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For Immediate Release
July 8, 2000
YANKEE PACO TAKES ANOTHER ROUTE TO THE HAMBLETONIAN
While some trainers believe you only prep for the Hambletonian in races at the Meadowlands, Yankee Paco will not see the surface at the East Rutherford, New Jersey track until he arrives for the eliminations on July 29.
Trainer Doug McIntosh is not concerned about following a non-traditional route to the $1 million Hambletonian on August 5 at the Meadowlands.
"With this horse, I don't think it's a disadvantage at all," he said. "He can go on any surface, any track, anywhere, anytime. He's like a Michael Jordan...a natural athlete. He's very versatile and does what he has to do."
Life is good for McIntosh. He and his wife, Carrie, have a little boy named Dylan who will turn two on July 29, the day of the Hambletonian eliminations.
"The birth of our son was the greatest thing in my life," said McIntosh. "Winning the Hambletonian is the only thing I can think of that would come close."
In many ways, trainer Doug McIntosh is a man ahead of his time in the harness racing industry. The Wheatley, Ontario native, at age 57 the older brother of more heralded conditioner Bob McIntosh, was a pioneer in communicating with owners and prospective owners. He advertised his services when that was considered "taboo" by the old guard. He was one of the first to publish a monthly newsletter detailing the accomplishments and progress of his equine pupils. He hopped aboard the Internet explosion in the early stages, developing a comprehensive website and utilizing e-mail to communicate with his clients.
"He's [Yankee Paco] a Balanced Image colt, and I think Balanced Image is the greatest trotting sire ever, in my opinion," said McIntosh. "Once you get them set, they're sound horses and none of them know where the end of the mile is. We're lucky to have him in Canada."
Yankee Paco was a $30,000 yearling purchase by McIntosh from the Yankeeland Farm consignment at the 1998 Kentucky Standardbred sale at Fasig-Tipton in Lexington on behalf of longtime clients Harry Ivey and his son, Dr. Tom Ivey. The elder Ivey, 82, is a retired pharmacist from Mineral Point, Wisconsin, who was first exposed to racing at the county fair level in his home state in the early 1950's. His son, Tom, is a heart surgeon specializing in transplants in Cincinnati, Ohio. The two have been associated with McIntosh since 1994.
"I had gotten a call from Mr. Ivey out of the blue," McIntosh said. "He really liked Balanced Image as a sire and wanted to get a filly out of him for breeding purposes. He called me up since I was from Ontario and knew the horse and asked me to buy him a yearling filly. The plan was to send her to [Ivey's] brother to train. Well, we ended up meeting at Lexington, talked for quite awhile, and hit it off real well. After I bought him a filly, he called up and said why don't you go ahead and train her for me. We've been together ever since. They buy one or two colts a year, and I've had 16 or 18 horses for them."
If Yankee Paco makes it to the Hambletonian, he will not be McIntosh and Ivey's first starter in the trotting classic. They raced Sand Chaser in the 1997 Hambletonian, finishing third in an elimination and seventh, at odds of 29-1, in the final behind Malabar Man.
Like many young trotters, Yankee Paco battled breaking problems early in his two-year-old season. Before the year was out, however, the handsome chestnut colt had put it all together winning the $106,000 Canadian Breeders Juvenile trot at Mohawk in 1:58.3. On the season, he started nine times with four wins, a second, and a third earning $124,776.
"This colt is just a great athlete," said McIntosh of Yankee Paco. "I'm damn lucky to have him. As trainers, we sometimes get too much credit for developing these things. This horse is just a natural, and it's more a case of managing him than anything else. I feel fortunate to have him."
Yankee Paco won the biggest race of his career, and the biggest race of the season to date for three-year-old trotting colts, when he captured the $840,100 Canadian Trotting Classic at Woodbine on June 24. Driven, as usual, by Trevor Ritchie, Yankee Paco outsprinted the pace-setting Credit Winner in 1:57.3, with a 27.2-second last quarter.
"He really showed me something that night," McIntosh said. "I thought we were in real trouble at the top of the stretch off those slow fractions. I didn't know he was that quick and could sprint home like that. Credit Winner is a real nice colt and to get past him wasn't easy."
Yankee Paco followed up his Canadian Trotting Classic triumph with a win at Kawartha Downs in Ontario Sire Stakes by six lengths in a track record 1:56. He won the $100,000 Ontario Sire Stakes Gold Final at Kawartha on July 8 in 1:56.4 by seven lengths. So far in 2000, the colt has six starts with three wins and a second, with earnings of $496,617.
McIntosh will prep Yankee Paco for the Hambletonian in rather unusual fashion staying in Ontario for Sire Stakes competition. The colt will race at Windsor Raceway on July 19 then head for the Meadowlands and the Hambletonian eliminations on July 29..
Yankee Paco has been a natural right from the time he began training and, according to McIntosh, is plainly rigged.
"He wears nine-sixteenths half round shoes in front with a crease in the toe and some borium spots if needed," he said. "We've got full swedges on him behind. He wears a regular snaffle bit, a regular overcheck bit, a blind bridle and ears without plugs. We put two plain head poles on him on five-eighths tracks."
As far as Yankee Paco's training routine, lots of jogging and lots of turnout time in the paddock at McIntosh's farm keeps him fit and happy.
"I jog him about 45 minutes a day," said McIntosh. "I train him a double header between starts, around 2:45 and back in 2:28. Nowadays you just want to manage them. They all have so much natural speed."
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