REXDALE, ON — When Meadowview Sunny steps in behind the gate at Woodbine Racetrack on Monday night, owner Charles Reid will not be worrying about whether or not the gelding can earn a sixth straight win or add a third Gold Final trophy to his collection. After a hair raising trip to the University of Guelph last spring, where veterinarians predicted the young trotter would never race again, Reid is just grateful to be in the game.
“We gelded this guy and the next day I went out and his guts were hanging on the ground,” explains Reid. “The vet told me, “Charlie, if he rears up he’ll die,” so I stood in the trailer with him all the way to Guelph. They were able to save his life, it turned out he had a hernia up there that shoved his intestines and bowel out, but at the end of it all one vet said, “I think you’ll have a pet, I don’t think he’ll race.”
“We’re just so glad to be there, it’s absolutely terrific.”
Not only has Meadowview Sunny raced, he has dominated the two-year-old trotting colt division through the first two months of their season. The son of Classic Adam and Frisky Mitchelle swept the season opener over Kawartha Downs’ five-eighths mile track, duplicated that effort in the second Gold Series event on the half-mile surface at Elmira Raceway and captured his elimination on the Woodbine seven-eighths oval last Monday.
Trained by Stayner’s Paul Shakes, Meadowview Sunny will make his bid for a sixth victory from Post 4 on Monday night and regular reinsman Doug Brown will be in his usual spot in the race bike, an honour he staked a claim to three years ago when Reid called to ask his opinion of Classic Adam as a match for Frisky Mitchelle.
“I had just lost a colt by Mr Lavec out of her and I wanted an outcross so I phoned Doug Brown to ask him about the horse (Classic Adam), because he drove him, and he said, “He was unbelievable fast, unbelievable fast Charlie,”” explains Reid. “And (trainer) Norm Jones told me he was meant to be a great horse if they could’ve kept him sound.
“I never even laid eyes on the horse, I just went by what Doug and Norm told me. It just works, it’s the right cross,” he adds.
The affable Reid adds that anyone who believes Meadowview Sunny is a fluke, because he doesn’t hail from more fashionable Ontario bloodlines, has not done their homework. Frisky Mitchelle earned over $100,000 herself and has produced nine foals, with eight of them making it to the racetrack and accumulating a total of $683,484. Her daughter Tammys Nightmare has produced $239,922 winner Marks Marathon and $525,462 winner Pauls Image and her mother Flemingtons Jane produced four winners of more than $100,000, the dam of $550,483 Armbro Trick (Wendys Joker) and the granddam of $990,306 winner Corn Cob Conch (Glorious Penny).
Meadowview Sunny’s pedigree and his on track feats have become hot topics in and around Reid’s Orono home where his neighbours have become the colt’s unofficial fan club.
“Up here in Orono if you own a cow, you own a horse, and the other night when I was at Woodbine I had more people in my living room than I’ve ever had to watch it (Gold Eliminations) on the television,” says Reid. “I sell real estate and people want to talk horses instead of real estate.
“I had a lady come up to me the other night at Woodbine, I hadn’t seen her for 30 years, her husband used to coach us in hockey back when we won the Ontario Championships in Bantam, and she said, “Did you see who was in the bike with Doug Brown coming down the stretch?” She said, “Jack Reid was there with a big smile on his face,”” recalls a choked up Reid. “It tore my heart out. That’s why he means so much to me.
“I’ve been very low key about it all because years ago my Dad told me, “Never blow your own horn, let other people do it for you.” I’m just so grateful.”
Meadowview Sunny and his freshman trotting colt peers go postward in their $130,000 Gold Final in the fourth race on Woodbine Racetrack’s 7:40 pm program Monday. Ten colts who failed to advance to the rich Final also return to Woodbine Monday for the $30,000 Gold Series Consolation in Race 1.