Rich Fisher

Trenton, NJ – St. Paddy’s Day is behind us, but Richard “Nifty” Norman is hoping his horse’s Irish eyes keep smiling as the calendar rolls on. Norman trains Robyn Camden, a 4-year-old pacer from Ireland who had prolific success abroad and is finding racing in the U.S. much to her liking as well.

In three preliminary rounds of the Petticoat Series for 3- and 4-year-old female pacers at Yonkers Raceway, Robyn Camden had two wins and a second. She drew post six in Monday’s (March 25) $58,000 final, which put her outside the race’s morning-line favorites, Catch An Ace (5-2) in post five and Odds On Ashley (3-1) in post four. But Norman is not overly concerned as his mare has started in either post five or six throughout the event.

Nifty Norman is hoping for some “luck of the Irish’ in the Petticoat Final at Yonkers Monday. Katy Gazzini Photo.

“She hasn’t drawn very good in the whole series and she almost seems like she’s better racing off a helmet anyway,” he said. “She’s very lazy in front so I’m hoping they race a little bit harder, and if they do she’s got a good shot. She’s very honest, she always gets to the wire no matter what, so that’s a good quality.”

Robyn Camden was referred to as the undisputed queen of harness racing in the British Isles, and with good reason. She won all 11 of her starts there at ages 2 and 3 before making her American debut at the Meadowlands in December. With Dexter Dunn doing most of the driving, she has hit the board in all nine U.S. starts with four wins, four seconds and a third. This year she has four wins and three seconds.

The mare, by Art Professor out of Keystone Havoc, was bred by Camden Stud in England and is a half-sister to millionaire Keystone Horatio. She was the sales topper at the York Sale in October 2016, going for 15,200 pounds (roughly $20,000 U.S.) to the Dublin-based All Out Syndicate.

After Robyn Camden set track records and earned numerous awards, Clive Kavanagh and his partners decided to see how she could fare in the States. Jonathan Dunne, a regular driver of Robyn Camden, recommended Norman to train her.

“Jonathan actually worked for me for a while,” Norman said. “He came over here to get some experience. He’s a good little horseman and a good driver. He wanted her to kind of go into a big stable and learn to train down properly and get in a good routine. That was probably one of the factors that decided I would get her.”

Norman had some knowledge of the horse before she arrived.

“I knew she was unbeaten and they were kind of high on her,” he said. “I’d actually seen a few videos of her. You always have your doubts. You think of a horse coming from Ireland and you think ‘Well, will they be good enough to do it here?’ But obviously they are.”

Norman had praise for the work done by the Dunne family, including Jonathan and trainers Christy and Geoff Dunne.

“I didn’t really change anything,” he said. “She was all set up. They had her rigged up good, it was pretty simple really. There was a lot of confidence in the horse. The only thing she had never done was go back-to-back and run a lot of races close together. We had to make sure she had enough stamina. She’s kind of a little light-framed horse, doesn’t carry a lot of weight. But she’s working out really well. I think the (Petticoat) series kind of proved she can race back-to-back and hold up.”

Despite the difference in quality of racing overseas, Norman said there is little difference in the horses.

“I wouldn’t think so,” he said. “There have been other horses who have come over here and done well. They’re basically American-bred anyway, so nothing’s really different. A horse is a horse, right?”

And this horse will get a rest after Monday’s race, as Norman prefers to be cautious.

“I don’t think there’s any rush with her,” he said. “I’m going to give her a break after the series, maybe give her a month off. I don’t want to over-race her, I don’t want her to hit 30 starts or anything like that. She’s done really well so far. I’ll give her a break and then see if she can go to the next level, see how she can do in those upper grades.

He is not interested in entering any major races this year, and says next year is a wait-and-see prospect. It will likely be Robyn Camden’s final year on the track.

“Maybe next year if she looks like she could be a solid mare, we’ll look at some big races and we’ll go from there; but that’s a long way off,” he said. “Then I think the plan is to breed her to a top sire and take her home in foal.”