Rich Fisher

Trenton, NJ — When the New York Yankees play a day-night doubleheader against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium Aug. 3, they may want to double check their equipment just to make sure everything is in order. Because, if he has his way, New York’s assistant equipment manager will be on the other side of the George Washington Bridge.

Joe Lee has worked with the Yankees for a quarter century and it’s going to kill him to miss two games with the hated Beantowners. But he hopes to be watching his horse, Mr Vicktor, compete in harness racing’s crown jewel that day at The Meadowlands.

“I will try and be at this Hambletonian,” Lee said. “This will probably be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I think I’m afforded to take a day off. I mean after 25 years I can take a day off. Although it is against the Red Sox, and it is two games. It’s the worst combo. This would be a great gig if they didn’t have to play all these games.”

With the Yanks in Boston this weekend, at least Lee can watch Mr Vicktor make his Meadowlands debut Saturday (July 27) in the $81,200 W.N. Reynolds Memorial. The race is the final stakes prep for the $1 million Hambletonian, harness racing’s premier event for 3-year-old trotters, the first weekend in August.

Mr Vicktor has won seven of 10 lifetime starts, with two seconds and one third, while earning $195,152. Steve Roth photo.

Mr Vicktor has won seven of 10 lifetime starts, with two seconds and one third, while earning $195,152. All of his races have been in New York, primarily on the New York Sire Stakes circuit. This year, the colt has won six of eight starts and finished second twice, both times behind undefeated Gimpanzee, who was the 2018 Dan Patch Award winner for best 2-year-old male trotter.

“We skipped the sire stakes this weekend in New York to get him off the smaller tracks,” Lee said. “He’s been on the bigger track (seven-eighths Vernon Downs) but hasn’t been on the mile. Going into the Hambletonian, we wanted to get him a trip over The Meadowlands track. We had staked him earlier this winter for the Reynolds, actually as a prep race if he ever turned out to be the horse he turned out to be. That worked out.”

Did it ever.

Mr Vicktor, by RC Royalty out of Hawaiian Vicky, was purchased for $21,000 at the 2017 Morrisville Sale by Lee, Diamond Pride LLC, which is former Yankees manager Joe Torre, and Sholty Racing. Buzzy Sholty, the horse’s original trainer, made the call.

“Buzzy’s got a good eye for picking out horses that look like they have good conformation,” Lee said. “Buzzy also is pretty good on the breeding and the cross breed and what he thinks could be a good cross breed and what he thinks is the best shot at getting to the track for not a lot of money. Buzzy is never one to over-pay and say, ‘Hey we’re getting this horse no matter what.’

“Buzzy’s picked out good horses in the past for me too. Not one that was going to be in the Hambletonian, but Buzzy’s got a good eye on picking a well-built horse. And seeing the horse is an RC Royalty, you’re going to get him a little cheaper. But he’s built well and he’s got a tough heart.”

Mr Vicktor won his first lifetime start at Monticello Raceway in the New York Excelsior Series A and came back to finish third at Tioga Downs in the same series. But during the race he made a breathing noise and the decision was made to shut him down for the season.

“He was getting entrapped,” Lee said. “So, we did the surgery and let him have the time he needed to heal. At the same time, we thought we had a really nice horse. Buzzy was really patient with him and let him come back on his own.

“This year he qualified fine. He started out in a non-winners of two (at Yonkers) and won handily with Buzzy driving. We said, ‘All right, he looks pretty good here, he looks like he’s come back, he’s not having any breathing issue.’ Going back to his first race, he went 2:00 at Monticello and we said, ‘Wow, you have a horse that can go in 2:00 at Monticello in his first lifetime start and not be fully getting his air, we must have a nice horse.’ It was fully worth it to do the surgery and give him the time that he needed.”

In May, Bob Santagata and Jennifer Lappe came looking for a quality horse, and Lee and Torre brought them in on Mr Vicktor, but they wanted to hold on to a stake.

“Bob Santagata was interested in having a nice 3-year-old that was coming into his own,” Lee said. “Our horse was really lightly raced, it looked like he had some ability. So, he was willing to take a shot. He was interested in purchasing the horse, but we wanted to also stay in because we thought the horse had a lot of ability as well. So, Jennifer and Bob Santagata joined up with us and on we went.”

Once the deal was complete, Lappe took over the training duties while Sholty continued to paddock the colt and warm him up. Tyler Buter remained as the driver, which made sense since Mr Vicktor was undefeated this year at the time the new partners came on board.

“He had known the horse, he had trained him at the farm with Buzzy,” Lee said. “Tyler was really familiar with him. To be honest, over the years, the money we made from the last horse Tyler was driving for us helped us get Mr Vicktor.

“Tyler has always done right by us. He always has the horses in a good spot and never really over-races them. He races that horse as if it’s his own. Tyler’s a real good horseman as well. He knows what he’s doing out there and we’re comfortable with him.”

That makes for a good combination since Mr Vicktor is capable of racing several different ways. In his second start this year, he was challenged on the backstretch and collared, but dug in and won by 4-3/4 lengths.

“He’s got it in him, he knows when he’s got to race,” Lee said. “He’s a pretty versatile horse. If you need to leave the gate, he’ll push right out of there. There’s been a couple races where they’ve been flying in the first turn and he’s gotten away either fourth, fifth and then come first over right away. He’s got a big brush in him, he swells up when he gets on the lead. He’s raced both on the lead and from behind.

“Tyler has done a really, really good job keeping him relaxed in the post parade and keeping his feet underneath him going to the gate. He can tend to be a little hot when he’s warming up. That was last year. Jogging this year, he’d tend to get a little hot. But so far he’s been OK.”

Mr Vicktor is one of many horses Lee has owned with Torre, who won four World Series as Yankees manager and who has had some success as a Thoroughbred owner.

“Typically for the last few years, anything I’ve owned Joe has taken a piece of,” Lee said. “He’s excited about this also; I’m hoping he can make it to the Meadowlands for the Hambletonian. For the most part he’ll watch online, especially when Mr Vicktor’s been racing. I’ve called him when he’s racing and he’s always on the road.”

Lee recalled calling him once to tell Torre the horse was racing in Vernon Downs, and woke him up in the middle of the night because he was in Israel.

“He still stops by the stadium quite a bit and I see him and he says, ‘Hey how are you doing partner,’” Lee said. “He loves being a part of it.”

One of Torre’s great trademarks as a manager was his calm, cool demeanor. He always seemed unflappable, whether in the dugout or under the hot lights of a World Series press conference. But when it comes to racing, Torre shows a rare emotional side.

“Overall his demeanor is he’s a very laid back person,” Lee said. “But he gets excited during a race when I’ve watched races and been at races with him. He’s like anybody else. When you have a stake in a race or you have a wager, yeah you get excited. The thrill of winning, no matter whether it’s a 10 claimer or a stakes horse, that never goes away, never gets old.”

It’s a thrill Lee hopes to keep experiencing with Mr Vicktor, especially if he actually decides to miss the big Red Sox doubleheader.