It is with a sense of emotion that Jeff Durham is going into the
Breeders Crown for the first time following the passing of his father, who had
been instrumental in his career, earlier this month.
Durham’s father, Jack, had been in failing health the last 10
years and passed away at the family home in Omemee, a couple hours east of
Toronto. He was 71.
“He hadn’t been well, but it went a little quicker than we
thought,” Jeff said. “It’s emotional and to talk about (going into the Breeders
Crown) really gets to me. He wanted us to go. It’s just one of those things
where life carries on.”
The night before Jack passed, Windsun Revenge, who Jeff owns with
Robert Van Camp and Van Camp Trotting Corporation and will race in the $500,000
Crown Trot on Friday, won a race at Mohawk with a career mark of 1:51 4/5.
“My father got up and watched the race and the next day he passed
away,” Jeff said. “It was kind of a bittersweet type of thing. We always
thought the horse had a little bit of talent otherwise we wouldn’t have kept
him eligible in the spring. It cost $6,000 (Canadian) to keep him eligible. He
had a few hiccups in the spring and summer and we quit with him. We took him to
a few vets and one found something and he’s a total different horse. He
couldn’t trot in 1:56 in the summer and now he’s trotting in 1:51 4/5. He
always had the ability; it’s just one of those things where you hope they step
up at the right time, and I think he’s stepping up at the right time.”
Windsun Revenge, who has won four races in 13 starts this season
and earned $72,530 and has collectively banked $293,763, finished seventh in
the Maple Leaf Trot by 6¼ lengths. But the gelding has won his last two races
and qualified with a 22-length win.
Windsun Revenge starts from post four 4 in the $500,000 Breeders
Crown Open Trot on Friday, Oct. 28 at The Meadowlands in East Rutherford, NJ,
and is 12/1 in the morning line. It’s
race nine on the 13-race card, with a planned post time of 10:29 p.m.
“He’s definitely going to be a long shot, but it’s an eight-hour
drive for us and we weren’t coming down just for a check, that’s for sure,”
Jeff said. “If we didn’t think we have a shot we wouldn’t be paying a $13,000
(Canadian) starting fee. We wouldn’t be coming down just for something to do.”
Rick Zeron had been scheduled to drive the horse, but was asked by
Jeff if he would allow his son, Scott, to drive and he gladly turned over the
reins. Scott, who has been one of the top drivers at the Meadowlands, had
already named to drive another horse in the race.
“It’s kind of exciting to be in the Breeders Crown for the first
time,” Jeff said. “I’m not one to get too excited about things. But not too
many people get opportunities to race in the Breeders Crown, that’s for sure. I
think he belongs. There’s a couple in there that are tough, but I don’t think
we’re out of place in there, to be honest with you.”
Van Camp owns Brooks Performance Horse Feeds, where Jeff is a
wholesaler and salesman. Windsun Farm and Robert Van Camp are the breeders of
the gelded son of Kadabra, sharing ownership in the Windsun Revenge’s dam,
Oaklea Polly. The Revenge part of his
name was borrowed from a TV show of the same title starring Van Camp’s daughter, Emily, who is also known
for her roles in Captain
America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and Captain
America: Civil War (2016).
Windsun Revenge is Jeff’s only horse in training at the moment. He
has a couple yearlings and a two-year-old. Jeff looks after the horses in the
morning and spends the afternoon delivering feed for his customers.
His father, Jack, had been instrumental in Jeff’s start in the
horse business, buying a property 35 years ago where he built a farm and two
homes.
“I never really worked other than on the farm,” Jeff said. “It was
my dad that got me into the horse business. My dad had horses before my brother
and I were even born. He had to get out of the horse business. It was either
feed the horses or feed the family. When he could afford to get back into it,
he bought some land, built some barns and built some houses and the rest is
history. He always had a few broodmares and colts, and my brother and my dad
claimed a few horses. We’ve had some good horses, one that raced in 1:49,
Durham’s Cam, about 10 years ago. He was a good raceway horse. He made about
$400,000. He was a good overnight racehorse at Mohawk that you could race every
Saturday. My dad used to name the (family) horses with the prefix Durham.
Durham’s Cam was probably the last Durham horse.
“Between my brother and myself, we always had four or five horses
racing,” Jeff added. “Because my dad hadn’t been in good health the last 10
years, I had been doing most of the training. But I always asked him for
fatherly advice. Robert bought Windsun Revenge back at the yearling sale and I
bought a piece of him. You never know with horses. The young ones are the ones
you can hit a home run with if you get lucky.”
