Small operation, big success

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/08/2015 (3736 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Welcome to the land of the little people. Kenton the wonder horse lives here. And no, we don’t mean among the jockeys.

The little people in this case are those at the track with one- and two-horse stables. You’ll find many of them in “A” barn, which used to house some big stables, but now acts as home to a number of smaller “retired” trainers who play the horse-racing game for the horses. They’re not here to get rich, and they’ll be the first ones to tell you that.

“It’s what we like to do,” said Kenton’s owner-trainer Connie Clauson. “Some people golf. We like horses. Why are any of us here? Nobody is making a lot of money. It’s a healthy lifestyle. I can’t believe I’m almost 70. I don’t feel like 70.”

Clauson’s husband Lee, who helps in the barn, has already passed that milestone, and Kenton, the current star of their two-horse stable along with maiden Woodworth, seems to enjoy the added experience only decades can bring.

The Manitoba-bred three-year-old gelding has always had talent. He finished second in the Graduation Stakes and third in the Osiris Stakes last year, and he finished second in the restricted Frank Arnason Stakes here June 6. But he always appeared to be just running as fast and as far as he could without any notion of the fact that he was supposed to get to the wire first.

That changed July 10 when jockey Dane Nelson hopped aboard for the first time. Kenton came out of the gate like he thought he was the second coming of Seattle Slew and Pegasus. With eyes blazing and mane flying in his first try at a distance going 71/2-furlongs, Kenton simply flew to the early lead. There is no other way to describe it. He widened on the field, winning by 93/4-lengths to break his maiden in his ninth lifetime start.

The light had finally gone on.

“It was like he said, ‘OK, I’m going to do this now.’ ” said Clauson. “We paid a small amount for him and Woodworth as yearlings. We bought them from Gerd Smith, who had a place just outside of Brandon. She was 80 when she named them after Manitoba towns. The agreement was if they won we would pay the balance. Kenton has paid his way.”

Kenton defeated good older horses here in an allowance race on Aug. 21, going 71/2 furlongs, and he certainly has a license to be a runner. His Irish-bred sire Billy Allen first came to Manitoba in 2009 and stood for only $250 at Dean and Debbie Walkowski’s farm near Brandon, but astonishingly, he raced in 10 different countries before coming to Canada, winning 29 races and $427,645. He won five Grade 1 stakes in Serbia and also won stakes in France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and the United States, at distances from a mile to a mile and a half. He also raced in Austria, England, Turkey and Dubai.

Kenton’s dam Justasec is a half-sister to Let Em Shine, who won the 2013 Came Home Stakes at Hollywood Park and finished fourth, beaten by less than a length, as the favourite in the $400,000 Woody Stephens Stakes-G2 at Belmont Park. Both races were at seven furlongs.

Kenton’s barn team over the past two years has included Connie’s husband Lee, exercise riders Remi Selman and Larry Hulabow, veterinarian Cyndi Kasper and injured jockey Alyssa Selman, who exercised Kenton before she got hurt.

Connie’s husband, Lee, was born in Ireland and worked as a nurse in the England before coming to Canada to work in safety management for Fluor Construction. Connie was born in Swift Current, Sask. and now lives on an acreage near Stony Mountain with Lee and a few horses including Marshmallow, a miniature.

Clauson worked numerous jobs while raising horses and kids over the years, and she still has a few odd jobs around the track to supplement her training endeavours. She’s in charge of making sure the gate is closed at the mile-and-an-eighth chute when the horses come on the track for the races, and she cleans the test barn in the mornings. She’s also a director with the local Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA), and assists with benevolence such as the social Sunday, Aug. 30, for injured jockey Rasheed Hughes. Clauson also puts the annual HBPA Calendar together, and she still works part time as a respite mother for disadvantaged children.

Maybe it was the jockey change that woke up Kenton. Or maybe he just likes all the little people and the way they came together as a team to turn him into a racehorse. Or maybe…

It was just karma.