She’s nasty, but Bax thinks she’s a winner
For reasons unknown, John Bax seems to attract ill-tempered horses.
The Campbellville horseman has a reputation for succeeding with horses that could kindly be described as ‘not for children.’ Up And Ready is the latest.
Just to put that filly’s temperament in perspective, last January while wintering in Florida, she let fly with a hind leg catching Bax as he was exiting her stall breaking his elbow in the process. Twelve months later, her temperament has not improved.
However, in her rookie season she won $190,000, despite not winning a Miss Congeniality Award.
“I don’t know how this type finds its way to me. I like to work with better mannered horses but here they are,” Bax says. “On the racetrack doing her work she is no problem at all. But in the barn, putting on her harness or turning her out in the paddock, you have to always be aware of her. I sometimes think she looks at me and smiles before letting fly with the boots. She has a mean streak in her for sure.”
Bred by Cool Creek Farm of Mount Pleasant, Up And Ready was a $300,000 US yearling purchase by Torontonians Al Libfeld, Marvin and Lynn Katz and Sam Goldband. She won just one race from nine starts which may lead some to say she came up short, but the final chapter is yet to be written and she just might be one of this year’s big players.
“I have to admit I was disappointed in a couple of her starts but when a two-year-old filly wins $190,000, it does seem quite right to be unsatisfied,” Bax says.
“She was not the best in the Ontario Sires Stakes program. She was good, but not great. She just missed winning the Ontario Sires Stakes Super Final and finished up healthy so no one should complain.”
It’s been four months since she last raced and the maturation process is now showing. Last season, people often observed that she was smaller than they expected her to be, possibly just because of her purchase price.
“She has gotten taller and filled out in her withers (ridge between her shoulder blades). She has not gotten thicker, but has gotten more racy looking. For sure, there is no change in her attitude.”
Last season, she did have a foot abscess and continued to have some minor foot issues. Hard racing surfaces are not to her liking.
Bax is a true student of the trotting horse and has knows a good one when it sees one. The gait of a horse is almost everything in his opinion.
“She does have a very good gait — so fluid. There is nothing choppy about the way she goes and she does not hit the ground hard. Despite her attitude there is a lot to like about her.”
This winter Bax wisely elected not to winter in Florida with the COVID-19 drama there. He is unsure if Up And Ready has forgiven him for making her train in Ontario.
“The one I had before her was Stubborn Belle. She won nearly $700,000 but was different. Belle was big and a bully like a male horse can be. She wanted to go 100 miles an hour all the time and would wear you out. Up And Ready is different that way.”
The three-year-old season is when the heavy lifting sets in for all Standardbred horses. The races are not only faster but more demanding. The competition is deeper with no soft spots. It gets underway May 15 with the eliminations for the Standardbred Breeders of Ontario Stake at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
“We joke about these female horses that have mean streaks, but history has shown so many of them who are very good race horses,” Bax says. “Maybe that is the grit they need to outperform the rest. But I’m not sure I would want a barn full of them. It would make for some long days.”
There is every reason under the sun why Up And Ready should not have a big year but there is also every reason why she should. Ultimately, she will achieve whatever her potential is meant to be but with a seasoned hand managing her temperamental ways maybe the odds are she will be remembered for far more than her attitude.