by David Mattia, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Plainfield, NJ — Scorpion Moon is a trotter who likes to get himself kicked out of racetracks. That’s what eventually happens when you beat the Open class too many times, but according to his trainer, Tracy Brainard, Scorpion Moon is just another horse.

“He’s just a cute little horse,” said Brainard. “He’s not very big. He looks huge on the track but if you look at him out in the field he just looks like an average horse. He’s nothing special to look at, but he has a wonderful personality. Even my daughter who’s five can handle him around the barn. He’s absolutely great to be around, and he’s very loving. He always wants to play. He gives his heart on the racetrack. For a little horse he tries really hard.”

Scorpion Moon certainly does try hard, and in his last eight starts he’s won seven times. As a matter of fact, his only loss in 2008 came on April 29 at Pocono Downs when he finished third from post eight for driver Greg Grismore. He recovered from that half-length defeat to win in 1:53.4 the following week for Stephane Bouchard. After that impressive score he was off to Tioga where he beat the Open trotters three weeks in a row for Jim Morrill, Jr.

Racehorsephoto.com photo

Scorpion Moon’s winning time of 1:52.4 on June 3 matched the fastest ever trotting mile at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs.

A return to Pocono Downs on June 3 saw him winning in 1:52.4 from post eight for driver Eric Goodell. Scorpion Moon’s winning time that day matched the fastest ever trot on the Pocono oval, first established last year by the mare Mystical Sunshine. The 1:52.4 time also set a new Pocono standard for older trotting geldings, breaking the mark of 1:53.1 previously held by Woody Woodrow.

“That would have to be his best race,” said Brainard. “He got a great trip but he’s been super all year. The time he got beat at Pocono he got pressured really hard. That 1:52.4 mile has to be my favorite. I couldn’t believe when I saw the time come up on the board.”

Scorpion Moon is not a “driver’s horse” per se because he seems to win regardless of who drives him. In his last 17 races — qualifiers included — he has had ten different drivers, and he seems to have raced well for all of them.

“It’s tough to keep a driver every week,” lamented Brainard. “With all the big races everywhere the drivers are always moving around and it’s hard to have the same driver commit to a horse. We’d love to have the same driver every week but we just don’t have that opportunity, but every driver who gets off him says he’s perfect.”

Scorpion Moon, a son of Armbro Scorpion from the Speed In Action mare Angies Nugget, arrived at Tracy Brainard’s barn on April 28, 2007. Before that he’d always been a nice trotter, but he’s really blossomed into something special since Brainard took over his training.

“(Gerard Stuchbury) claimed him (for $15,000) out of Saratoga about a year and a half ago and I ended up picking him up a few months later,” said Brainard who trains the horse with the help of her boyfriend, driver Josh Marks. “I eventually bought into Scorpion Moon and he’s been really good for me.”

Brianard currently shares ownership on the gelding with Andrew Herzog.

“I think it’s just that he fits our program. He’s just an amazing horse. We use the treadmill a lot — that’s how we exercise most of our horses. We believe in turning him out a lot too and I think he likes to be out in the field playing in the mud and able to live like a regular horse. He has a bowed tendon and the treadmill helps that a lot. Overall, he just fits my training program perfectly.

“He’s absolutely better this year than he was last year. We gave him time off when we quit with him last year. He was 100 percent sound and we just decided to give him the winter off and let him have some time and get him nice and fat and ready for this year. We didn’t want to hurt him and race him over the bad tracks in the winter.

“We turned him out and then brought him back at Spring Garden Ranch; he just came back super.”

Tracy Brainard was born into harness racing, but there was a time in her youth when she had to make a career decision — one that most young girls would have had a hard time making.

“My grandfather, my father, my aunt and my uncle all raced horses,” recalled Brainard. “When I was growing up my grandfather had a small breeding farm here in central New York. My mom was in the antique business so I had to decide if I wanted to play with dolls or horses — and here I am.”

Tracy’s dad was the late Dennis Brainard who trained mostly trotters. Some noteworthy horses he handled were Transcontinental, Norwell Shadow, Rapunzel’s Star and Speedy Jamo. Tracy, who has certainly inherited her dad’s horse sense where trotters are concerned, remembers her dad fondly.

“My father was a wonderful horseman,” recalled Brainard. “I learned a tremendous amount of what I know from him. This year will be ten years since he passed away and I really miss him. Scorpion Moon is a horse he would have loved.

“Now I work with my boyfriend Josh Marks. He drove Scorpion Moon a lot last year and if I have anybody to thank for my current success it would be Josh. We work together and he’s part of the reason Scorpion Moon has done so well for me.”

Scorpion Moon won 14 races in 2007 and amassed earnings of $116,535. So far this year he’s pretty much headed in the same direction. Halfway into 2008 he’s won seven races and earned $61,390. His lifetime earnings are now at $305,620 and so far the 7-year-old shows no sign of slowing down. His personal best of 1:52.4 was achieved this year, and if he ends up at The Meadowlands or Harrah’s Chester he just might top that.

“If we get forced out of Pocono we’ll probably have to go to The Meadowlands or Chester,” said Brainard. “I think he’ll do well there too.”

While it might be very difficult or nearly impossible for a trotter to win his way out of The Meadowlands, Scorpion Moon is the kind of horse who’d give it a good try. Although he might look like an ordinary horse, this Ohio bred scorpion is anything but ordinary when it comes to taking the sting out of his competition.