by Charlene Sharpe, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Charlene Sharpe

Fort Washington, MD — When Jonathan Nikodemski purchased Blue Time Frosty two years ago, the gray gelding was underweight, covered in fungus and had thrush in all four feet.

As they say though, good things come to those who wait.

The now 9-year-old pacer surprised everyone but Nikodemski earlier this month when he took a new lifetime mark of 1:56.1 at Rosecroft Raceway, crossing the wire first at odds of 43-1.

“He was on a downhill slope and this year he came back and took a new lifetime mark,” said Nikodemski, who trains and drives the pacer for his girlfriend, Kathleen Layton. “We’re just happy he made it back to the races.”

Nikodemski purchased Blue Time Frosty (Admirals Galley-Dawns First Lady) sight unseen while in Maine two years ago.

Blue Time Frosty has earned $87,883 in his career with 20 lifetime wins.

“I was there for the summer and I’d been looking for a horse,” he recalled. “I heard about him through a friend.”

Although he knew by the purchase price he was getting a cheap horse, he was not prepared for what he saw when Blue Time Frosty arrived. The big gray gelding was skinny and in all around poor condition.

“I was disappointed,” he said. “I was kind of stunned with the way he looked.”

He put aside his disillusionment, however, and got to work on the horse. After a bit of light racing in Maine, Blue Time Frosty headed home to Pennsylvania with Nikodemski.

“I gave him off quite a while and let him be a horse again,” he said.

Nikodemski started working with him again in early 2011 and had the pacer ready to return to the races last fall. The pair headed to Freehold for qualifiers on Sept. 9, 2011.

Blue Time Frosty finished fourth, pacing in 2:01.4, in what would be his only trip to the racetrack that year. He came off the track with a bowed tendon.

“We had to start all over again,” Nikodemski said.

After carefully retracing his steps, Nikodemski had the gelding ready to go again this summer. Two qualifying miles tightened the gelding up and he was officially back racing in August. Blue Time Frosty hit the board in his third start back on Aug. 27, finshing second at Ocean Downs against $4,000 claiming competition, pacing in 1:57.3.

After one start at Freehold, Blue Time Frosty headed to Rosecroft in October. After a sixth place finish for another driver, Nikodemski opted to take the lines himself on Nov. 6.

“He’d had a crappy trip his last start,” Nikodemski said. “I decided to drive myself. He’s never been a horse to come home something fierce so I left with him.”

Photos courtesy of Jonathan Nikodemski

The 9-year-old pacer has hit the board in three of his 10 starts in 2012.

From post five Blue Time Frosty made the front in :27.4. After fractions of :58.1 and 1:26.3 the gray horse went on to cross the wire first in 1:56.1, winning his first race in three years.

“He was really good that night,” Nikodemski said. “It was a fun night.”

After a sixth placed seventh finish the following week, Blue Time Frosty came back and finished third on Nov. 20, pacing in 1:55.4.

“He’s been good since we brought him back,” he said. “He’s not a superstar but he’s good for what he’d been showing.”

Before moving to Nikodemski’s barn, Blue Time Frosty struggled to beat 2:02.

While he realizes the pacer will never be an Open pacer, Nikodemski appreciates how far Blue Time Frosty has come. And while his stablemates are a bit above his class, racing at Harrah’s Philadelphia, Nikodemski makes sure Blue Time Frosty receives the same attention they do.

“It’s just cool that he made it back to the races,” he said.

The pacer, recognizable as the horse Nikodemski bought two years ago only by his color, has kept a few of his old quirks in spite of his newfound success.

“He’s really shy,” Nikodemski said. “When I first got him he was tough to catch.”

He’s come to know his trainer since and appears to be enjoying himself.

“For an aged horse he does stuff he really shouldn’t do,” Nikodemski said. “When you go to turn him out he takes off before you can get the lead shank off him. I don’t know if he thinks it’s funny or what but that’s his little maneuver.”