by Kimberly French, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Williamsport, PA — She has been a bit slow to regain her form, but her connections are confident Pembroke Spice is prepared for yet another consistent campaign.

The 4-year-old trotter, bred and owned by William Varney of Bangor, Maine and conditioned by Randy Bendis of Bridgeville, Pa., has earned $136,103 from 34 career trips to the gate, with a lifetime mark of 1:57.4f.

Pembroke Spice competes primarily at The Meadows and was honored as the facility’s 2-year-old and 3-year-old Filly Trotter of the Year. Yet the daughter of Andover Hall and Saintly Spice, who last year captured a division of the Currier & Ives Filly Stake at The Meadows, races just as well on the road. She was second in her elimination for the Matron Stakes at Dover Downs, second in a Zweig Filly Trot split at Tioga Downs, and third in a Reynolds Stake division and the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes Final at Pocono Downs.

“She’s had a couple of problems since her time off but she’s all set to go now,” Varney explained. “She trained up good, so we sent her back down to Pennsylvania. It’s just seemed to take a little longer for her to get back the way she was and she’s had a couple of bad breaks. We expect her to race real well over the next two or three months.”

He was introduced to the sport as a small boy by his grandfather, but Varney did not purchase his first race horse until 1998.

“My grandfather had one or two horses all his life,” the insurance agent said. “His farm was in Pembroke and I put that in the name of most of the horses I breed. My first horse was named Western Comet and he did very well ($111,952). That kind of hooked me.”

Her owner always thought Pembroke Spice was talented.

“I really did expect her to do as well as she has because she showed a lot of ability right from the very beginning,” Varney said. “Her mother was injured at 2 and never reached her full potential, but she was a nice trotter and showed some speed. I was fortunate to be able to breed her (Saintly Spice) to Andover Hall and everything just seemed to come together.”

The bay mare with a white star is now a good-tempered horse, but as a youngster, she was a handful.

“She’s gotten to the point where she is a very nice horse to be around,” Varney said. “When she was 2, she was a little touchy and the people that I had break her did a really good job getting her settled down. Then I sent her down to Randy (Bendis) who handled her very well as a 2- and 3-year-old. Her mother was very smart and she seems to be smart. She’s a joy to be around and she does very well on the track.”

Pembroke Spice is not being pointed to any specific race and probably will not begin her second career for another two years.

“I plan to race her and see how she does this year and maybe next year,” Varney said. “Then I will breed her. She should make another good broodmare for me.”