Connections hope for big things with Crazy Wow in NYSS final
September 12, 2014,by Kimberly French, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent
Kimberly French
Louisville, KY — For the last two years, Dan O’Mara has been trying to purchase a horse sired by Crazed, but all of them were way out of his price range. In fact, he wasn’t even really looking for a New York bred and was at last year’s Lexington Selected Sale primarily to purchase some Indiana-eligible horses. When Crazy Wow stepped into the ring, however, O’Mara received a phone call from owner Joseph Hess and the duo seized their opportunity.
“(Hess) saw him in the catalogue and was watching the sale on the computer,” said O’Mara. “I’ve been racing in New York the last couple years but really wasn’t looking for that kind of horse or a Crazed at that point, as I couldn’t get any of them before. He looked good coming into the ring, we watched his video online really quickly and that looked good as well, so we bought him. When they said, ‘Sold for $10,000,’ I thought, ‘Wow, I can’t believe I finally got a Crazed and for that amount of money.’ It’s so strange how things work out.”
Crazy Wow is out of the Mr Vic mare No Pan No Gain, who earned $415,630 and was third in the 2000 Breeders Crown, in addition to a fourth place finish in the 2001 Hambletonian Oaks.
Crazy Wow is seeking to add a fourth triumph to his career resume in the $225,000 New York Sire Stakes 2-year-old male trot final on Saturday (Sept. 12) at Yonkers Raceway. For his seventh pari-mutuel endeavor, the colt will have the services of regular pilot Dan Rawlings and will leave from the rail in race six. He is the 9-5 favorite on the morning line.
Crazy Wow, who is a half-brother to High Pan Tolerance (Cantab Hall 4,1:55.1f, $184,543), has compiled a record of 6-3-1-0, has amassed $72,617 in purse money and established his lifetime mark of 1:54s by besting Nuncio’s former track record standard of 1:54.3 at Vernon Downs on Aug. 2. He came home 9-3/4 lengths ahead of his nearest competitor.
The colt debuted a victor in his first start, a $7,000 2-year-old contest at Hoosier Park on June 17, then broke at the beginning of his qualifying contest over the same surface on July 9. Crazy Wow came home last of eight, but O’Mara was not discouraged. He knew why the colt decided to run on him.
“He’s a stud colt and sometimes he acts like one by making breaks,” he said. “I put a sharper burr headpole on him for that and he got mad at it. Then he took off on me, so I took that off and put blindfolds back him before we went up to Tioga for his next race.
“I had already told Dan (Rawlings) this horse was fast but it wasn’t until he was driving him at Tioga that he became a believer. In that race Dan was driving with the blindfolds on him and I told him the only thing I was concerned with was how he would get around the turns with those back on. He did break, but when Dan got off him after the race he said, ‘You were right. I’m sticking with this horse. I could have went in (1):56 with him and I was five wide.’”
Crazy Wow was fourth in that $28,250 New York Sire Stakes contest on July 18, with a last quarter of :28.1 before setting his track record and then was second in a $41,432 division of the Tompkins-Geers on Aug. 17.
On Aug. 28, the colt broke early on in a $54,500 Sire Stakes race at Saratoga and trotted to the wire in fourth. He rebounded, however, with another triumph in NYSS company at Yonkers Raceway on Sept. 5, when he finished the mile with another :28.2 final panel in a 1:58.2 mile.
“He’s not a mean horse, but he does like to bite you which is why we call him Gator,” O’Mara said. “One minute he’s all quiet but he will get you the next. As long as he keeps his mind on business and pays attention to what he’s doing in the race on Saturday I like his chances, but (Trond) Smedshammer’s horse (Buen Camino) is a nice one and so is (George) Ducharme’s horse (Wings Of Royalty).
“My sister actually rubs that horse (Buen Camino) and we ran into her at Tioga so we must be doing something right with him. He’s beat a couple of nice horses but we really don’t know how good he is yet.”
After Saturday’s performance, Crazy Wow will leave the confines of the Empire State and travel to Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.
“I’m going to be in Delaware with the rest of the horses, so I won’t be at the race on Saturday,” O’Mara said. “He will ship to me there on Sunday, race in Delaware and then come home to Indiana with me before the International and Bluegrass in Lexington. That’s where all the boys will be so we’ll see how he races there. Then if he comes out of Lexington sound, we will go in the Madison here at Hoosier Park. It’s nice and close to home.
“I’ve been walking around saying I have a Hambletonian horse. The funny thing is I thought he was paid in and when I called the stakes coordinator she told me we were not. It must have just been something we overlooked, but for all the years we have paid into the Hambletonian for horses that weren’t good enough, the one time we have one that is, we don’t. But we do have really high expectations for this horse.”