from Standardbred Canada

Mississauga, ON — The roller coaster year of trotting colt Pastor Stephen came to a screeching stop on Saturday night (September 10) after the Jimmy Takter trainee suffered a year-ending and possibly career-ending injury.

Takter told Trot Insider on Sunday night that Pastor Stephen was diagnosed with a broken coffin bone after Saturday night’s Canadian Trotting Classic elimination. Pastor Stephen made a break, finished eighth and last in his elimination.

The week prior, Pastor Stephen looked to be rounding into form with a sharp 1:52.4 win in his Simcoe division and Takter admitted that he thought the colt had finally turned the corner.

“Last Saturday I was on the top of the world, then this happens,” Takter told Trot Insider, referencing his stakes triple with American Jewel, Simply Business and Pastor Stephen at Mohawk. “This game can certainly keep you humble.”

Takter will hear back on the severity of the break in approximately two weeks and be able to better assess Pastor Stephen’s future at that time.

“As you know the coffin bone is a pretty serious break so it’s too early to tell anything.”

Harness racing’s 2-year-old trotting colt of the year in the U.S. in 2010, Pastor Stephen’s career summary sits at $1.04 million in earnings, with 10 wins, six seconds and two thirds in 22 lifetime starts. The Cantab Hall-Gala Lavec colt is owned by Christina Takter, John Fielding and breeder Brittany Farms.

The colt made headlines off the track earlier this year when the connections pledged to donate five percent of Pastor Stephen’s earnings to benefit Villages in Partnership, an organization founded by the Rev. Stephen Heinzel-Nelson — the colt’s namesake — and his wife, Liz, to assist the people of Malawi.