VEGAS VACATION

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For a time a few years ago, it was question-

able if Cass would ever taste the sweet success of a Breeders Crown vic-tory. In the Fall of 2010, he underwent triple bypass heart surgery at age 67 but bounced back slimmer and better than ever. Two years later, owner Craig and trainer Cass collared Luck Be Withyou out of the Har-risburg Sale for $77,000, a steal when one consid-ers Luck Be Withyou is a brother to World Cham-pion American Jewel p, 3, 1:48.2 with earnings in ex-cess of $1.8 million. Luck Be Withyou’s family, which includes a three year old in 2013 called Source of Pride, won over Yonkers in 1:50.4 over a half-mile track. Of course neither Cass nor Craig would not know that in 2012 but they did know that any brother to American Jewel one of the great stakes fi llies of all-time would have suffi -cient upside.

The dam of Luck Be Withyou is Trim Hanover p, 3, 1:52.4 ($123,000) by Camluck, one of North America’s most successful broodmare sires. The 2nd dam’s family includes such greats as Eternal Camnation, American Ideal, Life Sign, and further back you’ll fi nd Three Diamonds and others mixed in the pedigree. It’s hard to imagine a colt of this cali-bre bringing just $77,000 but Cass and Craig didn’t mind. Maybe a little luck would fi nally come their way.

Luck Be Withyou showed mid-way through the 2013 freshman campaign that he might be some-thing special. In early August, the stage was set for the $81,800 Nassagaweya Stakes at Mohawk and in that one driver Phil Hudon was in command throughout, as Luck Be Withyou stepped to a new lifetime best of 1:52.4, beat-ing some of the best two year olds on the Canadian scene. Next

came the $683,000 Metro Pace from Mohawk Raceway and it featured most of the top two-year-olds. In this one, Boomboom Ballykeel(Sylvan Filion) stayed close to pace setter Western Vin-tage (Yannick Gingras) through swift fractions and when the pace-setter faltered in the stretch, Boom Boom blasted through traf-fi c and survived a serious Judges Review to win in 1:50.4. Unfortu-nately, for Cass and Craig, Luck Be Withyou had no luck on this occasion rolling off stride early and leaving the owner and trainer to pick up the pieces.

A month later, September 30th, with the Breeders Crown elimina-tions just two weeks away, Luck Be Withyou came up fl at fi nishing 4th in 1:54 in an overnight event. The horse was full of mucous and could hardly breathe.

Ontario vet Dr John Hennessey suggested that Cass send the colt to Pennsylvania trainer Chris Oaks, whose operation was not that far from Pocono where the Breeders Crown races were to be contested. In his fi rst start under Oaks, Luck Be Withyou turned in a superlative performance win-ning his elimination race in a life-time best of 1:50 for driver Ron Pierce. That set the stage for the fi nal and the big payday in the $500,000 Breeders Crown for two year old colt pacers.

In the Breeders Crown, John Campbell hustled Sometimes Said to the front on the off-track get-ting past the fi rst marker in 27:2; at that point, driver Ron Pierce sent Luck Be Withyou back to the front, passing the half in 55 with Somestar Somewhere (Yan-nick Gingras) on the move as they

headed to the three quar-ters. Pierce stayed in the pocket until halfway down the stretch, when he moved to overtake the leader who really carried Pierce wide allowing the hole on the rail to open. John Campbell blasted through on the inside with Sometimes Said; a picture was needed to separate the two horses at the wire but the photo fi nish showed Luck Be Withyou in front by a long neck, Sometimes Said 2nd, Somestar Somewhere 3rd and Three of Clubs 4th in the nine horse fi eld.

If you’re wondering, Luck Be Withyou’s sister called Taiya Hanover by Rock N Roll Heaven p, 1:47.2 went through the Harrisburg Sale as Hip #168 from the Hanover Shoe Farm consignment. Remember the name.

Cass, who enjoyed himself at the recent O’Brien Awards in Char-lottetown and spent much time that evening with John Holmes his close buddy from their days in Ontario, has

been here many times in the past. Like many a Maritime horseman who moved away from the Mari-times to greener pastures, Bill Cass has tried the Gold Cup and Saucer route. He came here in the late 1980’s for the Cup and Sau-cer Trials with horses like Careys Pride and One Way Or Another and had contemplated bringing his Ontario top class pacer Sam Francisco Irv. Cass claimed Irv for $15,000 and turned him into a multiple top class star winner on the Mohawk Circuit.

Maybe after the 2014 season, when Luck Be Withyou is fi nished with his stakes engagements, Cass will once again give the Gold Cup and Saucer another try.

Wouldn’t that make a fairy tale ending for a colourful Maritime born horseman?

From the outset, the brother to millionaire USA stakes standout Kenneth J looked like

he was something special. He won his $40,000 divi-sion of OSS Gold on June 28th with plenty to spare in 1:51:2, a season’s best; one month later, Arthur stormed to the front and won going way to take the $81,800 Nassagaweya in 1:52, establishing himself as one of the top Canadian colts. The next step, the $683,000 Metro Pace, the biggest race of the year for two year olds on Canadian Soil was set for Sat-urday, August 31st at Mohawk.

“He was in outstanding form right up to Thursday morning”, recalled Dr Ian Moore who has had nu-merous colts in the Metro but never one 7-2 morn-ing line odds. “I took him out to train on Thursday morning and he coughed after the workout mile”, recalled Moore. “I scoped him and he showed signs of sickness, but next day he was even worse”, and we had to scratch him from the big race. Racing a horse sick like that could result in scar tissue in the lungs which would put an end to his racing career. Moore, McLellan, Savard and the group made a wise decision and Arthur stayed on the sidelines until 199% healthy. To that point in the season Ar-thur Blue Chip had won fi ve of seven starts with earnings of $194,000.

Arthur Blue Chip pointedat Governors Cup $500,000

Given time off to recover, Arthur Blue Chip was taken back slowly and pointed for the $534,000 Governors Cup at The Meadowlands, the last major test of the season for two year old pacing colts. He qualifi ed over the newly resurfaced and reshaped Meadowlands

Track on November 14 with arch-rival Somestar-somewhere from the powerful Burke Stable. Unfor-tunately for the Burke Stable, Somestarsomewhere popped a curb shortly thereafter and he had to be

scratched leaving only unheralded J K Endoferano (Art Major) to carry the Burke colors into the Gov-ernors Cup.

In the Cup, Carracci Hanover (Yannick Gingras) hustled right to the front in 26:2 allowing J K End-oferano( Brian Sears) to take command past a half in 53:4 with Arthur Blue Chip and Dave Miler tipping to the outside. Arthur could not clear the leader and hung for the next quarter only to charge again in late stretch missing by half-length in 1:51.4. It was a game and gritty effort on Arthur Blue Chip’s part and a race that suggested he could be in line for the O’Brien Award at season’s end. For the cam-paign, Arthur Blue Chip started 11 times with a 6-2-1 summary and earnings of $400,120, with $264,495 coming in Canada.

The next stop for the Shadow One Stable was the O’Brien Awards at Charlottetown in February and Arthur Blue Chip was by no means the only colt in the running for the prestigious O’Brien. Boom-boomBallykeel (Sylvan Filion) who won the Metro banked $389,702, while late season Ontario stand-out Bugger Bruiser (Anthony MacDonald) paced the fastest mile in Canada with a 1:50 victory at Mohawk while banking $226,730.

And let’s not forget, the Bill Cass trained Luck Be Withyou (Ron Pierce) who showed a bank-roll of $363,000) and Western Vintage who earned $326,375. Arthur Blue Chip’s stablemate Play It Again Sam (another Shadow Play) paced in 1:52 and bankrolled $98,000 - a decent year by any standards.

In the end, voters decided Arthur Blue Chip was the top freshman colt and he earned the O’Brien Award for the Shadow One Stable. Arthur is a big, handsome colt built like a Sherman Tank and if he stays healthy ,the sky is the limit for this colt. McLel-lan, Savard and company would love nothing better than a trip to Delaware, Ohio around the third week in September when the Little Brown Jug is raced. Shadow Play rose to glory over the Delaware half-mile track and this colt could too! We shall see.

In 2001, Mr Beaton moved to Ontario and worked for Ron Hennessy for a few years

until Ron moved back home to Alberta. Mr Beaton then worked for Paul MacKenzie for a short time. Once Paul was down on horses Mr Beaton went looking for work and was hired by Casie Coleman. She hired him on as a groom in 2005 and he soon worked his way up to being an assistant trainer at the stable. Since then he’s become the longest standing employee of Team Coleman. Some of the champions he worked closely with at the Coleman Stables included Moving Pictures, Betterthancheddar, Sport-writer, Idyllic, Western Silk, Lucky Man, Our Lucky Killean and world record holder, Vegas Vacation.

Before long, Mr Beaton and his wife Lisa be-came interested in ownership and purchased a few horses in partnership with Ms Coleman and

others. Vegas Vacation, the Betters Delight colt out of Don’t You Smile quickly became the most successful of their horses.

“We purchased a share in him as a yearling in 2010,” Mr Beaton said.

“By 2013, Vegas Vacation had earned purse winnings just shy of $1 million.”

Mr Beaton and Vegas Vacation won stakes at The Simcoe, The Somebeachsomewhere, The Empire Breeders, The Matron and The Little Brown Jug. Vegas Vacation fi nished close sec-onds in the Tattersalls Pace, The Adios, and The Max Hempt and set a world record for a two-heat combined race in the Little Brown Jug, winning both his heats in 1:50 and also set a world record at Tioga Downs. Vegas Vacation also set stakes records at Mohawk and was nominated for an O’Brien Award for three-year-old colt/gelding pacer of the year for 2013.

ARTHUR BLUE CHIP

LUCK BE WITHYOU

Bill Cass and Luck Be Withyou