Mofford “on cloud nine” after incredible start

Two weeks into the harness racing season, horseman Ardon Mofford is clicking at 75 per cent as a trainer and 70 per cent in the sulky.

The resident of Florence, N.S. piloted three winners from the far outside post six on the May 14 opening day at Northside Downs. Announcer Shane Ryan called that he had never seen the feat accomplished before at the track.

“I didn’t expect it, that’s for sure,” Mofford said. “I had some good classes in the first week and felt pretty good about a couple. But then I saw the draw and four out of the five horses I was putting behind the gate were in the six-hole, and then there was another catch drive that was in the five, and then I had Bet On Art in the seven hole.

“Then four of my sixes won – three of them I was driving, and one was my horse, Dont Tell Kim. So that was a shocker.”

A week later, Mofford improved on his opening day show. He backed up driving triple with a grand slam on May 21 and trained three of his four victorious mounts. After two days of racing, he is six-for-eight as a conditioner and seven-for-10 at the lines.

“I was on cloud nine after week one, never thinking that would ever happen to me again – getting a hat trick, nevermind out of the six-hole,” Mofford said. “Then last week came, and I was just in awe. It was an incredible feeling. Considering my rookie season was when I was 53, and now I’m 55 and in my third year – for something like that to happen, it was an amazing feeling.”

Mofford started training horses for the first time in the early 2000s but reluctantly gave it up due to financial difficulties and family obligations. He maintained other roles in the sport, including starter and judge. Outside of racing, Mofford is an award-winning chef and has pursued a career in cooking for around 35 years. He owns and operates the Governor’s Pub and Eatery in Sydney, N.S and has owned other restaurants. He organized the Right Some Good Food Festival in Nova Scotia, in which renowned international chefs paired with rising culinary talent at pop-up restaurants in unique locations while supporting local industries.

“That’s been my labour of love,” he said. “I’m basically backing away from the restaurant a bit and I gave some of my young apprentices a chance to be my sous chefs. I’ve been spending a lot of time with the horses and I’m trying to live my youth now.”

Mofford said that he enjoyed his time in non-competitive roles in harness racing but never lost his desire to pick up the reins.

“I just kept itching to get back, especially when I was behind the starting gate and just seeing the action and just wanting to be in,” he said. “I’ve always been a competitive guy – I’ve played rugby, hockey, football – and I just missed the competition.

“I really missed the competition and the camaraderie of being in sports. Especially in harness racing too, people are great. It’s a great community, and on the track I just have a lot of fun. I just love the game so much. It doesn’t feel like work, I just want to do it all the time.”

Mofford made his way back into training in 2019 with Private Paradise, a Western Paradise gelding. He then bought the aged Royal Art gelding Bet On Art from Lindsey Kerr and also acquired Shadow Play mare Sauble Bonnie in 2020. Mofford runs Wouldn’t Say No Stable, a syndicate for yearling purchases, and his Mofford Racing stable, which currently holds six horses.

Mofford originally planned to sell sophomores Dont Tell Kim and Finer Things, both of which were holdings of Wouldn’t Say No Stable, but his wife Tonya convinced him to keep them.

“A lot of these horses weren’t mine originally, but my wife wouldn’t let me sell any of them,” Mofford said. “So I had to buy all the syndicates out, because Wouldn’t Say No Stable would buy yearlings, and we would sell them as three-year-olds. So my wife, this year, made my buy all the three-year-olds. […] Bet On Art – I had him sold, but I wasn’t allowed to sell him, so now I have all the horses in the barn.”

Dont Tell Kim has so far rewarded Mofford’s loyalty. The mare has won both of her starts this season and is entered again today (May 28) at Northside Downs.

“She’s just a little machine,” Mofford said. “I’m a big guy, and she buzzed me around that gauntlet in miles in 1:59 and 2:00. She’s just the prettiest little thing – you just hang on and you go for a ride. I must say, as long as you can keep her together, she’s got to be one of my favourites.”

Though Mofford said he was shocked at the success of his first two weeks, he attributed his success to “some really good help.” He said that he was able to spend more time with the horses thanks to having more bodies. Larry Snow, who feeds the horses at Northside, helped Mofford with morning jogging and training, which streamlined the stable’s work.

“Him and I just kept rolling every morning and stepped them up a little bit,” Mofford said. “You know, jog five miles all the time and make sure we train them up pretty good. And yeah, they just came back really good this year.”

Mofford is in the process of building a new stable – named after Private Paradise – to expand his training operation. He missed having yearlings to train this season and hopes to buy babies for next year. He said stalling is an issue in North Sydney after the demolition of the old Tartan Downs facility and the tragic barn fire at Balls Creek. However, Mofford expects another barn to be built soon, in addition to his new stable, and the equine housing deficiency to be resolved.

“There’s quite a few horses and not enough stables set up at Northside. But I think that will change in the near future. I think they will build another barn, and it will make it better for us in that situation,” he said.

One star of the current Mofford barn is Whosyourfather, a three-year-old daughter of Cougar Hall. She has won both of her starts this season convincingly and will go postward for Mofford in the P.E.I. Colt Stakes Grassroots on Sunday at Summerside Raceway in Prince Edward Island. Debra Rankin of Dutch Brook owns the three-time winner.

“She’s just really evolved,” Mofford said. “She got injured as a two-year-old. I qualified her and I got to drive her once, and then she went in a couple of stakes races and got injured in the pen, in the turnout, having some fun. She pulled a suspensory. But she came back solid, and she’s just awesome.”

Mofford has three entries at Northside on Saturday. He will pilot Dont Tell Kim in the second race and has therefore deferred Literally Hanover’s drive to Mark Pezzarello. Mofford will also drive Sauble Bonnie in the fourth.

First post on the seven-race program is 1:00 p.m. ADT.

For complete race entries, click here.

by Nicholas Barnsdale, for Harnesslink