by Kimberly French, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Kimberly French

Louisville, KY — He was not endowed with the gifts his barnmates flaunted, but that did not deter Whit from forging his way to the top of his trainer’s list of 3-year-olds.

“I had four trotting colts and of the four, you could say he was probably the weakest,” explained Homer Hochstetler, the colt’s conditioner and co-owner. “The other colts would kind of trot circles around him, but he would always try. What he didn’t have in natural talent he made up for by trying, so he’s really come a long way. Now he has the fastest record of all of them and he doesn’t have the most money yet, but that could change. Who knows?”

Hochstelter and Robert Buddig purchased the son of Classic Photo and the unraced Woman Of Strength as a yearling for $10,000 at the 2009 Lexington Selected Sale.

From 11 starts as a freshman, Whit was winless, but did finish second in the $162,500 Kindergarten Final at Vernon Downs and was fourth in an $88,300 division of the International Stallion Stake at The Red Mile. He also qualified for the Peter Haughton Memorial with a fourth place finish in his elimination, but made an early break in the $500,000 final and finished ninth. He earned $55,869 that year.

This year, Whit has trotted 10 pari-mutuel miles and collected $56,593 in purse money to boost his total earnings to $112,462. He finished second in a $22,974 division of the John Simpson Stakes at Vernon Downs, was also second in the $78,200 Historic-Dickerson Cup at Tioga Downs, and was placed fifth in a $166,000 Stanley Dancer Memorial division at the Meadowlands. The colt’s three wins came in two non-winners races at Balmoral Park to kick off his season and a very nice victory in a $22,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes event at the Meadowlands on July 22, in a new lifetime mark of 1:52.4.

Lisa photo

Whit (#6) defeated Zooming by a head in a NJSS race on July 22 at Meadowlands Racetrack.

“We bought him from Dunroven (Stud) and just liked the horse,” said Hochsteter, a Crete, Ill., resident, who is a member of the Illinois Harness Horsemen’s Association Hall of Fame and also developed $1.8 million winner Kadabra. “I thought he would be in my price range and I even went out to the farm to see him. He’s really a nice-looking horse.”

Whit’s next contest will be a $70,000 Hambletonian elimination at the Meadowlands on Saturday (July 30). He will leave from post one in the fifth race, which is the first of two eliminations.

“Well I drew well and honestly, off of last week, the horse is at the top of his game,” the colt’s trainer said of his charge’s chances. “Believe me, I don’t think we will overpower anybody, but if some of the better ones aren’t at the top of their game, he might slip in there and do some good. I’ve kind of protected him all year and last week was the only time he has been raced hard. He seems to have taken it well, so obviously if he’s healthy, and he’s always been a sound horse, he will do the work.”

After his Hambletonian engagement, Whit will be pointed towards several other top races for his age, sex and gender.

“I think he’s got the Colonial, the American-National and then he’ll probably go to Lexington after that,” Hochsteter said. “He can go anywhere. He takes the shipping and it doesn’t bother him. He always eats good, feels good and is sound which will get him a long ways. That’s what you have to have nowadays; a horse that can stand up to some punishment.”

Below are the Hambletonian elimination fields:

Race 5-$70,000 Hambletonian Elimination
PP-Horse-Driver-Trainer
1-Whit-Tim Tetrick-Homer Hochstetler
2-Big Sky Storm-Ron Pierce-Chris Marino
3-Orlando-Cat Manzi-Don Swick
4-Luckycharm Hanover-David Miller-Thomas Haughton
5-Celebrity Bombay-Brian Sears-Staffan Lind
6-Chapter Seven-Mike Lachance-Linda Toscano
7-Fawkes-Yannick Gingras-Jonas Czernyson
8-Broad Bahn-George Brennan-Noel Daley
9-Blue Porsche-Trevor Ritchie-Blair Burgess

Race 6-$70,000 Hambletonian Elimination
PP-Horse-Driver-Trainer
1-Whiskey Tax-Tim Tetrick-Thomas Durand
2-Magnum Kosmos-Dave Palone-Tony Dinges
3-Pastor Stephen-Ron Pierce-Jimmy Takter
4-Big Rigs-Tim Tetrick-Kelly O’Donnell
5-Bambino Hall-Dave Palone-Tyler Raymer
6-Opening Night-Brian Sears-Jim Campbell
7-Manofmanymissions-Andy Miller-Erv Miller
8-Charlie De Vie-Tim Tetrick-Chris Ryder
9-Live Jazz-Tim Tetrick-Chuck Sylvester