Blog Layout
Dave And The Healing Horse
Harold Howe • Oct 12, 2022
It’s difficult to imagine the feeling one would feel when they are told they have cancer. It is even more unimaginable to comprehend living with the dreaded disease for nearly 20 years. But that has been the life of Dave Hudson.
Dave is many things, but one that is near and dear to his heart is that of being a co-owner of Duly Resolved who will head postward Saturday night in the $225,000 Ontario Sires Stake Super Final for three-year-old trotting colts at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
Hudson who makes his home in Dallas, Texas, is a native of St. Thomas, Ontario. He’s been involved in horse ownership for many years after his father first took him to the races as a boy. Today, he has horses with Matt/John Bax and Trevor Henry.
He is a former National Hockey League centre. He played 409 games with the New York Islanders, Kansas City /Scouts and Colorado Rockies from 1969 to 1978. A Stanley Cup is not in his resume but a lifetime of memories from those 10 years is and today at age 72 he still maintains many hockey connections and friends from that era.
ColorMark is a printing firm he and partners started 29 years ago. From the startup stage with 6 employees it is now remains a privately owned company with just under 100 employees. It specializes in high end printing, owns its expansive building and does $20 million in business annually.
In 2003 Hudson was diagnosed with cancer, specifically multiple myeloma.
“It was reasonably manageable up until two and a half years ago. It has been quite a challenge since but on July 1 I underwent a stem cell transplant. I was hospitalized for 16 days but I’m expecting to get word next week that I am cancer free. If so, I’ve been told I should be good for at least five years”.
Hudson is quick to admit that his involvement with Duly Resolved played a significant role in dealing with his health problems.
“I guess I’ve had horses with the Baxs for 10 years. Duly was purchased in the fall of 2020 and I took a piece of the colt. He was just a $30,000 colt but as early as January the Baxs both told me that he might be something special. They were right on the money. I cannot tell you how much I looked forward to seeing him race. Like me, maybe he is a bit of an overachiever”.
Duly dominated the early Ontario Sires Stakes last year but the most exciting time came in the $1 million Mohawk Million. He was a charging second to Venerable, arguably one of the best two year old trotting filly’s ever to look through a bridle for a 90 day period.
The gelding finished the year with $660,000 but it was the pride of involvement that registered with Hudson. The youngster faded somewhat in the remaining races but Hudson never wavered.
“He won his first Gold this year but then ran into health problems which turned out to be allergies and a bit of stomach ailment which kept him from eating like he should. But I never lost faith he would come around. It appears the Baxs found the keys because in his last Gold event at Western Fair he showed he was back. It was a terrific effort and we have big hopes for the Super Final Saturday night at Mohawk. He looks to be right back on his game”.
And if things go well there will be a start in the Breeders Crown at Mohawk as well.
“Through my illness I’ve had so much support from people even dating back to my days in college. Then there is my family and of course Duly. I cannot say enough about the horse”.
It’s easy to get emotional hearing Hudson’s story. And it is so refreshing to hear someone so devoted to a horse and not because of the earning power. There is a good chance Duly will be retained to race in 2023.
Not many people noticed, but Hudson was in attendance at the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale. He came up as a partner on two yearlings including the $120,000 (US) Resolve colt purchased from Cool Creek Farm.
“You should not forget about our two-year-old trotter Southwind Coors (Walner) who I am a partner on. He is still a maiden but look at his lines. We have big hopes for him and will start him in the Breeders Crown. He could be the big sleeper”.
It is an exciting time for Hudson. His health appears the best it has been in years, he’s connected to two quality horses and he’s in the process of adding reinforcements from the yearling sales.
People tend not to think of harness horses as being therapeutic animals. Ask Dave Hudson and he will tell you they are dead wrong.
Matt Bax is the new trainer of record for the Bax Stable. That announcement came late Friday. The 32-year-old horseman will take over the spotlight from his father John after some 40 years of running a public stable. It comes in the wake of the Campbellville, Ontario operation posting stable of winnings of $1,936,494, its highest since 2002. There are plenty of story lines related to the Bax stable season but one that never fails to amaze this writer is the dismissal of a stable’s average earnings per starter. If that is not important to the bottom line…well, what is. The barn averaged $9,091 per appearance from 213 starts. Now the banker for the Bax team is only interested in the figure in the bottom right hand corner of the ledger. It better be in black ink and the larger the better but what average earnings per starter measures is consistency. That is the ultimate goal in every single sport known to man. The Bax Stable has been for a number of years now a true partnership between the father and son. Only this year has Matt received any acknowledgement in the game. Last winter, John made his annual sojourn for the winter months to Palema Trotting in Vero Beach Florida. He took just six yearling fillies. Matt was left with the balance which included four two-year-olds headed by $631,000 winner Duly Resolved and 15 yearlings for a total of 19 head. The Campbellville farm operation was all his until April as his father basked in the sunshine. Be very clear…John blew no snow last winter. The total result was remarkable with 20 of the 21 yearlings in total qualifying. The one went to the qualifiers but did not succeed and was turned out. Remember, these are all trotters. In addition to having the responsibility of bring 2021 champ Duly Resolved (198,000) back to the races, Matt orchestrated the development of Snowpiercer ($178,000), Oh Look Magic ($149,000), Southwind Coors ($88,000), Quite Fast ($73,000) and Deadline Hall ($70,000). This was in addition to keeping things ticking over at the farm as well. While Matt has no intention to become a top driver (he lacks the attitude), he did show he most definitely has a way with problematic trotters. Oh Look Magic is a handful to put it charitably. He gets worked up prior to the start of the race and will not relax until he gets to the front so it makes him one dimensional. Bax showed he knows the colt though when he guided him to a win in a $95,000 elimination of the William Wellwood and then promptly took himself off the horse for the $665,000 final in favour of James MacDonald. Few if any would make such a decision and speaks volumes to his focus of doing what is best for the horse. Regrettably, that move was ill-fated after a very odd race and he finished out of the money but the intent was there. Another good example of his mentoring ability is Watch A Pro, a Grassroots player that suffers from anxiety problems behind the gate. The addition of trotting hopples and a patient approach turned him into a useful performer. Regrettably, he blew apart at the start of the $60,000 Grassroots final but eight months could get him over that issue. So now the table has been reset or almost. Heading into the Harrisburg auction the stable is constructed quite differently. No less than 15 of the juveniles are being carried over into 2023. So far there are 16 yearlings as compared with 21 last year. The plan is for Righteous Resolve to head for Florida along with five yearlings leaving Matt with the 15 returnees and at least 10 yearlings. There is also Duly Resolved. In many ways it was a disappointing year for that horse who battled allergies and stomach issues all season. $198,000 is nothing to sneeze at but more was hoped for. The decision was made the retain the gelding and try a little different approach for next season. The actual racing of horses for Team Bax ended with the Breeders Crown but that does not mean there is any downtime. Even before that, the next yearling crop was in the harness. So the new public face of the Bax Stable is Matt and John regresses somewhat not unlike what Mark Steacy has done with Shawn Steacy. That barn won $2.7 million in 2022. At 32 years of age, Matt has more or less taken the traditional route of a proper apprenticeship in learning about training horses and the business of operating a stable. There were no short cuts taken as so many do. Everything says he is totally ready for this move. It’s more or less the way things should be done in becoming a professional horse trainer.
Boredom can be a terrible thing for some people. Take Brad Grant in mid-June 2021. Grant owns a number of trucking companies including John Grant Haulage. Covid was still prevalent and he was working from his Milton, Ontario home. He then had this notion to call trainer Jack Darling for a casual chat but it is my experience there are no such things as casual chats. Grant and Darling have some history over the years. The call was not something out of the blue. It started off innocently but by the time the call concluded the groundwork was laid for Grant to purchase a 50 percent interest in Bulldog Hanover. “I had watched the horse race as a two-year-old. We just had a nice chat that night and I made the casual comment that if he ever wanted to sell part of the horse I’d like to talk with him. He had not thought of selling before that and it all took about five minutes”, recalls Grant. Darling later told this writer that Grant was one of the very few if not the only person he would have entertained as a partner. Jack is pretty much a solo act has said he likes to think of himself as a businessman who races horses. Here was an opportunity to take a very nice chunk of change off the table, eliminate some of the risk, still retain a half share and be able to continue to train and race the horse. Just an intelligent piece of business. It also is quite likely the best piece of business that Grant has ever done with horses. He is a businessman too but it is the horses that give him his greatest satisfaction. “Listen, my role in Bulldog is just that of cheerleader. I’m flattered that Jack let me in. While we talk regularly, the decisions regarding the racing of the horse are all his.” By mid-September, Grant’s decision looked to be positively brilliant as Bulldog Hanover went into the $1 million North America Cup as the heavy favourite. But we all know what the result of that was. “That one hurt. Along with a lot of other people I thought he was a winner going in. That race is a bit sentimental for me because my Dad won it with Bettors Delight all those years ago. I don’t know what happened and Jack does not know what happened to this day. Nothing wrong was found with the horse’s health so all I can say is that it was just not meant to be. But I am still not convinced the best horse won that race or the remaining races Bulldog lost. I ended the year believing he was the better horse”. At this point Grant again expresses his admiration for Darling. “Bulldog won his last four starts at three so was put away in a great frame of mind. That was part of what has happened this season. Jack is a total professional who cares about the horse first. Not once has there been any second guessing on my part. It has all been the most wonderful experience”. But even then there was a hiccup in May’s Juravinski Cup at Flamboro Downs. That half-mile track proved his undoing but then the onslaught began. Last night’s victory in the Dayton Derby makes it four (count that FOUR) months since The Bulldog tasted defeat - an 11 race undefeated string that has earned the partners $1.2 million. “Most people talk about the four wins at the Meadowlands in 22 days but they are missing the fact that in his last start at Mohawk before shipping to New Jersey, he made a big statement. Then getting Dexter Dunn to drive was a big step and a huge decision on his part. Walking away from Rockyroad Hanover and Tony Alagna was an enormous decision but Dexter comes across to me as being very analytical. And when he drives he reminds me of Wayne Gretzky who seemed to know where the puck was going next rather than where it is in the moment”. Interestingly, of all the races it was the Hoosier Park Pacing Derby win that Grant talked the most about. “He just crushed the field and the way he did it left the crowd in awe that night. Overpowering which says a lot because in so many of the starts he just drove away from the field. Sooner or later one has to think he will get beaten but I believe he is the type that if that happens he will come back the next start and be right back on his game”. Grant gives full credit to Darling for coming up with the idea to breed the horse this past spring. “He’d been thinking about it and asked what I thought. Why not I said so we’ll be reaping the reward of that. He got 80 mares which I thought was pretty good but there will be a lot more next season. And there will be some very, very good mares.” Grant is quite proud of the fact that the horse has captured the attention of people particularly in the United States. “I’ve been very fortunate to have been involved with Atlanta and Romona Hill but this is much bigger. He has star power and people want to see him. He is a generational horse”. So the next step is The Red Mile and the Allerage next Sunday. If the team is lucky enough to hit a perfect October day on Kentucky they may take a run at trying to improve on his 1:45.4 record but winning the race gets the greater priority. “I’m a great believer that records are made to be broken. The weather there may not be the greatest so that would negate any shot but it would be great just to see how fast he could go. I’d love to see him break it and just have to pray to the man upstairs for good things to happen”. Bulldog Hanover has absolutely nothing left to prove in terms of his speed, ability to win against all comers and overall greatness. However, Brad Grant has to prove he can make another casual telephone call pay off.
In New Zealand, Scott Dixon and Dexter Dunn are two of that country’s premier sporting figures. For those unfamiliar with Dixon, he is one of if not the best Indy car drivers. He has won that sports championship six times and earns an annual salary of $12 million. Dixon is reportedly worth $36 million. Dunn is not quite at that level but the two Kiwis share two things in common - an appreciation for consistency and speed. Dixon’s Indy car can reach a speed of 230 miles per hour on the straightaways while he sits about four inches off the tarmac. Dunn is about 30 inches off the racetrack and his top speed aboard Bulldog Hanover is likely in the 35 miles per hour range. The two have never met but both are headliners in their native country. When Bulldog Hanover set his world record of 1:45.4 in July, it made the national television news in New Zealand. “Now that is fast, mate,” he offered when asked about Dixon and his obsession with speed. But Dunn has gone where no man has gone before in the harness racing game. As part of our series on Bulldog Hanover it is necessary to drill down into Dunn’s thoughts to add more insight to the saga on the horse. A fair place to start the conversation takes us back to July 16 at the Meadowlands. The night of the 1:45.4 historic mile is where Dunn begins. “It was hard to comprehend at the time. I knew we were going fast but not unlike the times from the previous starts there. When we hit the finish I looked over at the teletimeer and had to do a double take. It was just the most amazing feeling for me and one I will always remember regardless of what happens in the future”, he admits. “But in the winner’s circle Noel Daley (who trained the horse for the four starts in New Jersey) said lots of horses go fast and this was the fastest ever mile but what the horse did to win four races against the best older horses in North America in a span of 22 days is what should stand out. Noel was not wrong but look at what has happened since. Four more big wins and the issue was never in doubt in any of them. Bulldog just dominates like no one I’ve seen before”. An obvious question to ask Dunn is what it felt like. “There was no sense it was any quicker than any of the other starts there. I’ve learned that great horses can carry high speed longer than others. He do not feel that he is working any harder than earlier in the race, It sounds silly but one almost feels like this horse can actually fly. It’s the great feeling I’ve ever had”. In preparing for this interview, I recalled a comment Paul MacDonell made during Somebeachsomewhere’s epic run in 2008. When asked about where that horse’s speed came from he said “That great big ass in front of me. When I drop the hammer on him you can just see his back drop 3-4 inches. I don’t get the sense his legs are moving any faster but he is just extending his stride and clawing for more ground. And it all comes from the back end”. I told Dunn this and he said he could relate. “Even in the post parade I can feel him swelling up. When he turns into the starting gate he is totally ready to go. He has that super high gear which I can call upon. In that last eighth of a mile when the toll of the race should appear he just does not get tired. His lung capacity has to be enormous. He’s in full gear and just carries it through. Actually, it is a bit scary to feel his power”. How Dunn got the drive is a bit interesting too. Trainer Jack Darling had made all the arrangements to send Bulldog Hanover to Noel Daley in New Jersey for the four race engagement. He asked Daley to try to get Dexter to take the drive even though his regular mount was Rockyroad Hanover. Daley was pushing for fellow Australian Todd McCarthy who some thought might get the better of Dunn this season but Darling persisted. “When I was asked it did present a problem without an easy solution. Certainly I knew about Bulldog and how he had really come on the last two starts in Canada. In the end, it looked like too good an opportunity to pass up but it was a very close call. Tony (Alagna) was very good in taking the news I was stepping off his horse and I appreciate that. We’ll work together again a lot but thankfully it was the right call”. Interestingly, some close observers of the game have suggested that Bulldog was actually more impressive the week before the record mile. They point to how the horse powered through the finish line and was halfway down the backstretch before Dunn was able to pull him up. “He was awesome that night too and it did take a while to throttle him back. In fact when I did get him settled and turned to come back to the winner’s circle, the rest of the field had already gone off the track. In all of those races he just did not want to end the race”. One of those who commented on this aspect was retired horseman Ray Remmen who has no dog in the fight but has been a close follower of The Bulldog. “It seemed to me the horse was actually better the week before the record mile if that is possible. He is an amazing horse and I’m starting to wonder if maybe, just maybe he is a touch better than Somebeachsomewhere was at his best. Maybe”, he suggested. “The other thing I wanted to add is that nowhere have I seen anything written about the mental stability of this horse. When you are gunning these horses for all they are worth at this level, it’s not hard to blow their heads off. I do not know who takes care of this horse but he/she has done a hell of a job keeping him level headed and obviously happy. Every start he comes out ready to do whatever is asked. That is very significant to me”. Again, Dunn does not disagree. “These are all tough races but Bulldog just keeps bouncing back week after week. He gives me so much confidence that I can easily say that I have no worry about getting beaten”. In my 40 plus years in racing there was only one instance that I ever heard a statement like that about a racehorse over a prolonged period of time. That was Pat Crowe during Cam Fella’s 28 race slaughter of the best racing could offer. Back in April, we penned a column about the depth of four and five-year-old pacers that were coming to clash. It has been many years since we have saw this many high end pacers. We stated that this was the true “Glamour Boy” division totally contrary to the idea that the title is owned by the three-year-olds. This year it has proven to be no contest for the sophomores. However, one has to ask about how the rivals of Bulldog Hanover keep showing up fully realizing that unless he is not well or there is an act of God, they are racing for second money. It has to be discouraging and deflating. Mustn’t they hate to see Jack Darling’s car in the parking lot at the track? “Look mate, I hear what you are asking but at this level there is nowhere to hide. Where else are Rockroad Hanover and the others going to go to get a race? This is it for these horses. It’s their bad luck they have come along at the same time as Bulldog. And while some of the competition can look beaten up on given nights, that calibre of horse can bounce back. Just the way they are made. And Bulldog is a very smart horse and knows what his job is. Amazing animal”. And then there is the question of what is there left to prove for the horse. Yes, he has the fast time but he like Somebeachsomewhere, Cam Fella and Niatross are not so much remembered for their speed record but the full resume of quality races won against the best competition of the time. Dunn agrees but he doesn’t agree. “I guess he has a start in Ohio and then Lexington where he might get a chance to lower the record even more. As a New Zealander, I’m telling you The Red Mile is the best racing surface in the world. I see no reason not to take him as long as he remains as good as he is. Jack has managed him perfectly. He is well rested (won by six lengths at Hoosier Park Friday night), travels well and likes doing this. And as for a better time, if it happens it happens but for the sake of the racing game should he not be there? Regardless, he will be regarded as one of the greatest ever and I’m not even talking about the prize money to win. I think it’s the right thing to do”. So what if any effect has there been on Dunn to get to drive what certainly will likely be the signature horse of his life? “I do not believe it has spoiled me. In fact, I am grateful to be associated with Bulldog. Hey, I just drive him and enjoy every ride, let me tell you. In a few weeks it will all be over and it’s just the memories that are left. I’m just enjoying it while it is there”.