Gannon teaches French trotter American racing

YONKERS, N.Y. – When Ed Gannon, Jr. picked up his French trotter Ubanji in June, the harness racing horse seemed unassuming enough. A nice-looking, well-built, long-bodied trotter, Ubanji made a good first impression on his new trainer. However, after spending a few days turned out at Gannon’s 60-acre farm, Ubanji made his first trip to the track and it became clear he would not be a straightforward horse.

“We took him home on a Saturday, turned him out till Monday, we jogged him on Tuesday for the first time, not knowing what to expect,” Gannon said. “He was very aggressive on the track, very aggressive. I thought maybe it was because it was the first day, the horse had just shipped to the country, a lot going on, change of venue and maybe he just needed a couple days and he would settle down. It wasn’t to be. He got worse.”

Later in that week, Ubanji was uncontrollable in his morning jog, running away with his driver. Gannon consulted with a few of the other trainers who received French horses and reflected on his own experience as a trainer. He formulated a plan to get Ubanji to settle.

“This is what we have to work with, do the best we can,” he said. “The first week or two, it was a little disheartening because I had this horse you really couldn’t control.”

Gannon tried making several equipment changes to make Ubanji more manageable. First, he put an overcheck on the gelding, but that made him worse. He tried different driving bits and lip cords, but Ubanji rejected them. Finally, Gannon found a bit that worked for the horse.

Gannon then had to teach Ubanji to trot for speed instead of distance and to slow down after a mile or 10 furlongs. As Ubanji was accustomed to racing 2,700 meters or more in France, it was a learning experience for the 10-year-old. Unlike most standardbreds, who jog clockwise around the track and race counterclockwise, Gannon jogged Ubanji counterclockwise to teach the horse to settle.

“I found over the years with mine, that if I jogged them the right way around the track, it teaches them that they don’t have to go fast all the time and it enables me to teach them control,” Gannon explained. “I’ve had very good luck with that. We’ve had some real doozeys that when you turn them the right way around the track, they would just go a thousand off the bat. Doing this, it teaches them not to feel like, ‘oh, I’m going this direction, it’s all out.

“I was doing that for two weeks and then I started incorporating training in new speeds where I would go a half-mile, then speed him up for a half-mile, then slow him down,” Gannon continued. “Then I could start working with him that way and within two weeks, we had him where we had control of him.”

With Gannon able to control the trotter, he then turned to fitness. Ubanji had raced only three times in 2018 before shipping across the Atlantic, the most recent of which came at Laval April 26. Gannon incorporated training miles into the son of Jag de Bellouet’s routine and brought him to the training track at Harrington Raceway for a test; Ubanji had been training on a private farm with only six other horses on the track at a given time. Gannon needed to see how the trotter would handle more traffic and noise.

“I actually started carrying a watch, because I didn’t know what shape he was in only having three starts all year. That was another thing, trying to figure out what kind of condition was the horse actually in,” Gannon said. “We got him to where I thought he was in shape enough to go to the track. We took him to Harrington and I trained him on the back track because I wanted to see how he was going to be with a lot more horses and see how he handled. He wasn’t too bad. I trained him in 2:02 at Harrington on the back track and he was very controllable, and he was better. I was very surprised.”

Ubanji qualified with Andrew McCarthy in the sulky at Harrah’s Philadelphia July 17. He went straight to the lead and finished second, trotting his mile in 1:55.3 with a :29.3 final quarter. His connections were pleased.

“Andrew McCarthy drove him in the qualifier and I didn’t know what to expect with the gate,” Gannon said. “Andrew is a good driver and he said, ‘let’s put him right on the gate and see what happens. If he’s snaky or squirrely, I’ll go from there,’ and he did a great job with him.”

Ubanji made his par-mutuel debut eight days later in an $11,000 overnight at Harrah’s. Racing with Lasix for the first time, the gelding again went to the top and this time, he stayed there. He posted a 1 ¼-length win in 1:55.1 for new owner Frank Canzone. The victory improved his record to 10 wins from 102 starts with another 12 seconds and 10 thirds. He boasts earnings of $326,196.

“I put him on Lasix after the qualifier because we scoped him and it showed that he was bleeding. We thought with the addition of Lasix, maybe that would help calm him down a little bit more and maybe help with the bleeding issues,” Gannon explained. “It was a perfect race for him. He was very comfortable in the mile. Andrew was happy with him, he seemed better to drive that week than in the qualifier. He said he actually drove really good. That was a lot of positives and to win was an even greater positive.”

Ubanji drew post two for driver Mark MacDonald in the first division of the French American Trotting Club Sunday afternoon at Yonkers. He’ll face nine rivals in the $35,000 split, including Bioness, who drew the rail off a 1:54.3 score at Pocono last out, Deo, who won his local debut July 2 before making a break in his most recent start, and Alpha d’Urzy, who is 3-for-3 in the U.S. for trainer Rene Allard. Barry Black, Uhlan Noir, Boss du Fosse, Adagio de la Tour, Aigle de la Vallee, and Bolide de Buit complete the lineup.

“It would just be nice to be up near the front,” Gannon said. “I think my horse, if he gets around the first turn without any difficulty because everyone is going to be jockeying for position, I think after that he’ll drive fine and I think he’ll be competitive. It’s a tough division; of the two divisions, it’s definitely the best one.

“I’m excited, a little nervous not knowing what to expect, but I’m excited at the same time,” he continued. “It’s going to be interesting to see what happens. I think the first week is definitely going to be the toughest because no one knows what to expect from the other horses.”

Sunday’s card also features a $54,800 Open Handicap Trot in the first race and another division of the French American Trotting Club in race three. First post time for the all-trot card is 12:30 p.m. For entries to the races, click here.

The second and third legs of the French American Trotting Club series will be held August 19 and 26, respectively and the $100,000 final is set for September 2. For more information, click here.

by Brandon Valvo, for the SOA of NY