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David's interview
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| How did you become involved in harness racing
? |
 | I was born into a harness racing environment. My father Larry was
once a part-time trainer and driver who raced during the late 1970's in
Ontario. He also had his own farm with a band of broodmares. I credit my
father for passing on the values of horsemanship and patience to me.
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| When I was around 13 years old, I took some of my savings to buy
into a horse partnership with my father. |
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| How did you proceed to gain a working
knowledge of the business ? |
| When I was 13 years old I landed my first job working for
Armstrong Brothers. For the next seven years or so, I took care of
yearlings and broodmares for 10-20 hours a week during the school year
and on a full-time basis during the summer. When I look back at my time
at Armbro, I feel grateful that I had the opportunity to work for such
an industry-renowned organization and for managing to make a lot of
industry contacts through them. |
| I also worked for trainer Blair Burgess for one summer while I
was in High school. |
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| When did you first start to train horses ?
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| When I was 20 years old I went to work as a second trainer for
trotting specialist Pierre Bovay. While working there, I also had the
opportunity to work together with Jim Takter and Jean Pierre Dubois,
both of whom were stabling some horses at Bovay's Ontario farm at that
time. |
| When I was 21, I worked in both Chicago and Florida as a second
trainer for the late Brian Pinske. At times the Pinske stable would have
upwards of 100 horses in his barn. I worked there for one year and
gained some invaluable experience working with a large number of
yearlings. |
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| When and how did you go off on your own ?
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| Since I was 13 years old, I have always owned or co-owned at
least one racehorse. |
| In the year 2001, Pierre Bovay encouraged me to branch out on my
own and establish my own stable. In the fall of that same year, I
decided to open my own public stable. |
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| Tell us about your career since going off on
your own: |
| I initially started training a few of my own claiming types and
some younger conditioned-type horses. |
| I've picked up a few new partners in the past year. I currently
have a mix of claiming types in my barn. |
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| What types of horse partnerships are you
looking for ? |
| I am willing to become an ownership partner and trainer for just
about any type of standardbred racehorse. My stable is starting to grow
but I've still got room in my barn to expand. |
| I like to own pieces of horses which I'm training as it reassures
the other owners that I'm willing to invest my own money. This also
gives me an opportunity to share in the horse's earnings. |
| Ideally I'd like to have stake-calibre horses to train, but I'm
also quite willing to play the claiming game. |
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| Who drives your horses ? |
| I have my driver's license and I drive occasionally at the B
tracks. At Woodbine/Mohawk, I use the top WEG circuit catch drivers to
drive my stock, as they are the best drivers in Canada. |
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| What are some of the advantages you can offer
to horse owners ? |
| My stable is centrally located at the Waples
Training Center (about 10 kilometers north of Mohawk Raceway). I am
within an hour and 40 minutes' drive (or less) from 8 different Ontario
harness racetracks. I am willing to travel to different tracks to have
the horses properly classified. My barn is well-kept and I've got a 1/2
mile and a 5/8 mile training track at my disposal, both of which are
being maintained to a very high standard. |
| I always try to surround myself with the
best available resources and help: Veterinarians, blacksmiths, and
caretakers. I don't believe in trying to cut corners when it comes to
keeping a horse in top shape. |
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| Career highlights/Milestones ?
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| Recording my first lifetime training win in my first lifetime
training start on July 7,1999 at the old Barrie Raceway with Odd Spices.
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| Qualifying and then winning a maiden race at Elmira Raceway (June
29,2001) with 'Pure Power'. Pure Power, a Balanced Image trotter that
Pierre Bovay was training for Jimmy Takter, was having problems staying
flat in the qualifiers. I was the first driver to successfully qualify
the horse. I subsequently drove him to victory in his first lifetime
start...which just so happened to be my own second lifetime driving
start! |
| Walking into work at Pierre Bovay's barn and getting to see Moni
Maker, the richest standardbred of all time everyday while she was in
Ontario. I also had a chance to jog her on a few occasions. |
| Winning my first stakes race, an OSS grassroots event with
'Taking Over' in his second lifetime start (Hanover, July 7, 2001).
Taking Over was the first yearling that I broke and developed on my own.
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| Winning WEG's Silver Reign Pacing Series final on March 18,2002
with 'Campressious', where she broke her maiden winning by 10 lengths.
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| Setting a new lifetime mark for pacer 'Tarnished Halo' - 1:50.4
on June 20, 2003 in a WEG claiming race. |
| Mr Ontario wins OSS Gold at Georgian Downs and sets new track
record for 2-year old trotting colts in 1:59.2 (July 12, 2005) |
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| What are your goals ? |
| To acquire more racehorses and improve the quality of my stock.
My long range goal is to have WEG and stakes-calibre horses filling up
my barn. |
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| Final thoughts/Comments ? |
| I am a young trainer looking to establish a foothold in the
business. I realize that no one started at the top. Therefore, I am
hoping that my training performance and hard work will get noticed and
that eventually this will snowball into attracting new business.
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