by Kimberly French, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Kimberly French

Louisville, KY — He’s been in the sport for about 15 years and often breeds, conditions and pilots his own stable, but Alexandria, Ind., resident Marlin Fry never owned a horse with the ability to capture a $75,000 Sire Stakes final, let alone one that was capable of banking more than $60,000 during a year of competition. That is until Nora Rockwell arrived on the scene and altered his life in an unequivocal fashion.

“She is a special filly and has certainly been a sweet surprise,” he said. “I never expected these things from her. She’s already made $170,000 this year and is by far the best horse I have ever owned or bred. I’ve made $170,000 before but not with one horse. Actually it took a bunch of them to get there.”

Linscott Photography

Nora Rockwell has won 12 times in her career, with earnings of $190,352.

Nora Rockwell will seek to boost her seasonal record to 17-9-4-1 and push her bankroll over the $200,000 mark when she paces off the gate from the six hole in her $75,000 Indiana Sire Stakes final on Friday (Aug. 14) at Hoosier Park. This contest is the fourth race on the Dan Patch Stakes undercard and is scheduled to begin at 6:15 p.m. She is rated as the second choice on the morning line at 3-1 and picks up the services of Yannick Gingras, North America’s top driver in money earned this year ($6.3 million), for her journey.

“We will need some luck for sure,” Fry said. “It’s a tough group of horses and she has a new driver, but you can do anything you want with her as long as you keep her settled down in the post parade.”

A daughter of Palone Ranger and the V P Finance mare Norma Rockwell, this 3-year-old filly is the first offspring from her dam, who Fry owns in conjunction with a partner Glen Hershberger.

Nora Rockwell was a solid race horse at age two but nothing spectacular. She paced 14 miles with four victories, five second place finishes and one third. She banked just over $20,000 with three of her four triumphs at the Shelbyville, Portland and Goshen fairs. The highest purse she competed for was in a $25,000 Indiana Sire Stakes consolation and Fry held the reins for each start.

In 2015, however, this filly has blossomed from a girl into a woman. She commenced her season by winning a $7,500 non-winners event at Hoosier Park on April 3 and has grown stronger with each trip.

It took her seven attempts before she reached the winner’s circle again on May 22, but she picked up checks with three seconds, a third, a fourth and a fifth while climbing up the class ladder. Fry handed over the lines to Jason Dillander for the May 22 win in a $20,000 Indiana Sire Stakes elimination and in her next eight starts she only lost two of them. She was on a winning streak of five, which included two $75,000 Indiana Sire Stakes finals, and established her lifetime mark of 1:51s on July 24, until she came home fifth in her last engagement, a $20,000 ISS elimination, on Aug. 7. That was with Fry once again in the sulky as Jason Dillander had a previous commitment to another client and hence Gingras is picking up her drive this week.

“Jason did a great job with her,” Fry said. “He told me right when he started for me that he had other business arrangements and would not be able to drive her all the time. I understand that so there are no hard feelings on my part. Also, she really is not difficult to drive.”

According to Fry, Nora Rockwell really just needed some time to figure things out, as nearly all youngsters do early on in their career, and now is the consummate professional with a bit of an attitude.

“She was very immature,” he said. “I have a 2-year-old half-brother to her by Shadyshark Hanover and he is even worse than she was.

“We raced her mother as I claimed her when she was a 4-year-old, but we eventually sold her because she was never very sound. They asked when she was six if I wanted to buy her back so we did as a broodmare. She was not always healthy but she did have heart and I think she passed that on to Nora.

“She (Nora Rockwell) is all business when you get her to the track, but at home she can act like she is the Queen Bee, which she is, so she can get away with it. She’ll kick and bite at the walls of her stall and sometimes you will go to pet her and she will try to bite you. She also has to be the first one to go out in the morning. If not, she will let you know how unhappy she is because you can hear her banging around. She comes first.”

Once the filly completes her upcoming engagement, she will remain in Anderson and continue to appear in the Indiana Sire Stakes. Fry is committed to racing her as long as she remains happy and healthy and already has laid the foundation for her second career.

“I have had people approach me asking to buy her,” he said. “It would have to be the biggest price of a lifetime for me to sell her. Kind of like an offer I could never ever refuse. She already has her retirement plan in place. My old partner (Hershberger) could buy back in on her or I’ll just keep her as a broodmare. She’s earned the opportunity to have a secure future, so she will.”

Nora Rockwell’s $75,000 Indiana Sires Stakes final will be part of the star studded card at Hoosier Park Racing & Casino on Friday that features the 2015 installment of the $300,000 Dan Patch Stakes. The entire racing card will be part of a special weekend tagged as the “Dan Patch Festival Weekend” and will feature extreme entertainment, giveaways, and racing. The thrill-themed weekend will showcase some of the most notable names in harness racing alongside free fireworks, giveaways, and interactive family-friendly entertainment. First post is 5:15 p.m. For more information, visit www.hoosierpark.com.