At The Tipping Point

At The Tipping Point Rod Boyd is having one of his best years ever as a trainer and realizes it could be the springboard to far greater days ahead. By Harold Howe Rod Boyd realizes that he is at a crossroads in life; as far as his career as a professional horse trainer is concerned he is at the tipping point. This year has been kind to this 38 year-old Cambridge, Ontario, horseman. Through September his stable has registered winnings of $483,000 largely through the efforts of two horses, Look Cheap ($190,862) and Il Mago ($124,710). They have helped make this one of his best years ever as a trainer. But he is the first to admit that this has to be a springboard for bigger days yet. I wanted to get away from racing so much at the smaller tracks which I ve been able to do. The barn has made more money than last year with about half as many starts, he points out from his base at Emerald Isle Training Centre near Troy, Ontario. I expect to go into the winter with a team of 17 with about six to eight yearlings. The game has

AT THE TIPPING POINT Photo by New Image Media changed so much. You simply cannot afford to race a cheap horse anymore so you need to be getting more quality all the time. I ve never had a name people recognize but this year has helped that although it still is difficult to bring people into the game as owners who don t have much of an idea who you are or what you can do. That is where Tom Hill may be able to help. Hill is best known as one of the principal owners in the Casie Coleman barn but lately he has been sliding a few horses over to Boyd. Buoyed by the efforts of Look Cheap, he could be a larger factor in this operation at the upcoming yearling sales. Actually besides Tom I ve had a few people after me about yearlings so I ve been giving the yearling catalogues quite a bit of attention. I m doing my homework, says Boyd. In talking with Boyd it does not take long to discover that his racing idol is the late William Wellwood. To me there was no one better at the business of racing horses than Bill. He Boyd has a lot of admiration for his pacing filly Look Cheap who overcame adversity to win over $190,000. Her career came to an end in late September when she was kicked by another horse while turned out in a paddock. opened my eyes in the five years I worked for him but I still wasn t smart enough to stay there. He was the smartest man around horses I ve ever met. There are so many simple things that mean so much which I learned by simply watching him, admits Boyd. He was such a straight up guy. If he liked you he would talk to you about things and was very generous. I remember the time we raced in the Nat Christie and a reporter from the Calgary Sun came for an interview. Bill told him he d never sat behind the horse and the reporter would be better off talking to the assistant trainer which was me at the time. Not many people would do that and it meant a lot because of my Alberta connections. While he does have Alberta connections, Boyd roots also lie in Windsor, Nova Scotia, where he father was a familiar face many years ago at the now defunct Sackville Downs. Looking for greener pastures the family relocated to Alberta where cattle took over as the family s focus except for Rob who had aspirations of excelling in hockey. I was a centre with some size who was not afraid to mix it up. I had a few tryouts with the WHL but was really a third liner at best. Then at 19 I badly hurt a shoulder and that was it for me. The whole family had an interest in horses but I knew that if I wanted to go down this path I had to move east. So I moved and went to work for Joe Stutzman but it didn t work out because I was no sooner there and he lost a bunch of horses. Being the last man in meant I was the first out. It did not take long for him to land September/October 2011 The Harness Edge

Photo by New Image Media on his feet with a position in the Ted Jacobs stable where he remained for three years at Mohawk Racetrack. It was a bit of a rough go because I did not know a soul when I came here but there was no doubt this was where I had to be. Getting the chance to go work for Wellwood after Ted was such an opportunity which I really didn t realize at the time. That was right at the time Bill was really rolling well. The first year there he had Village Connection who did nothing but make money. Boyd was a caretaker and then graduated to being an assistant trainer. Anything I know about horses I learned from Bill. If you showed him that you wanted to learn he would teach you. When I look back the decision to leave him was the dumbest one I ever made, I was just young and stupid. All it was over was more money. I d gone to the US with some of his horses and the grass looked greener there Boyd's former employer Mark Harder sent him the Kadabra rookie Il Mago to race this summer and he's earned $124,000 to date from six starts. with the dollar being so strong at the time, it was dumb, dumb, dumb. When Boyd left he did so to take a role with Mark Kesmodel where he stayed for three years in New Jersey. That was a lot different because it was strictly racehorses. Mark was always jamming them with horses coming in and out of the barn all the time. I m glad I did it to see what the other side of racing was like but it was Bill who did it best. After the stint with Kesmodel, Boyd took a break and returned to Alberta where he spent six months in the employ of Travis Umphrey. But Ontario was calling and he returned. This was the time Mark Harder was the big name with 40 head in Ontario under Tony O Sullivan. You ll remember how that stable was hitting so hard for a period and while there I learned a lot too. Mark and Tony are New Zealanders and they have a little different way of doing things, he explains. Actually I had a brother in New Zealand and I went to visit to see first hand myself. They do a lot of endurance training with extra quarters and they turn them out overnight and leave them alone to be horses. That s what I see about Kevin O Reilly up here now doing and there is not a lot of veterinary work. I guess as a result my style is a lot of Bill Wellwood s thinking with a bit of Mark and Tony. In total Boyd remained with the The Harness Edge September/October 2011

AT THE TIPPING POINT Harder camp for eight years until it wound down its Canadian base. I took over a few of the horses for Brian Nixon, one of Mark s owners and then Mark sent me a few others to help me get started. I came here to Emerald Isle five years ago and have been doing my own thing ever since. It s a great place to base from for a lot of reasons. Earlier this month the fortunes of Boyd did take a tumble when his good Ontario Sires Stakes Gold filly Look Cheap was injured by another horse effectively ending her racing career. She d made $190,000 while racing lame most of it but earned Boyd s admiration for her courage. I bought her for Tom Hill for $25,000 a year ago last June in the cleanout by Perfect World Enterprises who I had trained for. She was the toughest filly I d ever been around. She was always lame but overcame it, he says. There was a chance we could have got her back for the OSS Super Final but it would have been a big ask. She won $190,000 for Tom and now will be a broodmare. They should all have her heart. The daughter of Geartogear s Gold To me there was no one better at the business of racing horses than Bill (Wellwood). He opened my eyes in the five years I worked for him but I still wasn t smart enough to stay there. He was the smartest man around horses I ve ever met. There are so many simple things that mean so much which I learned by simply watching him. final victory at Georgian Downs in July of this year may be watched by clicking here. So much of horse racing is about relationships and the goodwill Boyd maintained with Mark Harder paid off this summer when he was sent the two-yearold trotting colt Il Mago. The Kadabra colt has recorded a Gold final and elimination victory in OSS events as well as a second in a Gold final while in Boyd s care. His Gold final victory at Rideau Carleton may be viewed by clicking here. Mark just called out of the blue and asked me to race this horse for he and partner Chris Alexander. I thought he looked awesome at Woodbine and is just such a nice trotter. He ll likely have only eight starts or so. I have to say that Mark was great to let me have some glory on this one because he could have left the horse in his name and just had me race him. I appreci- September/October 2011 The Harness Edge

ate things like that. With age comes mental maturity and Boyd is quite likely in his peak years except for the fact that he is a degenerate Boston Red Sox fan. It all started in 2000 and it s gotten worse ever since. I don t know if I own a shirt that doesn t have a Red Sox logo on it. Some people even call me Boston Rod. On the July 4 weekend I m part of a guy trip to Boston to see then play. I m on the computer every night checking out the stats and what not. What can I say? Baseball is my game. While racing is often referred to as a game, Boyd knows it s a business and his business. Bill taught me that you do not pour all your money into yearlings. You build your capital racing horses and let yearling investment account for 20 per cent of your holdings. I try to take a piece of most of what it is here and don t mind doing that. His favorite remains the six-year-old Western Maverick gelding R Lil King. This is a bread and butter sort who will always I have to say that Mark was great to let me have some glory on this one (Il Mago) because he could have left the horse in his name and just had me race him. I appreciate things like that. have a soft spot for Boyd who owns him. We got him for $10,000 and he has $223,000 lifetime without ever having raced in a stake race. He allowed me to make the down payment on my house so when his days are done he ll always have a home. It s clear that Boyd has received a great apprenticeship en route to where he is today. He s made strides this year in his management of Look Cheap and Il Mago. He s grounded and mature enough to deal with whatever racing can toss his way. As he says, he s at the tipping point. The Harness Edge September/October 2011

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