by Kimberly French, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent
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Kimberly French
Louisville, KY — Although Bob Key lost his top 2009 Hambletonian prospect Encore Encore to injury prior to the race, he still had high hopes he would get in the gate with Winning Mister, but it wasn’t until this year that the stallion really began to show he belonged in the upper echelon.
“I always knew he was talented,” said the Leechburg, Pa., resident, who captured the 1993 Hambletonian with another homebred named American Winner. “Last year in training we had them go head-to-head and he beat Encore. Of course Encore beat him too, but this horse didn’t have his head together.”
The 5-year-old son of Angus Hall-Winning Missbrenda-American Winner has earned $529,344 from 83 starts and possesses a lifetime mark of 1:53f.
During his freshman campaign, Winning Mister won a $20,000 division of the Reynolds Stake at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs and finished tenth in the Breeders Crown final. He also competed on the Ontario Sire Stakes Gold circuit and captured the $112,800 final on Oct. 2 of that year at Mohawk.
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Fotowon photo
Winning Mister has won four times in five starts this year and is on pace for another $100,000-plus campaign.
As a sophomore, the stallion got up to be fourth in the $200,000 American-National and the $93,000 Canadian Trotting Classic Consolation, and was second in an $83,000 Old Oaken Bucket division.
In his 4-year-old campaign, Winning Mister was placed primarily in opens and non-winners contests while traveling to the Meadows, Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, Vernon Downs, Saratoga Raceway, Yonkers Raceway and Harrah’s Chester. He closed out the 2010 season with a 1:53.1 score in the $60,000 Harrahs Boulevard Series Final at Chester.
This year the stallion has four victories in five starts and on February 9 became the fastest older male trotter in Dover Downs history with a 1:53.2 mile.
Every year Winning Mister has raced he has collected more than $100,000 and is already more than halfway to that benchmark in 2011 with $58,000 in his bank account.
“One of the things I really think helped him is that I have him with the right trainer in Walter Carroll,” Key explained. “Walter is out in farm country in Lancaster and this horse really enjoys his time out in the pasture. Also, he has an Amish girl taking care of him that really, really works with him and loves him. He took to her, too.
“Believe me, if it was up to me I would put a woman with all of our horses,” he continued. “Women go to work with horses because they love them and I think the horses responded to that. It also worked with Break The Bank K (2010 Breeders Crown 3-year-old colt trotting champion and world record holder). We shipped him up to Canada and his groom couldn’t go, so Trond (Smedshammer) put him with a Swedish girl and it really turned him around.”
Key also thinks some time to grow up has aided Winning Mister in reaching his potential.
“Maturity definitely has helped him,” Key said. “Horses don’t stop growing until they are five and it’s probably the same for their brains.
“I had a woman, who was a social worker, tell me something that I didn’t believe at the time, but now I’ve come to believe it’s true,” he continued. “She said men grow until they are 17 and then they just stay there. It used to be this horse was always on the front end and wouldn’t stay in a hole. Now you can handle him and he will sit there.”
He acknowledges Brian Sears did an excellent job piloting Winning Mister in a track record performance at Vernon Downs last fall, but Key feels transitioning to Matt Kakaley at the lines has certainly improved the stallion’s performance.
“This young Kakaley; he really likes him,” he said. “It’s so important to have a driver that is confident in the horse; there’s no question about it. You can’t have a driver that brings him out last or next to last. In some of these races you have to leave and go to get him involved in the race. That’s what this horse needs.”
Parties across the pond have shown interest in Winner Mister making a transatlantic trip, but Key thinks the stallion will remain stateside for the rest of the season.
“We just qualified him on March 4 at the Meadowlands after a little break,” he said. “I believe in keeping them up, but we couldn’t get a race for him to fill and Kakaley was on vacation down in Florida. He’s in to go at Chester on March 18 in the ninth race and although I’ve had e-mails from Europeans about their races, I like how’s he’s going right now and will keep him in the states.
“Walter keeps telling me how great he’s doing and how nicely he’s coming along,” Key continued. “Walter is not one to say things like that and I’m very enthused about him.”