Trainer Noel
Daley knows winning his second Hambletonian with All Laid Out won’t be as easy
as his first with Broad Bahn in 2011, yet his latest prospect, while diminutive
in stature, is right on schedule.
The
son of Yankee Glide was scheduled to start in a division of Pennsylvania Sires
Stakes at Harrah’s Philadelphia on July 18, and then enter the Hambletonian
eliminations on Saturday, August 3.
Owned
by Daley of Bordentown, NJ, All Laid Out was purchased for $32,000 at the
Lexington-Selected Sale.
“Honestly, I
would have never bought the horse because he was about as big as a German
Sheppard,” recalled the 51-year-old from Australia based at Magical Acres in
Chesterfield, NJ. “He’s a well-bred horse, but just a tiny little
fella. The brother [Fire To The Rain] was a bigger type and he sold for
$140,000.
“A
friend of mine from Finland, Martti Ala-seppala, picked him out,” explained
Daley. “He’s is a really good judge of yearlings. He was a
co-breeder of Impressive Kemp [1:54.3, $501,074], who I had in 2009 and
2010. She won the Breeders Crown at Pocono Downs for me.
“Martti
loves going to the sales, watching the videos, looking at them and judging
them,” he continued. “He’s handy because he can go back twenty years and
remember how each of a mare’s foals stood.”
As a
late-blooming two-year-old, All Laid Out first qualified on August 16, 2012,
and made early breaks in four of his nine freshman starts. He won a
$101,000 division of the Bluegrass at The Red Mile in 1:57.
“Sometimes
he wasn’t paying attention, and he’s still not totally bomb proof,” said
Daley. “He’s very lucky he’s still a colt. We were close to gelding
him. He’s a little frustrating. He’s a little guy with a big
opinion of himself. He could always trot, but I never thought he was a
Hambletonian horse.”
All
Laid Out has three wins in seven starts this season, pushing his career
earnings to $185,693. The colt has come to hand winning his last two
starts, a first over 1:53.1 mile in the consolation for the Earl Beal, Jr.
Memorial, then a career best of 1:53 in a division of the Pennsylvania All
Stars, both at Pocono Downs.
“He
was actually very good in his Beal elimination,” noted Daley. “He had all
kinds of trot and had nowhere to go. He doesn’t mind doing a little
work. The first over trips don’t appear to bother him. We obviously
won’t know until the time comes, but I don’t think the [Hambletonian] heats
will hurt him.
“I’m
not delusional, just happy I’ve got another shot at it. We’ve made enough
to pay into these stakes races and hope to get more money. That’s
basically our philosophy. Over the past few weeks we’ve just thought
maybe there’s some hope for the Hambletonian.”
Reverting
back to heats for the 2013 Hambletonian has added a twist to ramping up for
this year’s classic and led to different approaches.
“Some
of them haven’t come back as good,” stated Daley “They were quick early
on and not as good now. If my colt can improve a bit on his last couple
of starts he could definitely get a piece of it. Who knows with the way
things are falling this year?
“Yes,
you have to peak him and have everything go in your favor,” he continued.
“I was talking to Chuck Sylvester the other day, and I joked with him you’ve
won with worse. His horse [Spider Blue Chip] is coming around at the
right time. I mean, Chuckie is the man. We were talking back in May
about how all of these horses were going in 1:52 and 1:53 at the time. He
told me, ‘You watch, they won’t be around come Hambletonian time’.”
Wheeling N
Dealin, rated number one on the Road to the Hambletonian top ten, has taken an
ultra conservative route with only one start so far in 2013, which has lead to
some speculation. The 2012 Dan Patch Award winner was a perfect
nine-for-nine at two before suffering his first career loss.
“With
Wheeling N Dealin, they’re doing exactly what they said they were going to do
from Day One,” said Daley. “Last year, it was him and Royalty For Life,
who’s very fast, but needs to keep his mind on his manners. This year
looks like an exciting one because it looks like any one of ten horses could
win it right now.
“We’re
probably being diabolically opposite to what they’re doing with Wheeling N
Dealin, but we’re really just taking our races as they come. The
Hambletonian will be another race in a series of races for our colt. We
weren’t really pointing him for it.”
In addition
to campaigning the 2005 Trotter of the Year, Mr Muscleman [1:51.1, $3,582,323],
Daley finished second to eventual Horse of the Year Muscle Hill in the 2009
Hambletonian with Explosive Matter, and then won the 2011 edition with Broad
Bahn.
“Explosive
Matter [1:52.3, $1,510,542] was a very nice horse for us,” he said. “It’s
nice see his first crop is doing awesome, and he didn’t get the mares Muscle
Hill did. Explosive Matter was a far better horse than Broad Bahn (1:53,
$1,547,988]. Everything single thing went right with Broad Bahn. I
have never been so confident in a horse prior to winning that
Hambletonian. We brought him back this year. I trained him down to
2:04 at the Meadowlands and he had a filling in a hind leg. So, they
brought him back to Europe.”
