How an 11-year-old can brighten anyone’s year
Ellis Park earned better than $94,000 and won his trainer’s eternal respect
Tony O’Sullivan experienced his worst season of his career training horses. 2019 was a shambles except for the steadying presence of 11-year-old pacer, Ellis Park.
At a time in life when the vast majority of race horses are well past their prime, Ellis Park banked more than $94,000 earning the gratitude and eternal respect of his trainer.
“This has been an absolutely horrible year for me which puts his performance in perspective. In past years, I’ve had maybe half a dozen older horses win $100,000 so I maybe took it for granted,” says O’Sullivan.
“But, I can’t tell you how much it meant to have him in the barn. When everything else seemed to be going wrong he could be counted on and I can tell you he is as good today as he has ever been in his life.”
That much was shown in his latest start just before Christmas when racing in Woodbine Mohawk Park’s top class, he finished third, beaten by a mere neck. His career earnings stand at $839,600 with a mere three starts of his 151 races having come in added money events.
Veterinarian Dr. David Goodrow of Cambridge owns this war horse and deserves no small amount of credit according to O’Sullivan.
“Dave is the reason he has lasted so long. Up until now he has never raced in the winter so did not have to endure the hard racing surfaces. The horse was allowed to race when he was good and turned out when it was deemed best. There has never been an ounce of pressure from Dave to push on. There are very few owners like that and I’ve come to believe that if we did not race these horses as two-year-olds we’d see far more older horses competing. Ellis Park did not race at two because he was not equipped to and that was a good thing as far as he is concerned.”
Dr. Goodrow is an avid follower of international rugby and has visited all of the major rugby venues around the world. That includes Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, the frequent home of the recent World Cup winning Springboks. Hence the rationale behind the name.
“The horse was bred by Dave who bought him back as a yearling for just $12,000. He is maybe the largest horse racing at Woodbine Mohawk and I’m told was a huge yearling. His size and prospect for likely not racing at two would have put off many buyers,” said O’Sullivan who is based at Classy Lane Training Centre near Puslinch.
“He is far from the perfectly conformed horse with offset knees and being pigeon toed but he wants to race which is the difference between him and all those that do not make it. He started racing as a three-year-old so it’s been seven years and the plan was that he would be retired at the end of 2019 especially when he hit a bad patch. But that’s out the window now because he is just racing so well. He has not won in that Preferred class yet but I have every confidence he will. Every time that class is held it seems to be who is best on the night and his turn is coming.”
Since he started a public stable at the tail end of 2004, O’Sullivan has had an extraordinary number of high calibre horses pass through his barn. Hearing him wax eloquently about Ellis Park speaks volumes about the grit and talent the animal possesses.
Despite posting five victories this year, it is quite probable not a word was written by industry scribes about Ellis Park this year. He’s not a World Champion or destined for the breeding shed since he is a gelding.
However, in his own way Ellis Park is a character horse demonstrating week in and week out the constitution of a warrior. Fellow trainers certainly admire his accomplishments but otherwise he is on no one’s radar screen.
“Make no mistake this is happiest horse you can find because he loves what he’s doing. The other day jogging he dropped his head and bucked like he was just starting out in life. Actually, it was great to see and as I said having a horse that loves his work and is so reliable makes me appreciate Ellis Park all the more”.
Reaching the million dollar plateau is a big ask for the big horse but O’Sullivan does not discount it based on the way Ellis Park is racing. Given the path Ellis Park has followed until now, anything is possible.