by Kimberly French, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent
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Kimberly French
Louisville, KY — His co-owner and conditioner thinks the way Three Of Spades handles life is one of the main reasons the 7-year-old gelding has enjoyed a successful career.
“He’s a real nice horse to take care of and never puts up a fuss about anything,” Bib Roberts explained. “He’s quiet and lets you do anything to him. Any horse will do better and last longer if they are laid back or calm. I believe like a lot of people, that we are going more towards the Thoroughbreds in terms of speed and stamina and there is a lot of nervousness in our breed right now.”
The son of Cam’s Card Shark-Triple Flip, who is also owned by William De Lodovico of Adelphi, Maryland, has earned $451,238 from 84 race miles and has 22 victories. Three Of Spades set his lifetime mark of 1:49.2f at age five and was selected by the Delaware Valley Chapter of the United States Harness Writers as the 2009-2010 Horse of the Meet at Dover Downs after capturing six feature races during the season.
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Fotowon photo
Three Of Spades has enjoyed a solid career, with 22 lifetime wins and $451,238 in earnings.
Purchased for $14,000 after his 2-year-old campaign at the 2005 Harrisburg Sale, the gelding, who sold for $4,500 as a yearling at Tattersall’s New Jersey Sale, is now competing primarily at Harrah’s Chester in winner’s over contests. From 16 starts this year, Three Of Spades has a slate of 5-2-5 and more than $129,000 in purse money.
“He wasn’t going for that much and his legs were clean,” Roberts, a resident of Harrington, Delaware, recalled. “I figured they (his former owners) must of thought something of him if they put him in the New Jersey Sire Stakes at Freehold so we bought him.”
Three Of Spades usually does his best work coming off a helmet and his small stature does contribute to his racing style.
“He’s not a real big horse and that’s mostly the reason we don’t put him on the front end a lot, because I think little horses don’t really hold up when they are out front all the time,” Roberts said. “Once in a while it’s okay, but we usually come from behind with him and he seems to like that.”
The gelding doesn’t require much equipment or training.
“He just wears a loose hobble, knee boots, run down wraps behind, a regular snaffle bit and a regular overcheck and he’s ready to go,” Roberts said. “If he races on a Sunday, I might take him a slow trip on a Thursday and if he misses a week of racing I might go a little faster with him, but we don’t train him very much or go fast with him.”
For the time being, Three Of Spades will continue to compete at Harrah’s Chester and he just returned to action with a third place finish in a $28,000 contest last Sunday after being scratched on May 16.
“He’s been drawing the outside and he was coughing a little bit,” Roberts explained. “He also had a bruised heel, so we decided to treat him with antibiotics, so I scratched him, but he’s feeling better now and his foot is also much better.
“I don’t really long to race him on a half-mile track and he would probably be okay at the Meadowlands, but Chester is much closer for me,” he continued. “The money is pretty close to being the same anyway. We put him in for this one big race at Chester in July (the $500,000 Ben Franklin) and if he is in real top shape, I feel that he can get a check in there. I don’t know if he can win, but I think he can be good enough to get some money in there. After that I will keep him at Chester until they close.”
Three Of Spades will return to action this Sunday, May 30, at Harrah’s Chester in a $23,000 conditioned event for non-winners of $25,000 in their last five starts. It will be the first race on the program with a post time of 12:45 p.m. (EDT). Below is the field.
Harrahs Chester-$23,000 Conditioned Pace
PP-Horse-Driver-Trainer
1-Estero Bay-George Napolitano Jr.-Lou Pena
2-Mucho Sleazy-Tim Tetrick/George Napolitano Jr.-Ken Rucker
3-Booze Cruzin-David Miller/Tim Tetrick-Merle La Fountaine
4-Gottaservesomebody-Tony Morgan-Marvin Callahan
5-McCedes-Yannick Gingras-Ron Burke
6-Arctic Warrior-Tim Tetrick-Sam Beegle
7-Three Of Spades-Jonathan Roberts-Bib Roberts