The Canadian Sportsman
Dream Stable Central
Back To Dream Stable CentralJanuary 25, 2010
Nova Scotia-based trainer, owner, breeder and veterinarian Dr. Trevin Shive won The Sportsman’s 2009 Dream Stable with record earnings of over $8 million, then turned around and praised the contest for increasing his interest in racing.
Dr. Trevin Shive’s 2009 Dream Stable may have set a record for earnings with over $8 million earned, but the trainer, owner, breeder and veterinarian from Belnan, NS isn’t claiming skill is the reason he won the eighth edition of the contest.
“It was dumb luck,” Shive said. “It’s like racing horses.”
He points to the fact he finished 367th out of 467 participants in the 2008 contest with stable earnings of just over $2.8 million as proof that good fortune was as much a factor as anything to credit for his triumph in ‘09.
While he’s happy to win a weekend of racing, NHL hockey and theatre in Toronto courtesy of The Sportsman, Shive, 41, said the real value of the contest is not only bragging rights around the barn, but an increased interest in horse racing.
“It’s a lot of fun. I enjoyed it. It keeps you interested, I think, in watching the races,” Shive said.
Even better, Shive said he increased his wagering because of the contest.
“We bet on them. My friend John (Philpott), he’s got an HPI betting account and we bet a little bit more on than we probably would have. We were betting on the horses we had picked. So, that was cool, too. I think (the contest) works to stimulate the interest a little bit, too and maybe put a little more money back in.”
Philpott is Shive’s partner on Cams Card Shark—Victorias Secret colt named Ittakestwobaby they purchased for $20,000 at the 2008 Harrisburg yearling sale. Shive had such high hopes for the colt, he picked it for his Dream Stable too. Ittakestwobaby contributed $10,171 to both Shive’s real and fantasy cause (and even finished second to Renoir CC in a $18,430 class at Woodbine on Jan. 10). He was one of five two-year-olds that earned money (out of six), led by stellar two-year-old trotting filly Costa Rica ($989,355) and Malicious ($348,039), trained by Dr. Ian Moore of Charlottetown, one of three Maritime horses in Shive’s Dream Stable, counting Ittakestwobaby and Crunch Time ($425), trained by Danny Romo.
“(Crunch Time) was training really well and then he got off on him and he lost a bunch of time. (Romo) was talking about him. He was up the track looking pretty good, so we put him down,” Shive said. “The other horse was Ian Moore’s horse, Malicious. Some people got word that Ian said he was the nicest colt he had ever trained. Those were pretty powerful words for me. He’s had a tremendous amount of luck in the last three or four years.”
Shive’s stable ranked fifth overall, just counting two-year-olds. What won him the contest was the performance of his three-year-old picks.
Not only did Shive have the top trotter Muscle Hill ($2,501,381) and the top pacer Well Said ($2,089,693), he astutely selected the second-richest three-year-old pacer, If I Can Dream ($1,792,753). Shive, who led the Dream Stable early in the year, slipped to second in the fall, then regained his lead when If I Can Dream won the Breeders Crown at Woodbine.
“Muscle Hill, everybody had him. He was the Tiger Woods pick,” Shive said. “If I Can Dream, I don’t know if you can say he over-achieved (in ‘09), because he had a world record (in ‘08). He just didn’t race in any of the big races (at two) and he only had a handful of starts.”
Even Shive’s last three-year-old pick, trotting mare Margarita Momma, contributed a healthy $376,482 to his thick total bankroll of $8,113,451.
Shive finished $346,088 ahead of runner-up Joe Kartonchik of Port Rowan, ON, whose Diamond K Stables earned $7,767,363.
Kartonchik not only receives a two-year Sportsman subscription for being second, we’ll tack on a third year, too, because he also had the best stable of two-year-olds (Kevin Perry of Bolton, ON wins a one-year subscription for finishing third overall).
Five of Kartonchik’s six two-year-old picks contributed to an outstanding total haul of $2,407,841.
By comparison, Kartonchik’s two-year-olds earned more than $1 million than Shive’s two-year-olds.
Kartonchik astutely selected Metro Pace-winning world-record setting Sportswriter ($875,411), Costa Rica ($989,355), Western Moonlight ($329,089) and Behindclosedoors ($201,632). Oddly, the one two-year-old that failed to contribute was Mork N Lindy, the same freshman Shive picked.
Shive said he is thrilled five of his six two-year-olds produced, an unheard of percentage for horses selected as yearlings. “I wish my own horses could do that each year. I’d be really happy,” he said.
Shive manages the racing stable for Penn Hills Farm in Shubenacadie, NS, the farm started by his father, Dr. Jim Shive.
With the help of long-time employee Hughie MacKay and Emile Cormier, Trevin trains a small stable in the afternoon after spending most mornings doing small animal surgery at the family’s Elmsdale Animal Hospital near the Halifax Airport.
“I like doing surgery. You go in and everything’s kind of laid out there for you. You go in and get in done and you head to the farm,” Trevin said.
Once a thriving racing and breeding operation with as many as 60 horses on the farm, Penn Hills Farm has pared down a bit and now stands one stallion, Mantorious. Each year, the family breaks between seven and 10 young horses to race, between Harrisburg purchases and ones they raise themselves.
“I’ve been going to Harrisburg and buying some mares in foal to some decent sires and raising them,” Shive said. “But we’re slowly learning the breeding part of it. We’ve been in it so long, but we’ve been slowly weeding out the mares and trying to get our numbers down that way and just go and buy them. We’re getting down to going out and buying yearlings and let the people raise them.”
As if they don’t already have enough to keep them busy, the Shive family also built and operates a golf course next door to their horse farm. The Links of Penn Hills has been open about five years.
“The neighbouring farm to us was a dairy farm. He ended up selling his quota and the farm was just sitting there vacant and bordered right on our horse farm. It was kind of my idea. We drove up there and I said, ‘This would make some golf course.’ It grew from there,” Trevin said. “That took about two years to get all the permits and all that. We mortgaged the farm, me and my brother and my father and our wives. We all got involved in it. We got that going and now it’s turned out to be pretty nice golf course.”
Trevin looks after the horses and his brother takes care of the golf course. Their retired father, Jim, helps out both places.
It’s a busy life made slightly more enjoyable by having stronger rooting interests in other people’s horses thanks to the Dream Stable.
“It made watching the racing more exciting,” Shive said. “I watch a lot of racing anyway, but it’s like a hockey pool or a golf pool. You watch and root for the horses on your team. So, it’s kind of cool that way,” he said.
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