by Joe Hartmann, for the Breeders Crown

Campbellville, ON — “He’s my meal ticket,” trainer Bill Gallagher said Thursday morning. “If he needs something he gets it. We knew we had a good horse when we bought him. We just didn’t know he was a 1:51 trotter.”

The “he” that Gallagher is referring to is Hellava Hush, the five-year-old gelded son of Lindy Lane out of the two time Breeders Crown competitor Kindava Hush.

Hellava Hush comes into Saturday night’s $800,000 Breeders Crown Trot with a legitimate chance of knocking off divisional leader and prohibitive morning line favorite Mr Muscleman.

After competing for trainer-owner Kelly O’Donnell as a two and three-year-old, Hellava Hush was purchased prior to this season. Gallagher bought Hellava Hush for owner Joseph Chnapko, 83, of Livingston, New Jersey for $155,000 at the beginning of his four-year-old campaign. And for Chnapko, who owns a Mercedes Benz dealership in Fairfield, New Jersey, the win by Hellava Hush on August 6 at The Meadowlands in the Nat Ray Trot, when he trotted in 1:51, was the fastest trotting mile in the sport this year — an amazing event.

Following his victory, Chnapko said the win was one of the biggest thrills he had ever experienced as a horse owner. Despite having a large stable at one time and having had horses ever since the opening of The Meadowlands, he had recently cut down to just four horses. But he was pleased and confident about the way Gallagher was handling his horses.

And he has a great horse in Hellava Hush. The gelding has had 16 starts and netted over $300,000 in 2005 in what Gallagher calls “a managed campaign.”

“I have been able to manage him pretty well,” Gallagher said from the barn at Waples Training Center. “I was hoping to have him make about 15 starts and make it through to Chicago (the American-National Trot at Balmoral). Right now, it appears as if it is going to be about 20 starts.

“In retrospect, with the season this long, I probably should have waited to begin his year rather than starting him in the Mack Lobell (series at Pompano in February),” Gallagher continued. “But this horse just seems to be a money horse, he has been at his best when the big money is on the line.”

But it was in the Nat Ray, in which Hellava Hush not only managed to turn the tables on Mr Muscleman, but also scored the fastest trotting mile in North America this year, that Gallagher found out just how good a trotter he had. It also told him that he and his horse had the potential to take home Breeders Crown crystal.

“We knew he was good, we just did not know he was of this caliber,” Gallagher said. “There have only been two trotters ever to go faster than he has gone. That is a scary thought.”

But regardless of the outcome Saturday night, Gallagher is confident that his trotter will continue to race well and improve.

“Kelly certainly did not beat this horse up at two or three and we certainly didn’t beat him up at four or this year. There is still plenty left in this horse’s tank.”

Last week, in the Breeders Crown Prep, Gallagher and driver Catello Manzi were concerned over the fact that Hellava Hush was wearing flip flop shoes and couldn’t grab the track. Due to the fact that the weather forecast for the weekend in Ontario is favorable, Gallagher plans no change in shoeing for Hellava Hush.

“On the wet track last week, the local trainers said flip flops would be worth another two seconds on the horse,” Gallagher continued. “I was actually very pleased with the way he raced. He has sore feet. That is why he has the flip-flops on. Had last Saturday night been the final, he would have had aluminum shoes on.”

But racing for the biggest purse of his career Saturday night at Mohawk, Gallagher will have his horse as ready as possible.

“For a race like this, I had to train him hard this week, and he responded very well,” Gallagher said. “I trained him at a distance of two miles because that is what it was going to take. There are times that you have to turn the screws up; you have to pick your spots. This is one of those times.”