Bailey Danielle is enjoying her “second career” on the track
February 23, 2009,by Kimberly French, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent
Kimberly French Williamsport, PA — 
“I live in York, Pennsylvania, so I watch the races on the computer or at an off-track betting parlor, but I’m dying to get out there this spring,” said Brian Groff. “You don’t get to see a mother and daughter in the same trainer’s barn that often and to make it more interesting, they look a bit alike. Also, we have a family tradition of naming our foals after our kids and these two mares are named after my daughters.”
Unraced as a freshman, Bailey Danielle, a Pa-bred daughter of Keystone Fool-Comfort, showed promise in her sophomore season, yet was unable to recapture the form that earned her seven victories from 22 starts, $27,118 in purse money and her lifetime mark of 1:56.1f.
“She had a really big year and did really well in a lot of condition races,” Groff, an orthopedic implant salesman, said. “One of them (her wins) was actually in the Filly and Mare Open Trot against older horses, so she did it the hard way.”
“We really thought she had a bright future ahead of her, but Dale McConnell, our trainer at the time, tried with her for a year and we just couldn’t get her back,” he continued. “So we brought her back to my parents’ farm in Lancaster to breed her.”
Brian’s grandfather and his dad, Ken, had bred, trained and raced harness horses since the late 1960s. The family farm, which now consists of roughly 15 acres, normally has 10-15 head, mostly broodmares and youngsters, roaming its confines.
Chris Gooden photo
In 2008, Bailey Danielle earned more than $45,000 and captured nine races from 25 attempts.
Bailey Danielle began her second career in 2004 and after producing three consecutive foals to Wonder Dancer’s cover, was barren in 2007. She looked so good trotting around the fields, the wheels in Brian’s and Ken’s minds started to whirl.
“When we saw her trot around the meadow, she looked great; like she just came off the track,” Groff said. “She never really got fat like most broodmares do and took great care of herself. She really only had one year of racing, so we thought we would give it a shot.”
Shortly after her last foal, Fortissimo, was weaned, the Groffs sent Bailey Danielle to a neighboring farm to work out on an exerciser for two months. She was then sent to a neighboring Amish gentleman who breaks and trains all the young Groff horses. Once she had a fairly strong fitness level, she traveled to trainer Greg Wright, Jr.’s barn at the Meadows and qualified in January of 2008.
“We put her in claiming races, nothing too significant, but she raced extremely well,” Groff said. “I think she won in her third start back and then she broke the splint bone in her right rear leg. We were just pleased she won a race, but Greg told us how gritty this mare was. He said she had more heart than many other horses he had trained, so we had surgery to remove the splint bone. She was off six weeks, came back and qualified in June and has been racing incredibly ever since.”
Bailey Danielle’s first foal, a colt named McNabb, was sold by the Groffs, but her second foal, Emma Nicole, is preparing for her first date with the starter and is just down the shedrow from her mother, who has collected three victories and a second place finish from five starts this year. In 2008, Bailey Danielle earned more than $45,000 and captured nine races from 25 attempts.
“She has been an unbelievable surprise to us,” Groff said. “I still pinch myself thinking this mare was out on the family farm. My kids were riding her, taking pictures of her and here she is at 10 racing against the boys and beating them.”
Groff intends to race the mare until she tells him she has had enough.
“As long as she feels good and seems to enjoy what she does, we will keep racing her,” he said. “She’s been in claiming races, but we are probably going to move her up into the condition races because now that other people see three wins in the last couple of weeks, they might take a shot at claiming her from us. She’s done so well and I wouldn’t want to see that happen as she has been unbelievable for us.”