by Kimberly French, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Kimberly French

Williamsport, PA — His freshman campaign was not particularly promising, but Michaelrowyourboat’s connections knew all he needed was a little time to mature.

“He was really awkward at two,” explained 39-year-old Jimmy Smith, the 4-year-old gelding’s pilot and conditioner. “I raced him a couple times and saw that he had potential, but we just couldn’t keep him sound. There was no major reason at all; just the basic 2-year-old stuff. He grew out of it and is now a very nice horse.”

From his four freshman appearances, the Ohio-bred son of Victory Sam and Tall Sunflower finished second once and earned $1,239. As a sophomore, Michaelrowyourboat, who is owned by Flowing Mineral Farm of Beach City, Ohio, collected $119,076 from 25 starts and set a lifetime mark of 1:57f while competing primarily in Ohio. He began racing in preferred handicaps at the Meadows last fall and finished eighth in his first competition at the Meadowlands (in the $35,000 Invitational) on January 23.

USTA/Ed Keys photo

Michaelrowyourboat has won 12 times in his career, with earnings of $132,815.

“He is still progressing, even now,” said Smith, who is responsible for 30 trotters and is a resident of Massillon, Ohio. “He keeps improving each week and he’s such an honest horse. He really wants to do his work and he has a lot of ability.”

“Even (at the Meadowlands) he didn’t race badly,” he continued. “He was only beaten by (five) lengths in the Invitational Trot. Maybe he couldn’t handle it and got tired. There are a lot of things that go into it — different track surface, shoeing issues and it being the first time he ever shipped that far — but I still like him.”

A lifelong horseman, Smith’s parents Jack and Kathy race at the Meadows and his wife Jackie cares for Michaelrowyourboat. Throughout his 24-year-career, Smith has earned nearly $3.3 million in the bike and more than $1.2 million as a trainer. Last year was his best yet with total earnings of more than $550,000. Smith’s Universal Trainer Rating of .383 was 66th out of 1,830 trainers in North America with at least 100 starts. Of 1,481 drivers that made 100-300 starts, he ranked 52nd and maintained a .392 Universal Driver’s Rating.

“He is unbelievable and one of the smartest horses we have been around,” Smith said. “He is my wife’s buddy and the more we do with him, the more we think he could (race) himself.

“He’s two fingers to drive and you can use him whenever you need to,” he continued. “It’s like having a gas pedal; he waits for me to tell him what to do. He’s really a pleasure to be around in every way.”

After he didn’t get a race at the Meadows on the 23rd, Michaelrowyourboat was sent to the Meadowlands to get a gauge on his talent.

“We (the owner and I) are debating on whether to stake him to some of the bigger races this summer for trotters,” Smith said. “It worked out that we could do it before stakes payments are due on February 15. I haven’t talked to the owner or anything yet, so it’s still up in the air whether we would bring him back here. He is a very, very nice horse.”