by Kimberly French, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Kimberly French

Williamsport, PA — She’s only been in his barn for about seven weeks, but conditioner Kevin Lare already knows exactly what to expect from Still Electric.

“She is very temperamental and just doesn’t want to be bothered,” explained the 39-year-old Felton, Delaware, resident. “She likes to be left alone while she does her job and then she kicks back in the stall. She is a real nice raceway mare, but she’s tough.”

The 5-year-old daughter of Mr Electric-Still Terrific is owned by Howard Taylor of Penn Valley, Pa., Jerry Silva of Long Beach, N.Y., and Thomas Lazzaro of Syracuse, N.Y. From 49 race miles, the Michigan-bred has collected 19 victories, earned $160,946 and possesses a lifetime mark of 1:51.4f. In the last three months, Still Electric has amassed more than $75,000 in purse money, which is nearly half of what she has bankrolled throughout her career.

Fotowon photo

Still Electric (#8) edged Pacific Philly in the Filly and Mare Open on March 3 at Dover Downs.

Before Lare bought the bay mare with a white star, she raced primarily in Michigan, but her future trainer noticed Still Electric’s performances and felt the lightly raced mare had potential.

“So far she has been a great purchase,” he said. “The gentleman that I bought her from is a very nice guy. He’s been very helpful with her and concerned about her. He always calls, whether she’s won or got beat.”

Her attitude definitely makes her a bit difficult to train.

“She really likes to keep to herself even when she’s on the track,” Lare said. “She doesn’t like to jog if there are any other horses around her. She just does not like to be messed with by anyone and doesn’t make it easy for me.”

On March 17, Still Electric finished an uncharacteristically dull sixth in an Open Handicap at Dover and Lare’s team is trying to discover why.

“She must have had some kind of issue or something was wrong,” Lare said. “We’ve been going over her and haven’t come up with a clear cut decision as to why she raced so poorly. She did bleed a little bit, so we just put her on Lasix, but as I said earlier, we don’t really know what happened. Hopefully, it was just a bad day for her and her next day will be better.”

Since entering Lare’s shedrow, Still Electric has raced at Dover Downs, but her next start will be this week at Yonkers Raceway. As long as she stays sound, her connections will continue to race her at various venues in Open Handicaps.

“We have a great team of owners and everybody is so happy to race for $30,000 a week,” Lare said. “Especially since she’s been winning, so they have been fortunate enough to already be making the money they spent on her back.

“You always have high hopes whenever you buy a horse and a lot of them don’t work out,” he continued. “But not her. She’s been very consistent and you couldn’t ask for anything more. It has definitely worked out for the best.”