by Kimberly French, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Kimberly French

Louisville, KY — After Peter Wrenn competed against Earl’s Glider in a $25,000 Indiana Sire Stakes event on September 23, 2009 at Indiana Downs, he decided to try and acquire the gelding for his own stable.

“I was on the lead (with race favorite ABC Photo) and he was sitting second getting ready to be moved out as we were turning for home,” he recalled. “When he came off my back he was just full of trot and I thought he could have won the race easily in (1):57. Then he made a break, but I thought, ‘Boy, he’s a nice horse that has a lot of speed and just made a 2-year-old break.’ That’s when I really started watching the horse and started thinking about putting a deal together for him.”

The Indiana-bred son of Earl Of Stormont-Havanna’s Glider trotted 11 miles as a freshman with two victories, three seconds and two thirds. Earl’s Glider, who is owned by Wrenn’s wife Melanie, as well as Daniel and Thomas Courtemanche earned $54,075 last year for his previous connections with a mark of 1:59.1. Since Wrenn began conditioning him for his sophomore campaign, the gelding has added $180,000 to his bank account, lowered his mark to 1:56.4s and has yet to taste defeat from five starts while racing solely at Hoosier Park.

Linscott Photography

Earl’s Glider has won each of his five starts this year, with earnings of $180,000.

“We tried to put a deal together after last year’s stake races and we just couldn’t come to an agreement,” Wrenn, who has amassed more than $48 million in the bike and $7 million as a trainer, explained. “I took another chance at it in January, we closed the deal and here we are.

“I like the looks of the horse and really thought he had a lot of talent,” the 47-year old Carmel, Indiana resident continued. “He had shown promise and there were times he had some back luck last year, like one race he was sick and another he made that break in, but I wasn’t sure and nobody would have been, that he could play the game in the Sire Stakes and be competitive.”

Wrenn is certainly pleased by how Earl’s Glider has performed this year and admits he was just a little surprised at how good the gelding has been.

“I didn’t expect he would be able to sweep the series (an Indiana Sire Stakes event for 3-year-old colts and geldings),” he said. “I thought going into it he would be very competitive in this class, but I didn’t think he would do it the way that he has. I thought it was pretty cool.”

Earl’s Glider is also very low maintenance around the barn and on the track.

“I’m not sure how he was rigged last year, but this year he is very, very simple,” Wrenn explained. “He’s a real easy horse to get along with and he has had very minimal vet work. We have been very fortunate with him.

“He has a good attitude,” he continued. “When horses are winning they are always a little happier than the rest of them, that’s just the way it is. When things are going good and you are winning races, horses and people are happy. The horses feel it too, but when they are trying their hardest and horses are going by them they can get depressed, so their attitude can go the other way real quick.”

His connections plan on keeping Earl’s Glider in similar spots throughout the rest of the year and hope he can maintain his current form.

“We have another series of Sire Stakes coming up with four legs (at Indiana Downs) and hopefully he makes the final,” Wrenn said. “After that he has a couple of stakes here in Indiana that are open to outside horses and then he might even have a couple stakes in Chicago. Right now he is pretty fresh because we haven’t raced him in too many races yet. His schedule will get tougher in the fall.

“It was definitely a good trade,” he continued. “The people we got him from were happy and it turned out good for us. He has been a pleasure.”