by Kimberly French, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Kimberly French

Williamsport, PA — When his wife told him the orthodontist had recommended braces for his daughter, Tom Barrett’s thoughts immediately turned to his 6-year-old trotting gelding, L T’s Best.

“Thank god for LT, because he’s buying braces and all this other stuff for us,” said the 48-year-old banker and resident of Novi, Michigan. “He’s definitely taken good care of me and my family.”

Barrett, who trains and breaks young horses with the help of his 15-year-old son Ryan, purchased the Michigan-bred son of Davanti and Light Tackle as a yearling for $5,500 from Carol Vanderhyde’s consignment at the 2004 Great Lakes Sale.

The gelding showed talent training down, but during his freshman and sophomore campaigns, was troublesome to keep on the trot and only earned about $15,000 with three wins from 24 starts. L T’s Best, however, did defeat champion Chocolatier in a qualifier at age three and as a four-year-old, established a new track standard of 1:55.1 at Hazel Park Raceway.

L T’s Best enjoyed a super winter campaign at Dover Downs, winning four times, including a 1:56 score on March 18 in the $32,000 Open.

Since it was difficult for Barrett to find races for him in Michigan and because the gelding was not a good shipper, he was sent to trainer/driver Vince Copeland’s new headquarters at Dover Downs last fall, where he has really blossomed. In 2009, L T’s Best has earned $144,895 of his career bankroll of $334,215 from 21 race miles and lowered his lifetime mark to 1:53.3f.

“I used to stay awake at night and stare at the ceiling wondering what I could do to help this horse,” Barrett, who currently has five head, remembered. “He had extreme speed and was nicely gaited, but mentally, he just didn’t have it all together and his legs were going faster than his brain. It took some time for him to mature and relax out on the racetrack. Believe me, I have a head full of gray hair and he put most of them there, so it is very rewarding to see how well he is racing now. I wish I had five more just like him.”

Copeland, who drove the horse for nearly two years before he entered his barn, has been friends with Barrett for about 15 years and thinks most people would have gave up on L T’s Best long before he got his act together.

“There aren’t many barns out there that would have given this horse the time and exercised the patience that Tom did with him,” the Michigan native, who has won more than 4,000 races and $22 million in purse money, explained. “At 2 and 3, he kept running for no reason and he is a very quirky horse. You really have to work with him.”

Fotowon photos

Trainer/driver Vince Copeland has seen L T’s Best bank nearly $150,000 this year.

L T’s Best loathes training and a big mile for him in the morning is 2:20. He’s not an overly affectionate horse, won’t wear wraps, won’t come out of his stall if there are crossties in front of it and generally likes to do things his own way. He does especially appreciate his turn-out time.

“I tried to poultice his legs and he chewed through the wraps, so I would just paint them the best I could,” Barrett, who is a board member of the Michigan Harness Horsemen’s Association, said. “He’s not a mean horse, but you can’t do things with him that you can with other horses or he gets overly excited.”

For the first four weeks Copeland had L T’s Best, all the gelding did was fight him, but once the conditioner made an equipment change, he settled right down.

“We put a straight rubber bit on him in Michigan and then he started staying flat,” Copeland said. “He would always chuck his head a bit and when he got to Dover he started grabbing so bad we were choking him, so I put an apple-flavored happy horse snaffle bit on him and he’s been absolutely perfect ever since.

“We really didn’t want to make any changes with him, since he is so flighty, but now I can control him a bit more and he’s stopped getting excited,” he continued. “Now we just try to keep him quiet and content, because when he gets hot, it’s a battle and a cheap horse can beat him.”

His connections have targeted the Patriot Trot at Colonial Downs and the American-National at Balmoral Park as late season goals.

“When I think about all those nights I stared at the ceiling and then look at him now, I can’t begin to tell you how satisfying it is,” Barrett said. “He’s been a fun horse to have and I know he’s taken care of Vinnie’s family as well. It’s been a great ride and I’ve been enjoying the whole thing. Hopefully it continues.”