by Kimberly French, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Kimberly French

Louisville, KY — He had his eye on him for quite a while, but Ronald Stebbins didn’t make a move to own Fifty Two Finn, the 2010 Batavia Downs Trotter of the Year, until the stallion switched racing venues.

“I kept watching him on the Internet when he was racing at Yonkers,” remembered the Rochester, N.Y., resident. “I really wanted him, but kind of held back because you can’t race them (at another track) for 30 days after you claim them. Then they (his former owners) put him in a claimer at Tioga Downs and we race there. They raised him a couple thousand dollars in the claiming price and I don’t think they were happy to lose him, but he really is a nice boy and I’m very happy with him.”

The 11-year-old son of Movie Mogul-Cassina has trotted 240 race miles in his career with 47 victories, 26 second place finishes and 37 thirds. Fifty Two Finn has earned $446,932, possesses a lifetime mark of 1:54.4f that he established at age eight and has never had less than 10 starts in any of his racing campaigns.

Paul White photo

Fifty Two Finn is closing in on the $500,000 mark in career earnings.

Last year he earned nearly $65,000 while competing primarily in Open Handicaps worth $8,000 to $15,000 and in his sophomore season, Fifty Two Finn won more than $123,000 and finished second in the New York Sire Stakes Final.

“He’s very consistent,” Stebbins said. “He’ll go two-wide, three-wide; he’ll cut a mile. He’s got no vices; especially for a stud. He’s a horse with it all.

“In his first start this year, I didn’t expect much,” he continued. “I just wanted to tighten him up, but being the classy horse he is, they were four or five across the track and he stuck his nose in front. He’s a real nice horse.”

Although he’s a stallion, Fifty Two Finn is a very relaxed horse.

“He only gets excited around mares,” Stebbins said. “What we were doing for awhile, and it sounds crazy, is on race day I would bring mares around. Then we would load him on the trailer and take him to the track. It was like a natural drug to get him riled up and it seemed to work.

“Other than that, he’s real quiet,” he continued. “He’s a real good horse and loves people. He loves to be petted and he actually gives kisses. If you make a kissing noise, he’ll come right up to you and put his lips on you. He won’t bite you at all.”

Since the stallion is such a large horse (nearly 17 hands) Stebbins adjusts his trotting hopples based on the anticipated trip Fifty Two Finn will have.

“I kept the same equipment on him that he came with,” he explained. “He has trotting hopples on so if I plan on sending him to the front, I might loosen them up a bit or shorten them up if he stays in the hole. He’s a real big horse and I don’t want him extending too much; especially in the turns at Buffalo Raceway. They have very sharp turns there.”

Shortly after Stebbins claimed the stallion, Fifty Two Finn decided to show just how much strength rested within his body.

“I was trying to give him some cough medicine,” he recalled. “He stooped down a little bit and something must have spooked him. When he had stopped moving he had torn the whole gate off the front of his stall. He didn’t get crazy, but just stood there with an 80 pound steel gate around his neck looking at me, like ‘sorry.’ He tore it right out of the socket. He has unbelievable power and is just such a good boy.”

He began his season at Buffalo Raceway, but Stebbins might keep the stallion in the barn until Vernon Downs or Tioga Downs open later this spring.

“I raced him (on Feb. 18) at Buffalo again and he got interfered with and had a rough trip,” he said. “He actually broke and came back trotting to take fifth. He’s okay, but he’s having a really hard time with these turns so we will probably wait for Vernon because I think he will like it there and Tioga and then I’ll take him back to Batavia, where he totally dominated last year.

“A lot of people think those tracks (Buffalo and Batavia) are the same but they are not,” Stebbins continued. “Buffalo has real tight turns and he struggled right from the start when we qualified him at Buffalo. The driver wanted me to rig him up to take the turns easier, but I’m not going to hurt this horse. We will just wait and take him somewhere else. I know he loved Tioga and Batavia.”

After he closes out his racing career, Fifty Two Finn might have a second profession.

“I’m thinking about finding some mares and getting a foal out of them by him,” Stebbins said. “He’s a big horse, but he’s a gentle giant and just such a good boy. He’s great in the paddock, he loads up good. He just does everything right. He’s just a really special horse. Even his driver, John Cummings, told me I would never see a horse like this again. He’s a special, special horse.”