by Rich Fisher, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Rich Fisher

Trenton, NJ — Nancy Johansson admits that size does matter.

Even in a smaller horse.

“He needs to have a big heart,” the New Jersey-based trainer said of her 3-year-old colt trotter, Dominion Beach. “You look at a lot of smaller horses through history. You look at a horse like (2010 Kentucky Futurity winner) Wishing Stone, he was probably smaller than Dominion Beach and he just had great tenacity and wanted to do his work and was one of the top horses that year.

“You have to be tough. Dynamite comes in small packages. I’m really not worried about his size. You just have to be smart because it’s tougher on them. I think maybe we need to match him smartly, I don’t want to over-do it with him as far as his size.”

USTA/Mark Hall photo

Dominion Beach banked $77,417 as a 2-year-old and had one win in nine starts.

Johansson has proven to be smart in establishing herself as one of the sport’s top young trainers. And Dominion Beach, who begins the road to August’s $1 million Hambletonian Stakes in this weekend’s Dexter Cup eliminations at Freehold Raceway, has proven to be tough despite his lesser frame and a bout with over-eagerness; the latter being a family trait.

His father is 2009 Horse of the Year Muscle Hill and his mother is Windylane Hanover, also a Dan Patch Award-winning horse. He is a full brother to Muscle Diamond, a multiple-stakes-winner as a 2-year-old, who despite battling injuries last season won divisions of the Simcoe and Bluegrass and finished third in the Breeders Crown.

“Muscle Hills tend to be a little high strung, and I think they have to grow out of it,” Johansson said. “But I think that’s what makes them good racehorses. They want to do their work. I think the nerves just got the best of (Dominion Beach). A lot of trainers agree Muscle Hills can be a little anxious until they finally get into their routine and settle down a little bit. It’s probably just something with maturing and more development. They grow out of it.”

Despite those nerves, Dominion Beach showed potential in winning $77,417 as a 2-year-old. His one win in nine races came in a division of the Champlain Stakes at Mohawk Racetrack in Ontario, and he took fifth in the Peter Haughton Memorial at the Meadowlands.

“I think he did well given that he was slightly anxious in the beginning, especially coming up to the gate,” owner Anders Strom said. “He just needed some experience as many babies do. But he did well in a tough Peter Haughton and then we could see some development during the season.”

On Saturday, Dominion Beach competes in the second of three six-horse Dexter Cup eliminations at Freehold. Dominion Beach, who this year has a win and a second-place finish, both in the Bobby Weiss Series at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, is the 8-5 morning line favorite in his division.

Richard Johnson-trained Steed is the 2-1 morning line favorite in the first elimination while Donna Marshall’s Inukchuck Chuck is the 2-1 choice in the third.

Steed, Granite State (9-2 in the second elim) and Treasure Keys K (5-1 in the first elim) join Dominion Beach as Hambletonian-eligible trotters in the Dexter field. The Dexter Cup final is May 7.

New Image Media photo

Dominion Beach’s lone win last year came in a Champlain Stakes division at Mohawk.

“He showed a lot of speed last year,” Johansson said about Dominion Beach. “He came up to the gate pretty good. But when he left the gate, there were problems with him breaking at the end of the year. That was mostly just him getting so anxious to race. It wasn’t really anything physically wrong with him. But he did OK. He showed enough ability that he was worth keeping around for his 3-year-old season, that’s for sure.”

Strom bought the colt at the 2014 Standardbred Horse Sale in Harrisburg for $90,000. And while his physical stature was cause for caution, it was also the reason the Swede could get the horse at a price they wanted.

“We love Muscle Hill as a sire and this yearling had a solid catalogue page with Windylane Hanover as dam,” Strom said. “He had a good conformation but was quite small, which is why we set a limit on the price. I guess other people had the same concern about his size, which is why we could take him home in the end.”

The horse was named Huntington Beach when purchased, but Strom is a fan of the French naming system, in which every horse in a certain crop has names beginning with the same letter.

“That way you more easily remember which crop is which,” Strom said. “If you buy 20 to 30 yearlings a year, this helps. That year it was ‘D’ and Dominion is just another beach, I guess.” (In case you’re wondering, Dominion Beach is secluded in the heart of Spain’s New Golden Mile, and situated between Kempinsky and Las Dunas hotels.)

It was no day at the beach for Johansson last year as she tried to calm Dominion Beach down, with Brett Miller doing most of the driving. In October they qualified the horse after fitting him with hobbles. They are not being used this year.

“He doesn’t need the hobbles for his gait, it was mostly when he was having his anxious moments maybe the hobbles could force him to stay on stride a little bit more,” Johansson said. “It’s kind of like your kid that has learned to ride their bike. They want to put training wheels on to make them feel a little safer. I think that was kind of the issue there.”

Strom said the horse “came out well from the winter training and looks bigger and better this season.”

Johansson noted that he had always been quick and now he is able to carry his speed better since he has grown slightly taller and bigger.

USTA/Mark Hall photo

Dominion Beach will start on Saturday in the Dexter Cup eliminations at Freehold.

“He’s by no means a big horse,” the trainer said. “He’s graduating from being small, I think. He’s more of an average height, there’s not a lot of bulk to him though. But he’s got a lot of life to him, and he’s settled down a little bit from last year. He’s kind of gotten more into the routine of being an actual racehorse now, which is what you want as a trainer.”

Despite his eagerness at the gate, Dominion Beach has been nice to deal with in the barn. Johansson said he is not rammy, and that she actually lunges him at times since he likes being in the air more than on the ground.

“With lunging he stays a little more out of trouble than having the jog cart on him,” she said. “He’s just very happy, he loves his work. He’s just thrilled to get out every day.”

On the track, Dominion Beach can race from ahead or come from behind. Johansson feels he enjoys being in front but added that “if he sat on somebody’s back and got a trip, that would be ideal too.”

“I know they had some issues with Muscle Diamond, but Muscle Diamond was a very quick horse,” she continued. “He wasn’t the horse you really wanted to have sitting on your back. He could always sprint pretty good, which I think Dominion Beach can do. They’ve got that quick speed, which their mother does too.”

Until they are completely sure Dominion Beach has gotten over his anxious moments, Marcus Johansson, Nancy’s husband, will do the driving because of his familiarity with the horse. Marcus jogs him every day and knows his quirks.

“I think that’s an advantage for us right now,” Nancy said. “Toward the middle or end of the season, once he settles and we know he’s kind of got his routine, I wouldn’t mind putting a catch driver back up on him.”

As far as this season, Strom and Johansson have the horse staked up to pretty much everything but the Kentucky Futurity. After the Dexter, he will race in the New Jersey Sire Stakes.

“That will actually give us more of an inclination of what kind of horse he’s going to be as far as racing against some of the bigger horses,” Johansson said. “We’ll see how he holds his own and go from there.”

Strom is optimistic, saying, “My hope is he could break into the Top 10 and that means we should have some Hambo hopes.”

All it takes is a little heart. Or, should we say, a lot of heart in a littler frame.