by Kimberly French, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Kimberly French

Louisville, KY — She banked more than $380,000, was a top class juvenile with eventual 2010 3-year-old champion Put On A Show, 2009 Breeders Crown victress Fancy Filly and 2010 Jugette winner Western Silk, yet Higher And Higher virtually disappeared from racing in stakes company during her sophomore campaign.

Shortly after coming home last in the 2010 Breeders Crown final, which was her only stakes engagement other than the Mistletoe Shalee in her 11 seasonal starts, the daughter of Western Terror-Pro Bowl Best was offered for sale online and for co-owner, trainer and driver Daryl Bier, purchasing her was one of the greatest things he ever could have done.

“She is by far the best horse I’ve ever had,” enthused the 45-year-old. “Her and her stablemate (Cannae Cammie) were put on OnGait.com and I wanted her really badly. She had a real big year at two and at three she ended up racing in the Opens at Chester and Pocono, because that was when Bulletproof wasn’t allowed to race in Canada and she is an Ontario-bred. The Opens were the only place she could race and she raced well in the Breeders Cup elimination (finishing second) and I watched her that day, but she bled in the final. Jimmy Morrill actually could have drove her or the other one (Cannae Cammie) in the final and he chose her.

“Her stablemate went for for $180,000 and I got her for $150,000,” Bier continued. “We were so lucky to get her, because I think people wondered why she hadn’t raced much that year and had such limited starts. Maybe they just weren’t paying attention, but I remembered when Dave Palone was driving her and there were all kinds of articles about her.”

Fotowon photo

Higher And Higher opened up her 2012 campaign with a 1:53.2 score in the Mares Open at Dover.

Higher And Higher’s dam, Pro Bowl Best by Cambest, is a full sister to Pro Bono Best (p,2,1:51s, $509,717 and 2000 Metro Pace victor). Higher And Higher is the only one to date of her dam’s six foals of racing age to break the $100,000 barrier in earnings. The newly turned 5-year-old, who is co-owned by Bier, Glenn Del Russo and Charles Dombeck has a record of 47-19-10-9 with $768,838 in purse money and paced a lifetime mark of 1:49.2 on November 15, 2011, which tied the world record and broke champion Rainbow Blue’s Dover Downs track record of 1:49.4.

At two she captured eliminations of the She’s A Great Lady, Three Diamonds and Breeders Crown, as well as divisions of the International Stallion Stake and Bluegrass, while finishing second in the $745,476 final of the She’s A Great Lady and fourth in the $285,000 Ontario Sire Stakes Super Final. The only races in which she failed to pick up a check were the finals of the Breeders Crown and the Three Diamonds.

Higher And Higher entered Bier’s barn on Oct. 20, 2010 and after sizing her up, he decided not to push her too hard in 2011. She paced 25 miles with nine wins, seven seconds and seven thirds, and earned $326,365 in the Opens at Harrah’s Chester, Pocono and Dover Downs.

“I didn’t really stake her as a 4-year-old because I’m kind of old-fashioned,” he explained. “I wasn’t sure she could handle all the Free-For-Allers at four and she was lightly raced at three. I wanted to give her about 25 starts at four and then put her in everything at five. That’s what we did and she will be in everything this year. On February 3 we are going to the Cape and Cutter, then the Overbid and I’d like to take her to Canada for the Roses Are Red, Milton and Breeders Crown.

“I think it would be wonderful to win any stake,” he continued. “Last year we got nosed out in the Betsy Ross (by Anndrovette) and it was just so much fun being in it. I think we are going to enjoy them all.”

Bier admits the mare isn’t exactly the most even-tempered of horses and isn’t enamored of other people’s plans for her.

“She doesn’t like me very much,” the Smyrna, Del., resident said. “My wife, Jenny, takes care of her and she just loves her. I actually have a hard time catching her in the stall and don’t go in there. I won’t fool with her and I would say probably most people couldn’t go in there, because she would probably hurt you. She turns around and cocks that leg, like she is just daring you, but my wife and her get along well and Jenny can do anything with her.

“She just absolutely hates to jog,” Bier continued. “We put her on a lead and tow her, but you have to have two people, one person holding her and one jogging her because she’ll jump with the cart. She’ll try to go sideways, so you have to make sure she doesn’t hurt herself. We are probably overprotective but we don’t want to take any chances with her. Jogging is just no good for her, because the more you do it the hotter she gets and she gets going so fast, she’s just going to sore up everywhere. She loves being around other horses in a race, but when she’s jogging she just wants to get off the track. She likes to do what she wants to do, that’s for sure.”

Bier’s plan is to take Higher And Higher to a multiple of stakes engagements this year and provide her with the opportunities to show she is an elite performer.

“I spoke to Jim Morrill after I bought her and he said the best things to do with her is basically keep her calm,” he said. “That’s what I did all of last year. I never left with her and always raced from the back. The other drivers took advantage of that and they were getting to the half in like :57. She still only missed the board twice and that was the reason, but this year she is bigger and stronger and I believe you can do anything you want with her. She doesn’t get sick or sore so I can’t see her not having a big year.

“If I didn’t love her so much and if she wasn’t the best thing that ever happened to my partners, my wife and my family, I would just send her to Canada,” Bier continued. “There are so many stakes that cost minimally to be in, that you could stake them to everything and maybe make a couple million, but as it stands I am so excited for this year. I think she has a real shot at being Older Pacing Mare of the Year. I don’t know what horses will be coming back and Anndrovette gave us a real hard time last year, but she raced a lot harder than we did, so I think it will be a different story now that she’s five.”