by Dean A. Hoffman

Columbus, OH — With the arrival of spring in southern Michigan, the highly-respected horseman Joe Seekman is about to put the pedal to the metal with some of his 2-year-olds.

Mark Hall photo

Joe Seekman is looking for big things from his freshmen.

Seekman schools his stock over a half-mile track on his farm near Centreville and he reached the 2:30 mark with his babies by early April. Now he’s asking them for a little more.

“Our winter wasn’t too bad,” he says. “It was pretty mild for a long time, then we got some snow in February and March.”

Seekman says that his track is about 15 seconds slower than Balmoral Park, where he usually starts his youngsters. If a horse trains on his track in 2:15, it’s usually read to pace close to 2:00 at Balmoral.

He particularly likes a pair of pacing fillies and a trotting colt at this point.

Seekman Racing Stable photo

Lauper Blue Chip is a daughter of Art Major.

“Lauper Blue Chip is by Art Major,” says Seekman. “She’s a good-sized filly and perfectly-gaited. She’s a little temperamental, however, but I like her a lot.”

He’s also optimistic about Beachy Girl, a Real Desire lass from Color Me Beachy p,2,1:53.3 ($225,880).

“She’s bigger than my Art Major filly and has a good temperament,” says Seekman. “She’s good gaited and has no problems getting around my half-mile track. Of course, that’s not saying much when we were only going around 2:25 or so.”

Seekman says that he’s excited about his trotting colt Clapton Blue Chip (Lindy Lane-Lady Matador). The colt was a $20,000 purchase last fall at Harrisburg.

“He trains right along with my good pacing fillies,” says Seekman. ‘He’s a big, stout brute and he’s never made a bobble.”

Seekman is training a trio of youngsters by Three Olives, a former millionaire pacer he developed and raced.

Seekman Racing Stable photo

I Yahoo Too is a Three Olives colt.

“I like the colt Martiniwith Olives, a homebred out of an Oil Strike mare,” he says. “He’s very quick.

“The colt I Yahoo Too could be as good. He’s not flashy and just sort of trains along with the others, but his sire Three Olives was the same way himself. He didn’t stand out when we trained him in a group of five, but the first time Three Olives raced he came his final quarter in :25.4 and I said, ‘Where did that come from?’”

Seekman has the filly Kim’s Intended from the first crop by No Pan Intended, and he said that she’s a small to medium filly that could be a sleeper.

“You don’t know with a lot of them until you start racing,” he admits.

Seekman’s plans are to start his most precocious 2-year-olds around the end of May at Balmoral in preparation for the Hanover at Balmoral and the rest of the stakes season.