there any exceptions to Donna’s rule?

“Of course,” she laughed. “I had a horse named Corky’s Egyptian at Quad City Downs back in the 1980’s. He wore everything, a crit Davis overcheck bit, a jawbreaker, a can (under his throat to keep him from chocking down), ear plugs, quarter boots, tendon boots, knee boots and two head poles. He won four in a row rigged that way and then I changed all his equipment and went from a heavy set of hobbles to a lighter set, and I changed his harness too. He then went out and won and lowered his mark from 1:58.4 to 1:57.1. He broke the all-time record for the most wins in one season at Moline with 15 victories and was a horse that never lost in the mud. The day he set out to break the record of 14, it rained. He was crazy on the track, but very quiet in the barn and eventually we gave him away as a riding horse.”

In terms of shoeing, Donna says she tries to get away with using as little of borium as possible.
“All my pacers are shod with steel full swedge shoes in front and half-round, half-swedge shoes on their hind feet,” Donna said. “I use very little borium...it just sores the horses up so bad, some horses more than others. With winter racing, of course we have to use the borium so that the horses can have traction, but it really sores them up a lot, especially in their hind ends.”

“I turn my horses out a lot,” Donna continued. “Usually every three or four days. With the sun on their backs it really helps them, especially mares who have a tendency to tie up. Being turned out keeps the horses moving and helps their muscles.”

Donna said she believes in the power of poultice to relieve the aches and pains that the horses incur through the rigors of racing.

“I’m a poultice lady,” She laughed. “I use poultice before and after a horse races and trains and use lots of cold water too. I probably use a couple of those 50 pound tubs of poultice per week.”

Racing sulkies (bikes) are a very important part of equipment in the Lee Stable, Donna said.

“I think bikes make a big difference to a horse.” Donna said. “No body could say that a cheetah bike didn’t help a horse..just remember back when Tony Morgan was the only person who had a cheetah bike at Hawthorne and nobody could beat him, until they banned it from racing.”

“I think the underslung bikes really help a tiny horse a lot. For instance, my old class horse Chicago Jazz really liked an underslung sulky because it took all of the pressure off his front feet.”

When it comes to feeding, Donna’s horses have a virtual buffet of goodies to choose from.

“I feed all my horses differently,” Donna said. “It all depends upon the individual and what I feel is best for that particular horse. I give them all sweet feed and Strategy and all the hay they can eat. I like to feed Timothy hay because I’ve had too many typing-up problems with a lot of my mares.”

“Some of my bigger horses get fed four times a day,” Donna explained. “Little horses require a lot less than some of the other horses to maintain their idea weight.”

Donna also says she uses a lot of vitamins in her horses feed and that “if they sell it at the tack shop I probably feed it. I used Iron Horse, a liquid vitamin and Sky-Tie, for mares who are prone to tying-up.”

Donna also found a unique solution to a problem she had with a horse named Lake Hills Melody.

“This mare was a very bad eater until I got her a buddy,” Donna said. “I went over the to local auction and got a Nubian goat. I put her in the stall with Lake Hills Melody and after that she began to eat up the bottom of her feed tub. She’s happy since she got her companion.”

"It's often the simplist things that can accomplish a lot in the barn," Donna added.

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