by Rich Fisher, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Trenton, NJ — Ron Gurfein was standing next to his friend and rival Jimmy Takter at the Lexington Selected Sale in 2005 when Great Success was brought into the ring.

Takter already knew what was about to happen.

“I loved Self Possessed because he was my greatest horse,” Gurfein said, referring to the 1999 Hambletonian winner. “Great Success was a son of Self Possessed and probably a colt that looked more like Self Possessed than any colt I’ve ever seen.

“His pedigree wasn’t A-plus, but it was very, very good. It was a year Self Possessed was in disfavor.”

Gurfein bought Great Success for $7,000.

“Jimmy opened up his catalogue and with a huge circle around it; it said ‘RG.’ He knew I was gonna buy that colt,” Gurfein said.

On Saturday, Great Success will attempt to follow in his father’s footsteps and advance to the $1.5 million Hambletonian final on August 4 at the Meadowlands Racetrack. The decision to race in the Hambletonian came rather suddenly, despite the early attraction Gurfein had to the horse.

Nigel Soult photo

Great Success was a winner in a John Simpson Stakes division as a juvenile.

As a 2-year-old, Great Success won the Review, Hayes and Simpson stakes prior to second-place finishes in divisions of the Bluegrass and International Stallion.

He then went to Woodbine for the Breeders Crown, but failed to advance to the final, finishing sixth in his elimination race.

“He never had a bad line until he got to Canada,” Gurfein said. “I refused to change him. Somehow when you make a horse right for Canadian tracks when they’re 2, it compromises their 3-year-old-year. I said if he can go the way he is fine. If not, we’re
not going to put a lot of grab on him. And he raced OK.”

This year, Great Success was hardly living up to his name early in the season. He was winless in five starts, including a sixth-place finish in the Stanley Dancer Memorial on July 14.

“(Co-owner) Jerry Silva and I decided, we’ll protect him and we put him in no minor stakes, just all major stakes, that’s what we thought of him,” Gurfein said. “I had a lot of people try to buy him all winter long; no one would come up with the right price. I started racing him and he never raced good.

“Week after week, he never had a good finish in the mile or anything like that. So I was depressed. I said, ‘OK, he’s not as good as I thought he was.’”

But something was nagging at the Hall of Fame trainer.

Gurfein still believed he could get more out of the colt, so he decided to tinker.

USTA/Ken Weingartner photo

Great Success was a $7,000 yearling purchase and has banked $111,249 in his career.

“Finally, I said I gotta try one more thing, and I lightened his shoes up, like radically,” Gurfein said. “And Dr. Nolan, who has been my vet for 35 years, said ‘Why don’t you try the Cornell Collar (to prevent palate displacement) on him?’ Well, I don’t know if it was the Cornell Collar or lightening up in the front, but he had a radical change.”

On July 19, Great Success and regular driver Mike Lachance finished second by a nose to Hambletonian hopeful Xactly Hanover in 1:52.3 in a qualifier at The Meadowlands.

“We went an unbelievable mile,” Gurfein said. “He cut the mile and the horse in the two hole went by him in the middle of the stretch. He was second by half a length; he came back and he was beat by a nose.”

That effort was enough for Gurfein to enter Great Success in the Hambletonian elims.

“I gotta put up $12,500, so I guess I believe in him,” he said with a laugh.

As a three-time Hambletonian winner, Gurfein’s beliefs have proven solid over the years. And while Great Success likely won’t be a favorite, the trainer will not give the standard cliché line that he likes sneaking up on people as an underdog.

“I like to go in at 1-9,” he said. “It’s much better to be the favorite than to be the underdog.”

And why is that?

“Because the favorite usually wins,” Gurfein said, matter-of-factly. “I don’t care about the pressure; I’d rather have the pressure of being the favorite.”

Whatever happens, the ride has been good for Gurfein because he is taking it with a good friend in Silva.

“This has absolutely been a lot of fun,” Gurfein said. “Jerry’s a close friend of mine; he’s probably as wonderful a person as there is in the business. The wonderful people you want to do good for. I bought the colt for $7,000 and everybody turned me down, nobody wanted a piece of him.

“I said, ‘No problem, I’ll keep him myself.’ He trained so good as a 2-year-old, everybody wanted to buy him. Jerry came up with the money, so he deserves something great.”

The question is: Will it be a great success?

“My feeling is — if he repeats the (qualifier) performance on Saturday,” Gurfein said, “he’s going to win.”

Editor’s Note: For the most complete Hambletonian coverage on the Web, be sure to visit www.ustrotting.com beginning next Monday and head to our Hambletonian mini-site for all the news and exclusive features pertaining to the sport’s greatest trotting race!