Gingras hopes to stay on a roll in Breeders Crown
October 20, 2015,by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications
Ken Weingartner
Toronto, ON — Yannick Gingras will have nine drives in Saturday night’s 12 Breeders Crown finals at Woodbine Racetrack as he looks to continue his hot streak in harness racing’s championship event.
Gingras has won 10 Breeders Crown titles in the past three years, including four last year at the Meadowlands. He captured three trophies each of the previous two years, in 2013 at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono and in 2012 at Woodbine. Gingras’ streak began five years after he won his first — and only other — Crown with 50-1 longshot Southwind Serena at the Meadowlands.
Tim Tetrick is second to Gingras in the past three years with eight Breeders Crown trophies. No other driver has more than five.
USTA/Ed Keys photo
Yannick Gingras has won 10 Breeders Crown titles in the past three years.
“It’s a great thrill, not only to be in the Breeders Crown, but the last few years I’ve had great horses to drive in it,” said Gingras, a Quebec native who now lives in New Jersey. “That definitely makes it more exciting. It’s like Hambletonian Day, where everybody wants to be part of those days. To be able to win some of the races makes it very enjoyable.
“This is as big as it gets. It all comes down to the Breeders Crown; that’s the old saying, but it’s the truth. Thankfully and luckily, I’ve been able to do well in it lately.”
Ironically, Gingras’ success in the Breeders Crown followed a Breeders Crown night he would like to forget. In 2011, Gingras and several other drivers and trainers were unable to fly from New Jersey to Toronto for the Breeders Crown at Woodbine because of a fluke snowstorm on the East Coast.
Gingras lost the chance to drive several top contenders that year, including A Rocknroll Dance and Foiled Again.
“It took me a while to win a Breeders Crown (after Southwind Serena) and I thought I had a great shot that year,” Gingras said. “I had a great card that night. It was very disappointing. But it’s been a good run since then.”
Gingras, a third-generation horseman, moved to the U.S. in 2001 and began driving at Yonkers Raceway. Two years later, he won 426 races and received the Rising Star Award from the U.S. Harness Writers Association. The 36-year-old Gingras now has 5,750 career wins and $128 million in purses. He was the second youngest driver to reach $125 million, behind Tetrick.
Last year, Gingras set a career high with 556 wins and led all drivers in North America in purses with $17.29 million, the fourth highest total in history. He was voted Driver of the Year by the U.S. Harness Writers Association.
Gingras has enjoyed working with trainers Ron Burke and Jimmy Takter in recent years, and eight of his 11 Breeders Crown victories have come behind horses from those two powerful stables. This year, six of his Breeders Crown finalists are from Burke and two are from Takter. The remaining one is trained by Mark Silva.
Three of Gingras’ drives in this year’s Breeders Crown are with past champions: Burke’s Mission Brief in the 3-year-old filly trot and Foiled Again in the Open Pace plus Takter’s Pinkman in the 3-year-old male trot.
USTA/Mark Hall photo
Foiled Again’s win in the 2013 Breeders Crown Open Pace is Gingras’ top memory in the championship series.
Foiled Again, who won the 2013 Open Pace, heads to this year’s final off a win in his elimination on Saturday at Woodbine. The 11-year-old Foiled Again is the richest horse in harness racing history, with $7.18 million in lifetime purses. He snapped a 12-race skid with his victory in his Breeders Crown elim, which was the 85th triumph in his award-winning career.
“Every win is special with him,” Gingras said. “He’s the greatest horse I’ve ever driven.”
Not surprisingly, Foiled Again’s Breeders Crown win at the age of 9 at Pocono in 2013 is Gingras’ top memory in the championship series. Foiled Again won by a nose over Pet Rock on a sloppy track and became, at the time, the oldest horse to win a Breeders Crown trophy.
“He had been so close a few times,” Gingras said. “I felt really guilty when I missed here in Canada (in 2011). I thought he had a great chance that night and he finished second. To be able to get it done with him, especially the way he did it, was special. He took on all challenges and went a hundred miles an hour the whole race, for a full mile. It’s not often you see a horse that can go that hard for that long and be able to finish it off.”
Mission Brief, a world-record-setting daughter of Gingras’ first Crown champ Southwind Serena, and Pinkman both advanced straight to their respective finals this year because eliminations were unnecessary. Pinkman’s wins this year include two legs of the Trotting Triple Crown — the $1 million Hambletonian, where the Gingras-driven Mission Brief finished second in her bid to become the first filly to win the race since 1996 — and the Kentucky Futurity. Pinkman also won the Canadian Trotting Classic.
New Image Media photo
Southwind Frank was a 1:55.2 winner in his Breeders Crown elimination last weekend.
Other top contenders for Gingras on Saturday include Breeders Crown elimination winners Yankee Moonshine in the 2-year-old filly pace, Southwind Frank in the 2-year-old colt trot, and All The Time in the 2-year-old filly trot. Yankee Moonshine and Southwind Frank are trained by Burke, who last week topped $20 million in purses for the third consecutive year, and All The Time is trained by Takter.
“I have a lot of power this year,” said Gingras, who in August captured his fourth consecutive driving title at the Meadowlands. “I train a lot of young horses during the year between Jimmy and Ronnie, and I enjoy it. I like going to the barn in the spring and watching them develop. To see them come to this point now is very exciting.”
No driver has ever won more than four Breeders Crown finals in a single year, and Tetrick is the only driver to win four on a single card. Gingras is unconcerned with trying to rewrite the record book.
“I don’t think about things like that at all,” Gingras said. “I just take them one at a time. We’ll see how it goes. But you’ve got to be in it to win it.”
- Breeders Crown ‘Gleam’ in Takter’s eyes (Monday, October 19, 2015)
Jimmy Takter made his first appearance in the Breeders Crown in 1986, but it was seven years before he got to hoist a trophy. Takter, who trains and sometimes also drives, had two second-place finishes and one third-place effort in eight championship starts before driving Gleam to victory in the 1993 Breeders Crown for 2-year-old female trotters at Florida’s Pompano Park.
- Stage is set for Breeders Crown Saturday at Woodbine (Tuesday, October 20, 2015)
For the first time in three years, Woodbine Racetrack will again host the Breeders Crown, harness racing’s most spectacular evening, when 12 championship finals, offering $5.8 million U.S. in purse money, will be staged on Saturday (Oct. 24).
- Black Broadway: From non-winners of one to the Breeders Crown (Wednesday, October 21, 2015)
Trainer Mike Eaton and his partner, retired bank inspector Robert McHugh, went to the Tattersalls Mixed Sale at The Meadowlands on Aug. 2 with their usual business plan in mind. Buy horses for about $10,000 and compete in claiming races at their home track, Plainridge Park Casino in southeastern Massachusetts. That plan was working fine until suddenly, Eaton and McHugh had a stakes filly on their hands.
- Wellwood chasing first Breeders Crown title with Marion Marauder (Wednesday, October 21, 2015)
It’s a tough question to answer summing up a human or horse’s personality in one word but Paula Wellwood had no problem describing 2-year-old trotting colt Marion Marauder, who has had the misfortune of chasing Southwind Frank around the track frequently this season, with pinpoint accuracy.
- Connections are enjoying a great ride with Freaky Feet Pete (Wednesday, October 21, 2015)
Mary Jo Rheinheimer is not nervous. Not yet. But she will be. She always gets nervous when Freaky Feet Pete races. There is no word from Freaky Feet Pete how he feels heading into Saturday’s $531,250 Breeders Crown for 3-year-old male pacers. But if the colt does get nervous, it doesn’t affect his ability to win races. Twenty-four times in his career he’s gone to the starting gate, and 21 times he’s been first to the finish line.
- Creatine hopes to end year abroad with elusive Crown title (Wednesday, October 21, 2015)
There is no denying that the international flair of the Breeders Crown Trot has led to considerable intrigue over the past few editions and this year’s contest on Saturday at Woodbine Racetrack figures to be no exception. The small twist is that this year’s European “invader” is actually Creatine, a thoroughly blue-blooded American trotter.
- Surprise colt Dont Rush takes his shot at Crown trotters (Thursday, October 22, 2015)
Dustin Jones hopes no one can get shorty. Jones co-owns and trains two-time Ontario Sire Stakes champion Dont Rush, who is among the 11 horses in Saturday’s $500,000 Breeders Crown for 3-year-old male trotters at Woodbine Racetrack. The colt, nicknamed “Danny” after actor Danny DeVito, is 20-1 on the morning line but has already surprised people — beginning with Jones.
- Breeders Crown races lead busy Grand Circuit weekend (Thursday, October 22, 2015)
The 12 Breeders Crown championship events on Saturday night (Oct. 24) at Woodbine will be front and center in the Grand Circuit spotlight this week. Breeders Crown championship races will be held for 2-year-olds, 3-year-olds and older Standardbreds of both sexes and gaits.
- Howard Taylor sends eight into Breeders Crown championship night (Thursday, October 22, 2015)
He has owned more than 800 horses during his several decades of being involved in the sport, but Philadelphia attorney Howard Taylor still can’t quite wrap his head around the fact he has eight in-to-go for Saturday’s (Oct. 24) Breeders Crown races at Woodbine.
- Marquee match-up in Crown Open Pace (Thursday, October 22, 2015)
The comeback kid is ready to meet the kid who refuses to go away. Always B Miki and Foiled Again, the winners of last weekend’s Breeders Crown Open Pace eliminations, lead a field of 10 horses into Saturday’s $400,000 final at Woodbine Racetrack.
- Breeders Crown victory would be bittersweet for Hill family (Thursday, October 22, 2015)
Tom Hill and his family hope that this is the year they finally win a Breeders Crown race after coming close in previous editions. If fortunate to experience a Crown victory, it will come with bittersweet feelings. This year’s finals at Toronto’s Woodbine Racetrack take place on Oct. 24, the anniversary of a Hill family tragedy.
- ‘Cinderella story’ Frost Damage Blues heads to Crown final (Friday, October 23, 2015)
Bill Augustine is the proud owner — and you can underline the word proud — of a horse that is good for both of his businesses. In his harness racing world, Augustine’s Frost Damage Blues is going off at 12-1 at Saturday’s Breeders Crown championships at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto. In her first year of racing, the 3-year-old filly has earned $51,750 by winning her first seven starts in overnight competition at Saratoga, Yonkers and Pocono.
- Another white Standardbred for Tristan Sjoberg (Friday, October 23, 2015)
Owner Tristan Sjoberg will be watching Dupree in Saturday’s $600,000 Breeders Crown for 2-year-old male trotters at Woodbine Racetrack, but regardless of the horse’s performance he is already feeling out of this world. Sjoberg, who is among the owners of rare white pacing colt White Bliss, said this week via e-mail that he has bought another rare white horse — this one a filly trotter born on April 4, 2014 in Italy. The filly, bred by Sergio Carfagna in Assisi, is named Via Lattea, which translates to Milky Way.
- With two in Breeders Crown, Dubois believed in Infinitif (Friday, October 23, 2015)
There are 11 trotters entered in the $500,000 Breeders Crown for 3-year-old males on Saturday (Oct. 24) at Woodbine Racetrack. Most are by marquee stallions well known to aficionados of U.S. pedigrees. To have two starters — in a field of 11 — is an incredible achievement for Infinitif given that of the remaining nine trotters in the field, only two are not by Muscles Yankee, Muscle Hill and Donato Hanover, all Hambletonian winners and high-priced stallions.