Charlie May ready to race, with Borgata on horizon

Trenton, NJ — As breeder/owner Don Tiger eagerly awaits the 2025 debut of Charlie May (McArdle) in Saturday’s (March 1) $25,000 feature pace at Mohegan Pennsylvania’s Pocono Downs, he couldn’t help but reflect on when his horse started racing.

At that time in 2020, Tiger never dreamed that he had a horse with $2.27 million in purses coming his way.

“When he went to qualify, he qualified at 2 o’clock and no one called me,” Tiger recalled about Charlie May’s first qualifier at Eldorado Scioto Downs at age 2. “At 8 o’clock at night you’re like ‘Man this is kind of weird.’ I went to ustrotting.com and it went (1):58.4. I said ‘OK, I guess it was so-so.’

“Then (driver) Chris Page called me and I said, ‘I know he qualified, but was my horse that bad?’ He said, ‘Oh no, he wasn’t bad at all!’ And I asked him, ‘Hey man, do you think I’ll ever win a race with him?’ He said ‘Oh DT, you’re gonna do a lot more than just win a race.’ His first start he won the ($150,000) Next Generation Pace and made 75K. The rest, as they say, is history.”

“We want to get a couple of starts in prior to the Borgata but that’s been the focus,” Tiger said. “He’s such a good, handy horse on a half, so we want to get in that series.”

Charlie May, who shared Ohio’s 2024 Older Pacer of the Year Award with Dunkin’, will race out of the stable of Heidi and Ron Cushing after being trained previously by Steve Carter.

The horse appears to be ready.

“We stopped racing Charie in December, and he was extremely sound,” Tiger said. “That’s when we started with Ron. We only gave him 45 days off. The old adage is that if you’re out for 45 it takes 45 to get back and that’s exactly what we did.

“He was pretty fit. We didn’t have much to do with him. He was turned out, running in a field, so he was maintaining some fitness. Once we brought him back in, it was pretty much bing, bang, boom, he got ready quickly.”

Like a little kid waiting for Christmas morning, the owner is antsy to get the season going. Especially with what he has been hearing about his horse.

“He’s doing very good,” Tiger said. “Ron sent me some videos. He’s very excited to race him. The report cards have been good. We’re excited to kick off the season. I think it’s going to be very good on Saturday.”

Whether Charlie May wins or not with David Miller in the sulky at Pocono is secondary to Tiger at this point of the season.

“We’re just looking to get him ready for some races coming up,” he said. “I don’t put pressure on anybody. We’re out there racing to win but it’s a six-horse field. Say it unfolds differently than we think, and we need a spot where he’s a good hard-charging second or third, we’re perfectly fine with that.

“The key with this race is it’s a springboard. We’re there to win, we’re there to race, we’re there to get money. But we’re also there to get his legs back under him, get him back into competition. That’s up to David how he wants to drive him. That’s the good part about David. David knows what the goal is. We’re going to have another overnight race before we start the Borgata so we’re definitely there to tighten the screws down.

“I have no expectations. He could be fifth and it could be an amazing fifth and I could be extremely happy. Or he could win by two and I could be like ‘Well I thought he should have been a little better.’ At the end of the day, I know Ron and Heidi are excited to get him going. I’m excited too, to kick off the season. It’s always fresh and fun.”

Charlie May, a homebred son of McArdle-Stipple Hanover, has hit the board in 62 of 84 career races, winning 30 and earning $2.27 million. He counts the 2023 William R. Haughton Memorial and 2021 Carl Milstein Memorial among his biggest wins and was second in the 2021 Breeders Crown and Messenger Pace. He was Ohio’s Horse of the Year in 2021 and also took home divisional honors in the Buckeye State at ages 2 and 4.

Last year, he hit the board in 13 of 21 starts with three victories — including the $85,000 Ohio Sires Stakes championship for older male pacers — and had $224,230 in earnings. It was another solid campaign for the horse, who has not had any down seasons.

“I don’t know if he’s gotten better with age, I would just say he’s been who he’s been his entire career, and that’s a world champion,” Tiger said. “Outside of (all-time money winner) Foiled Again, who raced until he was 14, there’s no horse that’s been good every year. Charlie has had five straight years of racing where he’s been in the top 10 in his division.

“He is who he is. He loves to race. When he’s sound and healthy he’s as good as any horse in his division. He’s a freak.”

Throughout his career, Charlie May has stayed consistent in how he races. The horse can adapt to any track, be it a mile, five-eighths, or half-mile oval.

Charlie May has raced on a half-mile track, such as Yonkers, 21 times in his career. He has posted nine wins and eight seconds among 19 top-three finishes.

“The versatility is what makes him so deadly,” Tiger said. “There are certain horses that can’t do certain things because of the way they’re made, their gait, their body. He’s so slick-gaited that he can do it any way.

“He’s like driving a car. He can go a quarter in :26 (seconds) and you can let off the pedal and back right into it. He’s not a hot horse. Some horses get started and you can’t slow them down. He’s easy to drive, easy on himself, takes good care of himself. He eats well, he’s not lazy, he loves his job. He’s like the perfect athlete.”

Tiger said the horse’s schedule will be similar to last year, with the exception of skipping the Breeders Crown, which is in Canada. The slate includes the Dave Brower Memorial, with Tiger saying, “Me and Dave were very close. I ran second last year, and I’d love to win that race for aesthetic reasons.”

He also is expected to return for the Haughton and race in his home state of Ohio in the Battle of Lake Erie, Ohio Sire Stakes, and Jim Ewart Memorial (which he won in 2022).

“Ohio has a lot of good stuff,” Tiger said. “I think it’s important to be there. I took him to (Little Brown) Jug Day and people were coming by and wanting to take a picture with him. They said they’ve always been a fan, so that’s nice. They just want to see the horse.”

Although Charlie May is creeping up in age, he shows no signs of slowing down.

“I’m hoping that this is his peaking year,” Tiger said. “He’s only got 84 starts. It’s crazy for a horse that has raced five years in a row and hasn’t missed anything. He’s still a fresh horse.

“Ron Cushing said, ‘This horse has a lot of juice left in the tank.’ I said, ‘Yeah I think we always did the right thing by him.’ We never jammed him; we gave him a week off even if he was ready. Let’s just hope I can keep him sound and he can keep going later on.”

The game plan is to race Charlie May until he is 8 or 9. Tiger would like to win $3 million with him and figures that goal is attainable.

“In my heart of hearts, I think $800,000 over the next few years is very doable if he cooperates and stays healthy,” he said. “I know he wants to do it.

“He’ll tell me when it’s time (to retire). This horse has meant so much to me that when he can’t go the way I think he can go, he’s going to be old friends or be in a field enjoying life and eating all the grass he wants.”

Tiger said that when Charlie May stops racing, he will retire. But he does own some good young horses, so that promise comes with a caveat.

“That’s the good part of life,” he said with a laugh. “You can always change your mind.

“But for now, when he’s done racing, I’m done racing. I’ve just been very blessed with him.”

For complete race entries, click here: US Trotting entries.

by Rich Fisher, for the USTA