by Nicolle Neulist, for the Illinois Harness Horsemen’s Association

Hinsdale, IL — Standardbred trainer, driver, and owner Charles Arthur may not have the biggest stable at Hawthorne, with just three racehorses under his care. However, after romping victories at both Springfield and in the Violet Stakes at Hawthorne, the retired mechanic might just have one of the best as his 2-year-old trotting filly Heidi High is emerging as one of the most promising juveniles in the state.

He has been in the sport for more than 20 years, since his cousin adopted a new hobby.

Four Footed Fotos photo

Charles Arthur drove Heidi High to victory in her division of the Violet Stakes on June 17, clear of a chasing E L Game On.

“He went out and bought a pacer,” Arthur remembers, “and he started buggy racing. A bunch of us, nine or ten of us, used to have riding horses. But then, everyone followed suit when he got a buggy horse.”

Since then he has trained and owned Standardbreds. For most of that time, Arthur also worked as a heavy equipment mechanic for the city of Jackson, Miss. He would train his horses, but his career limited how often he could drive on race day.

“I went to Fayetteville, Tenn. and the Neshoba County Fair in Mississippi. I went up there, drove my horses up there, but I took vacation to do that.”

Since retiring three years ago, Arthur has been able to take a more extensive role.

“When I retired, I came on and started doing it all my own self. It’s just a little hobby I do instead of staying at the house, twiddling my thumbs. Everybody’s told me I need to get off the bike, I’m too big, but I told them this was something that I wanted to do. I’m just having fun doing what I wanted to do now since I retired.”

Driving gets him in touch with his competitive side.

“I just like the speed, especially if you’ve got a good horse that can go fast. I like any horse that’s competitive.”

Over the last three years he has driven his horses at fairs and at Hawthorne.

“I had my first pari-mutuel win up here with M T Gunslinger,” Arthur lit up with the memory of that victory on June 7 of last year. “I trained and broke that horse with my partner, and brought him up here. He did good. I won with him in 1:55.1, so that was my first sub-2:00 mile as a driver.”

Though Arthur no longer trains M T Gunslinger, he conditions a stable of three horses. In addition to stable star Heidi High, he has 4-year-old pacer Vitality and 3-year-old pacer Headofthesnake.

His road to owning Heidi High began last year. He trained and drove another promising 2-year-old trotting filly named New Queen. She won twice at Hawthorne, and finished second in the Illinois State Fair Colt Stakes consolation for 2-year-old trotting fillies last summer at Springfield.

New Queen’s sire led Arthur and partner Gary Brown to Heidi High at last September’s Illini Classic Sale in Springfield.

“New Queen was a New Balance — I wanted another New Balance. There were three in the sale in all. I had a partner who did a lot of research, and he told me she would probably be the best one to get. I shot at her, and got her.”

The bidding for Heidi High, who was Hip No. 18 at the sale, went up to $5,000. Arthur signed the ticket.

Heidi High, out of the High Falls mare Swiss Falls, has had a pair of siblings race with some success in the stakes ranks in Illinois. Half-brother Swiss Mocha (Armbro American) won the Egyptian Stakes at Albion when he was two, and full brother Swiss Bank finished third in one leg of the Kadabra Series at Hawthorne last year. Though the catalog page suggested Heidi High would be competitive, pedigree alone couldn’t predict how well her career would begin.

Arthur realized he had a talented horse “probably around April, when I started training her down and she started showing a little something.”

Arthur’s partner Gary Brown saw something, too.

“He said she was better than New Queen,” recalled Arthur. “Heidi started coming along, and she started getting better and better.”

She qualified at Hawthorne on May 31, then traveled down to Springfield for her first race. On June 10 she faced three other Illinois conceived and foaled juvenile filly trotters, and never let any of them into the race.

“That was real nice,” Arthur laughed, enjoying the memory of his filly’s first race. “I didn’t know I was going that fast until I got to the end. And then, when I got back to pull up the fractions and see all that, I said, Lord, have mercy! The half in :58? That was a little bit too fast to start out with!”

In that Springfield debut Heidi High crossed the half-mile mark in :58.3, already 9-1/2 lengths clear of Joe Joes Violet, her closest pursuer. Yet, she was doing it within herself, and Arthur let his filly keep on going.

Arthur finally looked behind him during the stretch run, and found the rest of the field far behind. Even with such an advantage, Arthur knows his filly is young, and used it as another chance to continue her development as a racehorse.

“I didn’t want to let up on her then, because I don’t want them to start backing up. I always train mine to go home. So, she responded like I’ve been training her.”

Heidi High continued to draw further away from her foes. She stopped the clock in 1:59.1 for the mile on the fast Springfield course, 21-1/2 lengths clear of Joe Joes Violet.

Hawthorne was the next challenge for Heidi High. She returned a week later in a division of the Violet Stakes, also for ICF 2-year-old trotting fillies. She went off the 4-5 favorite on the strength of her dazzling debut. With the inside draw, Arthur once again drove Heidi High straight to the front and passed each call well clear. She trotted another 1:59.1 mile, home 4-3/4 lengths clear of second-place E L Game On.

Things are starting well, but with both of Heidi High’s victories so far being easy wire-to-wire affairs, Arthur knows the waters will only get deeper.

“She still ain’t been tested yet. Somebody’s got to come up beside her and see if she’s going to respond and hold it.”

Heidi High’s next challenge comes on Thursday (June 28) when she races in the first leg of the Fox Valley Flan series for 2-year-old ICF trotting fillies at Hawthorne.