from the Iowa Harness Horse Association

What Cheer, IA — Three-year-old colt Alright Guy paced in 1:56 on Sunday (Sept. 3), breaking the What Cheer, Iowa, track record in his seventh straight victory on the Iowa fair circuit.

“All of these horses have been racing really well so coming into the race you never really know,” said owner Alan Eden. “But he seemed to get there today.”

The 3-year-old Iowa-Registered pacing colts have been a competitive group all season.

Iowa HHA photo

Alright Guy and the winning connections from four Iowa racing families were in the winner’s circle on Sunday.

“I felt like if we got to the quarter in :28 and change that we would likely not be beaten,” said driver Will Roland of his race-day strategy. “The colt can go a faster mile than anything else out here so the only way he could be beaten was if he was out-sprinted off cheap fractions with road trouble.”

Roland hustled Alright Guy off the gate to the lead and stayed in front to beat a field of seven in a track- and 3-year-old pacing record time of 1:56, besting the record the older pacer Roland N Rock set at What Cheer earlier this year.

“I was surprised that we set the track record because it felt like he could have gone more. He has such a long stride,” said Roland. “He doesn’t take more steps, he just takes longer strides.”

Alright Guy is trained by Curtis Carey. He started 2017 in the B-class races.

“Fortunately we were able to race him in some of the cheaper classes and work his way up,” said Carey of the 2017 season. “Will’s done a great job as far as teaching him to race from off the pace and we couldn’t be happier with what he’s doing. Will committed to him (the) first part of the year and has stuck with him the whole time.”

Alright Guy is the first foal out of the Real Desire mare Start Talkin. His father is the Iowa sire Sneaky B Skipalong.

“He’s got the size, he’s got the gait. He’s built like the good Cole Mufflers, which is Sneaky B Skipalong’s sire,” said Carey. “They are tall, long-legged, long-barreled; he’s a spitting image of the good Cole Mufflers I’ve seen.”

Alright Guy was bred by Alan and Randall Eden of Lone Tree, Iowa. He had a rough start.

“He got septic when he was a newborn and we had to give him three shots a day,” said Alan Eden, Randall’s son. “When he came out of it Dad said he was going to be alright so we named him Alright Guy.”

The Edens partnered with Curtis and Jeff Carey to begin training the horse.

“He was late coming on at two,” said Curtis Carey. “We raced him a few times, racing him easy from the back trying to teach him a few things. I think his last start he paced in 2:06 and we put him away.”

“He was kind of a big growthy colt so we just gave him a little start here and there,” said Alan Eden. “Curtis thought he’d be really good at three.”

The Edens were in agreement to turn the horse out for the rest of the year, but during Alright Guy’s 2-year-old season they involved two other Iowa racing families with the horse — the Mathers and the Huffmans.

Carson Mather is a seventh grader at Nevada, Iowa. He comes to the races with his grandfather, Larry Mather.

“I’ve been to quite a few of the races,” said Carson. “I’ve only missed a few.”

“Last year at What Cheer my grandpa started talking to Curtis and we got to know the Edens,” said Carson, describing how he got involved with Alright Guy. “My grandpa didn’t think he’d turn out like this!”

Rick Huffman also got on board with Alright Guy.

“It was just by luck,” said Huffman. “Curtis came to us and wanted to know if we wanted to buy part of a horse. He looked like a nice one, but we didn’t realize he’d be quite this nice. Carson and Larry Mather and I got in on him and now we’re having a lot of fun.”

Curtis Carey trained the horse back this year. Since he had only paced in 2:06 as a 2-year-old, they really weren’t sure of what they had.

“I was training with my dad. He couldn’t hold him and he went in 2:15,” said Carey. “I figured then that he was going to be a little bit better than just a run of the mill 3-year-old.”

In 13 starts this year, Alright Guy has 10 wins. He’s made $23,118 lifetime for his owners.

“I knew that he was going to have the tools to go fast, but I didn’t know how fast he would go,” said Carey. “I don’t think we’ve seen the bottom of him.”