I Was Right But Wrong

Let's not kid ourselves, when it comes to the end of the year awards, certain awards can be handed out already.  The Horse of the Year, Trotter of the Year, Aged Trotter of the year will be San Pail.  As far as I am concerned, the Pacer of the Year and Aged Pacer of the year should be Foiled Again as this horse has hit a new level I didn't know he had (with respect to the mile oval).

There is one horse that will not win a year end award, but they should create an award for Unsung Horse of the Year and if there was such an award, it should go to St Elmo Hero.  When St Elmo Hero came barnstorming the early part of the year with his win streak, I called him 'a winter horse'; meaning a horse that would do quite well in the winter when the best pacers and trotters are sunning themselves in Florida taking time off, but when they came back, he would be struggling for victories, hopelessly outclassed.  Well I was right, but oh so wrong.  The number of wins St Elmo won did drop off once the true FFAllers came North, but there were some wins at Wdb7/8 in Open company and Indiana.  The wins didn't come when he raced in FFA events, but here is where I was wrong.  While he didn't win in the FFA events, he had some moments where he raced well in the summer, such as the third place finish in the Canadian Pacing Derby elimination and a fourth place finish in the American National..

At this point through this season, he earned $312,330; not bad for a winter horse.  No, as a rule he couldn't go with the A listers, but that is a nice amount of money to pick up during the season, with some of that money coming in the summer and fall.  I don't know what the ownership's plans are for St Elmo Hero this winter, but if he heads to the Meadowlands, I would expect him to be trouncing them in the winter series.

I was right that St Elmo Hero is basically a winter horse, but unlike the typical winter horse, he held his own during the summer and that is where I was wrong.  There are not many 'winter' horses that can hang around during the summer at the Open level and for that St Elmo Hero and his trainer, William Crone should be congratulated. 

St Elmo is not a winter horse, he's one heck of a winter horse.