Former standardbred trainer shows deft touch in debut season at Downs

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/07/2015 (3943 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The winningest horse in North America for 2015 is at Assiniboia Downs. And he’s not lost.

Neither is his stablemate, who sold for $335,000 as a yearling.

Cat’s Classy Rider has won eight of his 10 starts this year and finished third once. That puts him on top of the list for thoroughbred wins in 2015 in North America, according to official Equibase stats.

Claimed by first-year trainer Elton Dickey for $10,000 on June 13, Cat’s Classy Rider has since come back to win two in a row. He fits with Dickey, as he did with his previous trainer Jimmy Compton. Some trainers just know how to get along with horses. It’s natural for them. Dickey and Compton fit that mould.

Watching Dickey in the stall with his horses, you wouldn’t even know he was there. Contrast that to the fact when some trainers get into the stalls with their horses, the horses just want to run through the stall chains.

Cat’s Classy Rider was trying to tip Dickey’s hat off when he was in the stall with him Thursday morning. It was like seeing two horses out in the paddock nuzzling each other. Cat’s Classy Rider likes his new home.

Not to take anything away from Compton, who won six of eight starts with Cat’s Classy Rider after claiming the five-year-old gelding at Remington Park for $7,500 on Nov. 20, 2014.

Compton knew running the horse where he could win also meant he could lose him via the claiming route.

“You have to run them where they can win or you’ll get nothing,” said Dickey, a former longtime standardbred trainer who currently sits fourth in the local trainer standings with a record of 13-10-7 from 47 starts and a 28 per cent win clip.

Dickey is no stranger to horses. He turns 61 today and he’s spent most of his life with them, first growing up on a mixed farm in Miami, Man., and later as a successful standardbred trainer.

Standardbred people often get a bad rap from the thoroughbred set, but it’s unjustified.

In general, standardbred horsemen are better than most (including thoroughbred horsemen) when it comes to lameness issues in horses. Of course, you never heard that here.

Dickey got his first race horse, a standardbred mare named Bear Honey, when he was 19, and hasn’t looked back since. He’s won races in Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Glenboro, Wawanesa, Portage, Carman, Miami and more. He’d get the farm work done for his parents, Delmar and Iola, pack up the horses for a weekend meet, and off they’d go.

Dickey likes that with standardbreds you can do everything yourself, whereas with thoroughbreds you often need grooms and exercise riders.

He also said, however, that he’s been blessed this year with exercise rider Uton Wallace, groom Chantal Dunlop, and Rick Ball, who paddocks the horses. And he likes being in the same barn as old-time veterans Gary Danelson and Jack Robertson. As with the horses, he just fits.

From a handicapper’s perspective, Dickey’s horses are always ready when they run. They may not always win, but they generally put forth a strong effort. In other words, you get your money’s worth.

Dickey will no doubt be hoping for that with new purchase Sierra Tango, who was originally purchased as a yearling in Kentucky by the famed Calumet Farm for $335,000. The three-year-old Smart Strike colt is out of a half-sister to King’s Bishop Stakes-G1 winner Hard Spun, who also finished second in the Kentucky Derby-G1 and Breeders’ Cup Classic-G1.

Dickey’s two main owners are Larry Falloon and partner Lori Mann.

“Larry’s a perfect gentleman to (be a) trainer for,” said Dickey. “He knows you have to run them where they can win. And he donated two free breedings to Quest to the fundraiser for Alyssa Selman.”

Mann, of course, has been spearheading the fundraising efforts for Selman’s upcoming benefit social at the Downs on Sunday, July 19. She’s also in charge of waking up Dickey at 2:45 a.m. seven days a week so he can get to the track on time from their farm in St. Andrews. Dickey probably likes Mann for that, almost as much as his all-time favourite horse, Legs Eleven, with whom he won 15 races.

“I didn’t cry when she was claimed,” said Dickey.

But you get the feeling he wanted to.