The Canadian Sportsman

Nice guys don’t always finish last. On Breeders Crown night, trainer Mike Keeling finished second, desperately close to first, and still kept a broad smile on his face.

It was the second time this year that Keeling’s Elusive Desire (above, Dave Landry photo), last year’s O’Brien Award winner as Canada’s two-year-old trotting filly of the year and this year’s frontrunner for an O’Brien repeat, had been nudged out of the limelight by divisional rival Broadway Schooner, who passed Elusive Desire in the last four feet to claim the Crown on Oct. 24 at Woodbine Racetrack.

In the Hambletonian Oaks in August, Elusive Desire finished third, just a head behind Broadway Schooner. Despite losing the division’s top two races by less than a length, combined, to the same rival, Keeling wasn’t devastated by the deja vu.

“No disappointment here. She raced well and it was just a head bob, basically,” said Keeling, who lives in Cambridge, ON, in the paddock after the race.

The Breeders Crown title may have been cruelly elusive, but Keeling certainly didn’t go home empty-handed after the race — he brought home a millionaire.

With her second-place effort, Elusive Desire (Angus Hall—Valley Amber) has now earned $1,136,348 in her career and has a record of 13-8-7 in 31 lifetime starts, including winning multiple Ontario Sires Stakes (OSS) Gold Final titles, the SBOA and Canadian Breeders Championships and last year’s OSS Super Final, a title she intends to defend on Nov. 14 at Woodbine.

“She’s the first one. I hope not my last one, I hope she’s a stepping stone, but it’s pretty exciting," said Keeling, 40, of the million-dollar milestone.

“You see a lot of million-dollar winners, but when you actually look at it and get some perspective most trainers only get one or two or three in their career. The great ones get a few more, but when you only deal with 15 horses and you get one, it’s a pretty good feeling.”

Keeling, who trains Elusive Desire for his partner Paula Wellwood, Charles Armstrong and Robert Fasken, is especially proud of reaching the magic number with a trotting filly, a group that doesn’t have the luxury of a bunch of million-dollar purses on its calendar.

For Elusive Desire, it’s been all about consistency, good competition, longevity and her fighting spirit — ingredients that Keeling hopes will combine for more happy days in 2010.

“I think she’s easy to cheer for. When people see her, they see that she’s not a big horse and they learn about her personality — she loves to race — and that makes her easy to cheer for,” he said.

“She’s been her best at the end of the season. That’s the great thing about her. And she’s raced against the Grand Circuit horses so no one can say that she’s just made a ton at home. It’s been a fun ride and I can’t wait do it next year with her again at four.”

Thanks to premier three-year-old pacing colt Mr Wiggles, driver Corey Callahan's first taste of Grand Circuit competition has been fine dining.

At age 31, Callahan is not the prototypical 'young driver' in the business; however, with only four years since gaining his driver's license in 2005, Callahan certainly fits the bill as an up-and-coming reinsman.

After graduating with a marketing degree from the University of Kentucky, Callahan, a native of Easton, MD, worked in recruiting for four years before trying his luck in the horse business, alongside his father, trainer/driver Nick Callahan.

He may be a late bloomer, but in just four years, racing the majority of his time in Delaware at Harrington Raceway and Dover Downs, Callahan has won more than 1,100 times and earned upwards of $14 million.

This year, he got along so well with George Teague-trainee Mr Wiggles in the early season in Delaware, that he was tabbed as the colt's regular driver, accompanying the horse to racing engagements in the Hoosier Cup, North America Cup, Meadowlands Pace, Adios, Little Brown Jug and now the Breeders Crown, where he won his elimination on Oct. 17 in 1:50.2.

“He's basically put me on the map," said Callahan, from the paddock following his Crown elimination win.

“It's one thing to drive him in Delaware in the stakes, but it's a different ball game to give me the opportunity to follow him around,” he said, of the faith put in him by co-owners Teague and Elmer Fannin, both of Delaware.

“He's given me the type of national exposure that I need, and that's what I want — to be here with Tetrick, Pierce, Campbell and Sears in these big races. When you grow up and watch these races, that's exactly what you want to be doing. So I've been fortunate that my first Grand Circuit experience has been with such a good horse. He's a phenomenal horse.”

Under Callahan's command, Mr Wiggles has earned close to $800,000 this season, including winning the Hoosier Cup and winning eliminations of both the North America Cup and the Adios.

The downside of such exposure is that everyone knows when you have a bad day. The dream of driving a top contender in the Little Brown Jug went sour on Sept. 24 in Mr Wiggle's first heat when judges ruled, after a seemingly endless inquiry, that Callahan had gained an advantage by going inside a pylon, knocking Mr Wiggles from third to fourth place. The decision meant that Mr Wiggles would be saddled with an outside post for the final, where he ultimately finished sixth, 12 lengths behind the champion, Well Said.

“It's tough sometimes. You are in a position, like a basketball player at the end of the game taking a free throw. You can either be the hero or the goat depending on the shot,” said Callahan.

“In the Jug, it was an unfortunate occurrence. I was pretty sour and despondent when I left Ohio. People kept asking me, ‘Hey, did you have a good time out there?’ and I was like, ‘Not really. I had a terrible time,’” he said.

“Then somebody told me, ‘Don’t worry, you’re only two minutes away from happiness again.’ That’s it. I had a terrible time in Ohio, but here I am winning tonight in the Breeders Crown (elim) so I guess what goes around comes around.”

It’s impossible not to feel a little bit sorry for all of the other top three-year-old trotting colts chasing the great Muscle Hill around the track to no avail all season long.

I’d imagine it’s got to be a pretty big shot to the ego of a horse like Explosive Matter, who has won more than $1.4 million and set world records at age two and three, to be sent off as second-choice to Muscle Hill at 26-1 in the elimination of last week’s Kentucky Futurity.

But the horse I really feel for is the one who had to line up right next to the great champion in the same elimination, Russell Hill.

How’d you like to be the colt named Russell Hill, with Muscle Hill winning 19-in-a-row and counting, including the Hambletonian, World Trotting Derby, Canadian Trotting Classic and so on?

I can’t help thinking of Muscle Hill as the popular older brother and quarterback of the varsity football team, while poor Russell Hill is the dorky kid that gets shoved in a locker.

When asked about the unfortunate name game, Russell Hill’s trainer Jimmy Takter chuckled and said that he knows it’ll be difficult for his horse to step out from Muscle Hill’s shadow, even for one day.

“It’ll be tough, very tough,” he said, from the backstretch at The Red Mile.

Takter was right. Russell Hill finished fourth in his elimination, behind both Muscle Hill and Explosive Matter. He was later scratched from the Futurity final, saving the horse from going the second heat, which was won easily by that other Hill.

He may not be Muscle Hill, but it would be a mistake to feel too sorry for Russell.

After all, the son of Conway Hall—Southwind Maywood has a record of 9-8-2 from 25 starts and earnings of more than $441,000 in his career for Canadian owners Al Libfeld, Marvin Katz and Sam Goldband.

The horse has been an especially good performer in the New York Sires Stakes, where he’s won six events.

“He’s been a great competitor in the New York Sires Stakes circuit. He’s a great half-mile horse and an okay mile horse. He really favours the smaller track,” said Takter.

“The New York circuit is over and he didn’t have any races left so we thought we’d see if he could get a little lucky here.”

Because you never know when Russell might make a name for himself.