by Karen Briggs, WEG media department

Campbellville, ON — Not many 3-year-old colts get surrounded by TV cameras whenever they step on or off a trailer, but Somebeachsomewhere seems to take it all in stride.

The pride of Truro, Nova Scotia made the trek from his home base back to Ontario this week, and attracted media attention both as he departed, and again as he arrived at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday afternoon (April 17) at the Baycairn Training Centre near Campbellville, Ontario. And ‘Beach’ played into the attention, fairly bouncing down the ramp into the spring sunshine, and looking every inch the superstar he was in his spectacular 2-year-old season, with the addition of a couple of inches and a couple of hundred pounds of muscle.

Trainer and co-owner Brent MacGrath, who made the trip from Truro with business partner Garry Pye, noted as his colt surveyed his surroundings, “He’s so much stronger a horse than the night he paced in :49 (a world record 1:49.3 in the Metro Pace), it’s unbelievable. He’s a different horse altogether.

Brent MacGrath is looking forward to a big season with Somebeachsomewhere.

“He loves his work, and mentally I think he was prepared for this move. He’s had enough of Truro, the small track was stifling him a bit. No question he’s happier at Mohawk. He can stretch himself out. He’s so big and so fast that you let him pace down the backstretch and you’re into a turn (at home). Well, at Mohawk you can crank him up when you come out of that first turn and you really don’t have another turn — it’s a big long sweeping turn and he steers better on it, his attitude is better, he just loves it.

“He likes the surface too, it’s nice and loose and he gets hold of it well.”

Somebeachsomewhere, by Mach Three out of the Beach Towel mare Wheres the Beach, was unbeaten in six starts as a 2-year-old, and earned $773,296 for the Schooner Stable, a partnership of six Truro-area car dealers and customers. He’s currently the odds-on favorite for the C$1.5 million Pepsi North America Cup in June.

MacGrath is confident, but not cocky, about his colt’s prospects for his sophomore season.

“I don’t think there’s any hole in the horse. You’ve seen how he’s developed up this year, that’s exactly the reason we stopped with him when we did, so he’d look like this in May and be able to carry on a tough 3-year-old year. And if we don’t have any bad luck, he will.

“The OSS elimination at Mohawk (on May 17) is the plan for his first race,” he added. “That’s why I’m here as early as I am. I’ve been in 2:02 with him, (and) I’ve had a couple of trips in 2:05. He’s a big horse, it’s time now to get him cranked up and Mohawk’s the place to do that.

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Somebeachsomewhere was unbeaten in six starts as a 2-year-old and earned $773,296.

“Our goal right now is the North America Cup, and the plan is to race him the first OSS and the Burlington, but (it’s flexible). If he’s good and everything’s perfect, we’ll qualify him on the Friday, the second of May. But that said, it’s been a long trip, so we’re just going to take it easy for a couple of days and give him time to get his feet underneath him.

“He’ll tell us what we’re going to do with him, and we’re going to listen.”

As for all the buzz, MacGrath appears to be handling that almost as well as his celebrity colt.

“I don’t mind it. I’m a talker anyway,” he said. “It’s very gratifying for me. I’ve been buying babies all my life and I’ve had a couple of decent ones, I’ve had lots of bad ones, and when one like him comes along, this is where you want to be. It’s pretty hard to complain about it! It’s been a long time getting here.

“I’m happy that the country has the interest in the horse. He deserves it and he’s worthy of it.

“The Maritimers, or the small horseperson anywhere, since he’s come along I think they feel like they have a shot at getting a hold of a horse like this. You know, I put together a group of people together with $40,000, which is not a lot of money between six people, and we struck gold with this colt. I didn’t do anything special. The biggest thing I did was pick the horse out.

“I think there are lots of small time horsemen all over Canada, and the U.S. for that matter, who could have bought this horse and trained him and had the kind of horse that I have.

“He’s certainly (turning people on to harness racing) on the east coast. They’re coming out, maybe two to three times as many fans (as usual), and I think he’s getting the same kind of following here. If he does the same thing he did last year I think he’s going to give the industry a boost — and he should, you know.

“He’s a true professional. He hasn’t had a bad day, and hasn’t done one thing wrong since the day I bought him. It’s good for the game and hopefully it’ll give the industry a little shot in the arm.”