Young hoping his gelding puts on a show in NA Cup

Harness racing owner Richard Young is hoping it will be his show at Woodbine Mohawk Park on Saturday night as his homebred gelding Its My Show (Sweet Lou) takes on nine rivals in the $1,000,000 North America Cup for sophomore pacers.

It’s My Show, who is unbeaten in five starts this year, including a facile 1:48-flat win in his elimination, had a nondescript rookie season, going 0 for 8 with two 2nds and one 3rd and slightly more than $63,000 in earnings. It seems getting his manhood altered was the biggest key to turning his racing career around. But he also had some typical growing pains that are now a problem that is in the rear-view mirror.

“The biggest difference I think was colt soreness early, and attitude,” Young explained. “The attitude not so much as colt soreness, but they combined. When you go winless, you say: well, here is a horse that is incredibly bred, do we wanna take the chance? He’s winless so the answer is easy. So, we gelded him, and it changed him entirely.”

Young explained that also cutting Its My Show’s rookie campaign short was probably critical to him now being in top physical condition leading up to the biggest race of his life this weekend, “The fact that he was stopped on early also helped with the colt soreness,” Young added. “He is sound as hell.”

Young spoke of his champion broodmare Put On A Show, a $2.45 million earner who finished her career with a stellar 31-9-2 record from 50 starts and a mark of 1:47.3 taken at the Meadowlands when she won the $253,000 Lady Liberty Final as a five-year-old.

“We always thought that she would throw something special,” he said. “She threw some animals that were gorgeous, and there was always an issue here and there.” He also noted that the 2010 Breeder Crown winner has been unlucky as a broodmare. “She had two aborted and one died at birth. She did throw Best In Show who won the Meadowlands Pace, so that’s okay.”

Its My Show has been no worse than 2nd at any call of all his five wins in 2023. It’s likely that leaving from post two – with the three other elimination winners lined up directly to his right – Its My Show will be pushing the gate looking for a spot near the front, but Young said he leaves those decisions to his pilot, Scott Zeron. “I don’t have a strategy, that’s up to the driver,” Young said before the post draw. “But Its My Show does have an ability to settle down. Not all horses do. With some of them you have to go and keep going. In his case, you can go and sit and go and sit. That’s a big advantage, and he has speed. It’s the driver’s choice what to do and there are five or six horses in that race that I can be afraid of.”

Young, who sold Put On A Show last year, has only one racehorse currently – Its My Show. The way that gelding has performed so far in his sophomore campaign though, has his owner buoyant. “If you’re only going to have one, that’s a good one to have,” he grinned.

by Garnet Barnsdale, for Harnesslink