Writing The Next Chapter After two vet visits just weeks after his purchase, one of his owners said this colt is going to bankrupt me thus leading to his name Chapter Seven. However, the colt surprised them and won seven of eight starts last year for $211,000 in earnings and this year could give trainer Linda Toscano her first Hambletonian starter. By M. Kelly Young Photos by Vicki Wright
Hambletonian-level horses don t come along every day, even for the best trainers in the sport, so Linda Toscano is already savouring the fact this Spring that she may be training back her first ever starter for the most illustrious event in harness racing. Chapter Seven, a son of the now deceased Trotting Triple Crown winner Windsongs Legacy, had a late start and flew largely under the radar last year, soaring to seven wins in eight starts and $211,549 while his freshmen trotting counterparts duked it out in high-profile events along the Grand Circuit. In fact, it wasn t until almost the end of his season when Toscano herself was finally convinced of the talent her colt possessed. So when Chapter Seven got sick the last week in March, all her hopes for the horse and his owners hung in the balance. He got sick and it was the kind of sick that scares you, she revealed. He
WRITING THE NEXT CHAPTER was training great and then an upper respiratory bug went through my barn. I heard him cough a couple times and when it runs through your barn you have to treat them all the same, even if they are good horses. He wasn t acting sick, he wasn t off his grain or anything like that, but someone came in to take a couple pictures of him and after I trained him I thought he was a little deader than he should be and he had a dry cough. Toscano consulted her veterinarian and they decided to take him to the hospital where he had an ultrasound, chest x- ray and they took all precautions. He had a high temperature and spent a week in the (vet clinic), but now he is cleared to come home and return to training, she said the day before he was return home to Showplace Farms. He responded very well to the antibiotics and they tell me he s obnoxious as usual so everything is good to go. Chapter Seven need stitches and then throat surgery not long after trainer Linda Toscaco welcomed him into her barn but he made up for his inauspicious start by winning seven of eight starts last year at two. He enters his sophomore campaign with two new owners, Southwind Farm and Jerry Silva, added to his ownership papers. This wasn t the first time Chapter Seven caused drama in the barn, in fact it was how he earned his moniker. His name was Windsongs Proxy, Toscano said of the colt when he was purchased by Richard Gutnick and first-time owner Gary Cocco for $42,000 at Harrisburg. The first thing he did was promptly jump over a fence and cut his hind leg and need a few stitches three days after the sale. The second thing he did was go for throat surgery. Rich said this horse is going to bankrupt me and thus the name Chapter Seven. The colt, out of the Dream Vacation mare La Riviera Lindy, made terrible breathing sounds when he began line driving so they quickly found that he suffered from an entrapped epiglottis. He wasn t a big colt, so after the surgery Toscano gave him a little more time before starting with him in mid- February. He trained down without incident and he overcame the fact that he was training by himself. He was a good gaited horse and a happy horse, but when he made it to the races he was a pleasant surprise, recalled Toscano. I thought he was okay, but I didn t think he was a great horse, I just didn t know. When you re training one trotter almost by himself it s very difficult to get a read on how good they are. April 2011 The Harness Edge
DR. HARRY M. ZWEIG MEMORIAL TROT NO. 39 $700,000 Estimated Purse Open to the World A Premier Racing Event For Trotters The Open Division will race for $400,000E with an $80,000E consolation. The Filly Division will race for $170,000E with a $40,000E consolation. NOMINATIONS CLOSE MAY 15, 2011 Foals of 2010 $50.00 for Colts & Geldings $25.00 for Fillies Sponsored by Tioga Downs & Vernon Downs et al. Race owned by and fees collected by Harness Horse Breeders of New York State, Inc Call 518-785-5858 to request complete conditions or view them on line at hhbnys.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Name of Yearling Zweig Memorial Trot # 39 To Race In 2013 Sex Sire C/F Dam Owner/Nominator Address Telephone Amount Enc. $ Mail With Payment To: Harness Horse Breeders, 400 Troy-Schenectady Rd., Latham, NY 12110 (U.S. Funds Only) Tel: 518-785-5858 ~ Fax: 518-785-5848 ~ E-mail: info@hhbnys.com ~ Website: hhbnys.com
WRITING THE NEXT CHAPTER One thing he does know how to do is win. He s a very competitive horse, he enjoys what he s doing. I m a huge believer that is something you can t teach. Some horses are just winners. Linda Toscano Mike Lachance directed the colt in his first few starts and told Toscano early that he had speed. He started him once at Chester for us and was parked almost every step of the mile, it was an off track and he was out in the center of the racetrack where he could stay out of trouble. Mike said he was as strong at the end of the mile as he was at the beginning. Then through other prior commitments Mike couldn t follow him and Jeff Gregory hopped on him in the Sire Stakes at Freehold and he really had a great run. Gregory was able to steer Chapter Seven to victory in both legs and the final of the New Jersey Sire Stakes and the Harold Dancer at Freehold. The colt s only mistake was in the NJ Futurity on October 7 when he broke in the second turn first up, but recovered well for third, his only finish not ending in the winner s circle. I kind of wanted to shut him down at that point because he had been through a lot and had overcome it all and then his owners said what do you think about trying him for the Matron? admitted Toscano. He wasn t eligible for Lexington or the Breeders Crown, so the only thing left was the Matron and that was like six weeks after the NJ Futurity. I said we ll let him tell us. We ll give him some time off and qualify him and see what he s like. So we qualified him at the Meadowlands and he won in 1:55 and that s when I really started to take notice of him. When he qualified as strong as he did on the big track, that s when I said he was tougher than I thought he was. Then he won the Matron, in both the preview and final he was very much on cruise control. Lachance was back in the driver s seat for both of those Matron events and steered the colt to an easy first-over, fourlength victory in the $132,075 Matron Final in 1:55.2. He has speed and he has no end of the mile, explained Toscano. He s a really handy horse and his size might work for him. Mike and I have talked about this because I wish he had grown up over the winter because obviously you want a big, strong, strapping horse, yet at the same time, because of his size and handiness, he may stay sounder, too. He s a little bit smaller than Windsongs Legacy from what I understand. He s a medium-sized horse at best. Following the Matron victory, Chapter Seven was turned out at Southwind Farm, which along with Jerry Silva, bought into the colt at the end of his rookie season. With renewed faith in their charge, the connections began looking forward to the big three-year-old events. Obviously, the Hambletonian is the brass ring, that s what we re hoping for, but he has all the major races. We ve given him enough of an opportunity if he s a good horse, said Toscano. Now well established and respected in the sport, Toscano seldom makes reference to the fact that she is a successful woman in a predominantly male field. But she did earn recognition as the first woman to train a Breeders Crown champion when Molly Can Do It scored in the Open Mares division in 2002. So far, no woman has sent April 2011 The Harness Edge
out a Hambletonian winner, but Toscano can t even think about that. I think if you ask anybody who trains horses for a living what it would be like to start a horse in the Hambletonian, it would pretty much be universal: it s the thrill of a lifetime. I refuse to even let my brain go to where he could be competitive and even conceivably win it. I m just going to do the best that I can and hopefully he ll rise to the occasion, she said. Chapter Seven was able to rise to the occasion last year, but he also didn t have to face the headliners of his class. Toscano is still considering whether to prep him for the Hambletonian by testing him against those top horses along the traditional route of prep races at the Meadowlands, or whether she may try another path to maintain his courage. He is staked for either path. Mike Lachance s feeling on going to the Hambletonian is that they need to prep at the Meadowlands, said Toscano, who has a lot of respect for the four-time Hambletonian winning driver. It s a double-edged sword. I don t know what he s going to do when he s up against those horses, that s one side. But the other half of it is, I believe if you teach your horse to win they find a way to win. One thing he does know how to do is win. He s a very competitive horse, he enjoys what he s doing. I m a huge believer that is something you can t teach. Some horses are just winners. Like during his two-year-old season, Toscano plans to let the horse tell her what he needs. We were hoping to start with the New Jersey Sire Stakes. He has a pretty decent bottom under him at this point, but with him getting sick he s going to have to map his own schedule. He was a very easy horse to get ready last year, I hope that will be the case again this year, but he will get however much time he needs to make sure he s completely recovered. Toscano and the colt already have a good relationship with Lachance, and while she would love for him to drive the colt, it was still too early to know his commitments. Mike and I kind of started together at Roosevelt and it would a fun thing to have him campaign this horse for me and have him go out there and win. I can t think of anyone I would rather have drive the horse. When it comes to a trotter and an all-around horseman, I think he is heads above. So while Toscano does everything to keep her Hambo-bound colt on track, she is still thinking of her owners and the sport in general. It s really a thrill to train a good trotter and I m really looking forward to campaigning him this year. He s a New Jersey-bred and I can t think of anything Jersey needs more than a shot in the arm and a good horse racing as a Jersey-bred would be wonderful. Hopefully it will work out because this is why we get in this business, to get horses of this level and then to be able to compete. The Harness Edge has moved... but not far. Effective April 1, 2011, our headquarters are located at 112 Barrett Avenue, Brantford, Ontario N3S 0B3. The telephone number of 519-752-2800 and fax (519) 752-2207 remain unchanged. w w w. t h e h a r n e s s e d g e. c o m The Harness Edge April 2011