by Kimberly French, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Kimberly French

Louisville, KY — 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.

“He’s a terror,” said the colt’s co-conditioner. “He is constantly on the go, getting into everything and continuously trying to amuse himself. You have to watch him every minute and then when he decides something is not fun anymore, he’s out like a light.

“Whenever he decides he is done — and it can be in an instant — he is sleeping. You can yell at him, make all kinds of noise and try to do anything you can to get him up, but it will not happen. He is so much fun to be around and has one of the best personalities I have ever seen in a horse.”

Of which Wellwood has seen many.

She is the daughter of the late Canadian Hall of Fame trainer William Wellwood and was responsible for guiding the careers of O’Brien Award winners Was It A Dream and Laddie. In conjunction with her husband, Michael Keeling, Wellwood also added to her O’Brien collection for the couple’s success with dual winner Elusive Desire.

New Image Media photo

Marion Marauder has banked $107,392 in his brief career.

Keeling and Wellwood will seek to add another piece of hardware to their collection when they send out Marion Marauder on Saturday (Oct. 24) at Woodbine Racetrack to contest the $600,000 2-year-old colt and gelding trot. The colt will commence from post position three with Scott Zeron at the lines.

This son of Muscle Hill and the 2000 Nova 2-year-old trotting filly champion Spellbound Hanover, was bred by William Mulligan and purchased for $37,000 at the 2014 Lexington Selected Sale by Marion Wellwood and Devin Keeling. His dam, who was second in the 2000 Breeders Crown 2-year-old filly trot final, is by Donerail and out of the Super Bowl mare Sounds Swell. She has produced some top females in Spellyuptothebar (Malabar Man, 4,1:57.3h, $156,213), Sweetspellosuccess (Credit Winner, 3,Q1:58.4, $206,024) and Fifty Shades (Malabar Man, 3,1:59.2h, $205,659).

“This is one very, very nice colt,” Wellwood said, with her voice full of pride over Marion Marauder. “He was really small when we first got him as a baby, but then he really grew up. He’s still not a big horse, but he is nice-sized and just oozes with all that character. We are extremely happy with him.”

Marion Marauder closed swiftest of all with a last panel of :27.2 into a stiff headwind to come home second in his Crown elimination, five lengths behind division leader Southwind Frank. Pilot Scott Zeron was content to settle Marion Marauder in seventh in the early stages of the contest, then advanced to sixth by the three-quarter pole and fifth at the top of the stretch off Dupree’s cover, before he unleashed his closing kick on the far outside of the track. Although he packed a powerful late punch, the colt was no match for the winner who stopped the clock in 1:55.2.

Marion Marauder started his racing career with a break behind the gate when leaving from post position nine in an $11,340 2-year-old conditioned event on June 23 at Mohawk Racetrack. The colt was fourth in his second engagement, which was a $20,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes race at the Meadowlands on July 3. He was then second in the next leg and third in the $100,000 final on July 17.

Returning to his Canadian home-base, Marion Marauder was third in a $10,500 conditioned race at Mohawk and then fourth in an $88,055 Champlain Stakes race over the same surface on Sept. 4. He was second to Southwind Frank in a $22,500 William Wellwood Memorial elimination on Sept. 11 and also in the $283,480 final the following week.

With that foe not a member of the field, the colt finally broke his maiden on Oct. 1 at Woodbine in a $12,160 2-year-old conditioned event directly prior to his Breeders Crown appearance.

After his second in the elimination his record now stands at 10-1-4-2 and he has earned $107,392.

“He had some problems early on in his career with breaking at the gate,” Wellwood said. “He’s not a bad mannered or bad horse, but when you would put him on the gate he would want to jab out at the other horses. We think it is something he will grow out of, but we worked with him so he doesn’t really do it anymore. We don’t want to take a chance though, so we never put him right on the gate and back off with him. We don’t feel there is any sense in rushing him along, but because we do that with him he will never get away from there very fast.”

Although Keeling has captured an elimination for a Breeders Crown with Elusive Desire and Wellwood one with Laddie, a triumph by this colt in the final would be the first title for this horse’s connections.

“Coming into the stretch, I thought we would get fourth,” Wellwood said about the elimination. “Frank was long gone, but this horse loves to pass other horses and he loves a target. We even trained him down to race that way because he enjoys it so much. He saw those other two horses and he was going to get by them. It was a huge mile for him and I think he trotted the fastest last quarter of the night and he’s only a 2-year-old. We think he is a very talented colt, so we will just see how we do in the final.

“We will always let him tell us, but he might have one more race after the Breeders Crown, depending on if he is sound and happy. We just think the world of him and that he has a very bright future. Fortunately, he is family owned, so he owes us nothing, so there is no need to rush him, but we do think his time will come.”

$600,000 Breeders Crown 2-year-old colt trot
Post-Horse-Driver-Trainer-Line
1-Muscles For Life-Doug McNair-Gregg McNair-30-1
2-Deep Impact-Steve Condren-Brad Maxwell-20-1
3-Marion Marauder-Scott Zeron-Michael Keeling-8-1
4-Sliding Home-David Miller-Jonas Czernyson-15-1
5-Southwind Frank-Yannick Gingras-Ron Burke-2-5
6-Lagerfeld-Johnny Takter-Jimmy Takter-4-1
7-Tony Soprano-John Campbell-Robert McIntosh-12-1
8-Dupree-Ake Svanstedt-Ake Svanstedt-20-1
9-Milligan’s School-Andy Miller-Julie Miller-15-1
10-Will Take Charge-Paul MacDonell-John Bax-20-1