Columbus, MN — Three-year-old pacing colt Johnny Freight, who is a full brother to Jimmy Freight (Sportswriter-Allamerican Summer) made his 2023 debut in a qualifying race at Running Aces on Tuesday (May 9). The colt has the same Iowa ownership and trainer connections as his famous brother had in his early years on the track.
Johnny Freight was very lightly raced last season at age two and did not hit the board in three starts, with his fastest charted mile being a fourth and last place showing while timed in 2:15.3 at What Cheer, Iowa, in his career debut.
In today’s qualifier, Johnny Freight floated away from the gate into third position and was 2-3/4 lengths back of leader Trump Train (Brandon Jenson) early, as that 7-year-old pacer posted quick fractions of :28.1, :56.1 and 1:24.3. Johnny Freight solidly held the third position throughout the middle stages of the affair.
As they rounded for home, Trump Train began to tire and pocket-sitter Lil Char (Rick Magee) took over command in the lane. Johnny Freight shook free and had tons of pace, storming home down the center of the track to just miss victory by a head on the wire in a very impressive 1:53.2 mile. Johnny Freight posted a final quarter of :28.2. Always Choose Chip (Brady Jenson) also closed sharply to pick up third.
After the race, I spoke with Johnny Freight’s driver Chad Svendsen who shared that “The horse did it all on his own out here today, I never had to ask him for anything.”
It was an eye-opening season’s debut for the colt who reportedly is going to be around the Minnesota oval for at least a few starts this summer.
Svendsen stated: “As far as I know, he could likely race up here until late June, before moving on to some possible stakes racing north of the border” and that to his knowledge, the connections are looking to hold onto Johnny Freight with the ultimate goal being a later career as a stallion in the Iowa program.
Svendsen also shared that he is “excited to get to drive this colt a bit here, and I’d love to be able to drive him wherever he may go.”
The live racing season at Running Aces gets underway this Sunday (May 14) with first post at 7 p.m. (CDT).