by John Pawlak, the U.S. Trotting Association

Columbus, OH — John Barnard’s late-blooming pacer, St Elmo Hero, has been a hero each and every time he has gone to the gate in his career, and in December his winning streak drew increased notice — and saw him named the December Horse of the Month by the U.S. Trotting Association.

Before anyone asks, a 19-race win streak from the start of a career is not a record — Bret Hanover’s 24-for-24, at age two, in 1964, set the mark and kicked-off a Hall of Fame run.

World Wide Racing Photos

St Elmo Hero has been named December Horse of the Month.

The Charles Eustis III-trained son of Western Hero-Crystal Crickett (by Cedar Ridge), interestingly, shows Bret Hanover back four and five generations, respectively, on his dam’s and sire’s sides of his pedigree, but Bret took a much different trail to a perfect year: Bret was a prodigy and won Horse of the Year titles at both age two and three, while St Elmo Hero had yet to get behind the starting gate until his 4-year-old season dawned.

St Elmo Hero, unlike Bret Hanover, has raced in few rich stakes; a win in the Hal Dale Final and Single G Final, both at Indiana Downs, were his biggest scores, until a late-year trip to Harrah’s Chester, where he swept through three preliminary legs and the $50,000 final of the Blue Route Series. In the Blue Route final, St Elmo Hero capped his perfect year by lowering his mark to 1:50.1f. Overall, he earned $135,000 on the season.

From a non-starter to the prospect of being one of the sport’s top Free For Allers in 2011, St Elmo Hero has shown that a late start in life can still bring plenty of rewards.