Trainer, Hab boss share goals
Dustin Jones would love to have dinner with Montreal Canadiens’ coach Michel Therrien.
The Waterdown horse trainer believes it would be extraordinarily interesting to compare notes with the man i n charge of creating a Stanley Cup winner. Jones believes there are many similarities between developing young horses and young hockey athletes.
“I know Michel has been quoted in saying how much pride he takes in developing young players like Sidney Crosby when he was with Pittsburgh. Right now, it’s interesting to see how he is dealing with Montreal’s young defencemen Nathan Beaulieu and Jordan Tinordi, who many thought would be playing with the big team now but instead, they were sent back to the AHL Hamilton Bulldogs for more seasoning. We don’t have a farm team for our young horses but often they do not reach our expectations and need more time to develop.”
Jones makes these remarks in the wake of a gratifying year when his stable won just short of $1 million in purse money after rebuilding his operation after long-time owner Serge Godin of Montreal parted company with Jones in 2013.
Starting over is a daunting task in any endeavour.
“It’s been funny but in my life whenever I needed a good horse to come along, it did. This year, it was Dont Rush and he was one that was the furthest from my mind as being so important to the stable,” he says proudly.
“We were jogging horses this morning and talking about how the year is now down and we start the process all over again without any idea if this bunch of horses can equal what we did in 2014 because racing is so unpredictable. You gotta love it to be in it.”
Jones is one of those horsemen who does his homework. Every fall prior to the yearling sales he crisscrosses the eastern United States visiting breeding f arms to inspect yearlings. It’s time consuming but it’s an important piece of the puzzle when it comes time to spend the money of his clients and his own.
“Having said that, Dont Rush, which I bred myself, turned out to be the top performer with $295,000 earned. I was given a free breeding to his sire and had he sold at public auction, he would not have brought much because he still is on the smaller side,” he explains.
“I guess he’s like a Daniel Alfredsson having been drafted in the sixth round as a junior. Obviously, not too many people thought he would make the NHL but he did.”
Jones draws comparisons to hockey frequently and views his inspection of yearlings to being similar to that of junior hockey scouts.
“But like scouts, we make errors.”
But it is coach Therrien that Jones would most like to chat with.
“Maybe one advantage he has over trainers is that his athletes can talk. But he has to deal with f ar more pressure on a day-to-day basis being in the Montreal market than we do. It won’t happen but I think it would be a great experience and hey, I’d even pay the dinner tab.”