It’s 30 years since Dontgetinmyway won the Woodrow Wilson

It’s been 30 years since a chocolate brown youngster named Dontgetinmyway (Abercrombie) romped to victory in the $774,750 Woodrow Wilson, stopping the clock in 1:53.4 at The Meadowlands for harness racing driver John Campbell.

Trained by Carl Conte, Jr., Bill Robinson, and Jeff Webster that first season, the colt out of the Tyler B p, 3, 1:56.3 ($362,369) mare Seven O’Clock p, 4, 1:53.3 ($559,080), would go on to earn $610,018 that season via six wins, six seconds, and one third in 16 starts as a freshman. That 2-year-old campaign would be the start of an illustrious career that saw Dontgetinmyway race through age ten, earning $1,423,550 for his connections; first, the Florida-based partnership of Guida Racing Stable Inc, Phillip McCarthy, and Joan Raymond, and then the L & L Devisser Partnership of Holland, Michigan.

Bred by Katherine and James Saulter of Lexington, Kentucky, the bay colt was foaled on March 24, 1992, in the Bluegrass State, and was the third of 11 foals out of Seven O’Clock, whose dam was the Race Time p, 3, 1:57 ($486,955) mare Dateable. Dontgetinmyway thus was a full brother to Tux Time p, 3, 1:51.3 ($229,098) and I’ll Show You p, 6, 1:53.4 ($182,443), with half-siblings in Art Attack (Artsplace) p, 7, 1:50.1 ($656,735) and Dine N Dash (Western Ideal) p, 4, 1:54.4f ($107,389).

The youngster got off to a great start, winning his debut in 1:58.2 in a Woodbine colt stake on June 21, 1994, and besides winning the Wilson that season, also captured a Metro consolation, and was third in the Breeders Crown 2-Year-Old Colt Pace to Jenna’s Beach Boy. The following season, as a sophomore, he nabbed just two victories in 17 starts—an elim of the $46,031 Art Rooney in 1:55.2 on July 22, and in an $18,000 conditioned event at Woodbine on June 3, 1995, in a seasonal best of 1:53.3s. After his Rooney win, he was transferred to the barn of Joe Holloway for the remainder of the season after being purchased by the Devissers for $175,000.

“I thought he’d make a very nice raceway horse and be able to make back his purchase price pretty quickly,” Holloway told this writer at the time. Dontgetinmyway did not hit the winner’s circle again that season, but he did rack up $88,021 in earnings before being given a well-deserved winter rest.

Holloway had his charge back and ready for action at age 4, with Dontgetinmyway racing primarily on the East Coast through late May, before sending him to Midwest-based trainer Joe Seekman in May.

“I don’t think he’s the type of horse that could have stood that hard racing week after week at The Meadowlands,” Holloway noted. “He’s great at sprinting home and can race that way week after week. I thought the Chicago style of racing would suit him better.”

The ever-astute Holloway knew his horseflesh, and by the end of 1996, Dontgetinmyway had racked up another $114,880, taking a mark of 1:53.1 at Balmoral in a $10,000 winners-over on Oct. 26. From 38 starts that year he had six wins, 13 seconds, and a trio of thirds. He also scored a 1:54.3 victory in a Sportsman’s Park overnight, and in a $11,000 Hoosier Park open, racing consistently week in and out, just as Holloway had predicted.

The following season proved to be even more fortuitous for the gutsy Dontgetinmyway, who at age 5, would take on some of the best free for allers in North America, while at the same time collecting his best stats since his freshman campaign with 19 wins, seven seconds, and two thirds in 36 trips postward, including a 1:52s score in a $15,000 Hoosier Park invitational.

He consistently collected wins at Hoosier, Sportsman’s, and Balmoral Parks in 1997, finishing the year up by adding another $194,402 to his bankroll. The stallion also covered three mares that summer in Michigan, his first official year at stud. A result of one of those couplings was the filly Missydon’t—who was named Michigan 2-Year-Old Filly Pacer of The Year for 2000, and who went on to earn $200,320 with a mark of p,4, 1:53.3f. His other two foals from that first year of breeding mares also made it to the races: Stayoutofmyway p, 5, 1:58.1h ($31,201) and Cruisin Cozumel p, 2, Q2:03s ($890).

At age 6, Dontgetinmyway had another stellar season, earning $157,577 and lowering his career mark to 1:50.4 in a $22,000 Free For All at Balmoral Park on April 18, 1998. He slingshot back and forth between Hoosier and Balmoral Park, scoring a three-race win streak between the two in the Free For All and Invitational ranks in late September and early October of that year. He wrapped up that year with a 9-9-4 record in 31 seasonal starts.

Well on his way to another $100,000+earning year in 1999, Dontgetinmyway was sidelined with a slab fracture in his knee, after a bizarre, fog-related accident that occurred at The Meadowlands in early May. He actually raced for another two months before the injury to his knee was discovered. Despite the setback, Dontgetinmyway added another $55,250 to his coffers from two wins, five seconds, and four thirds in 22 outings that season.

Fittingly, the gentle stallion returned ready for action as an 8-year-old in 2000, taking his career mark of 1:50.2 at Balmoral on Sept. 2 in a $24,000 Free For All, and earning another $124,185 for the Devissers. All of his 27 starts that season were in the top echelon of competition in the Midwest, as he scored nine wins, four seconds, and four thirds in 27 starts.

The following season, at age nine, Dontgetinmyway continued to dominate his rivals, pacing in a seasonal best of 1:51.4 at Balmoral in mid-July, and earning another $63,037, with six wins, four seconds, and six thirds in 30 starts. The final victory of his career came on Dec. 8, 2001, when he was clocked in 1:53.3 in a Balmoral conditioned test, which saw him win by nearly five lengths.

“He always tried hard and was right there for us all of the time,” trainer Joe Seekman noted at the time. “He just never gives you a bad race unless he was sick.”

Early in his 10-year-old season, it became clear after six starts that Dontgetinmyway did not have his usual pop, and the decision was made to retire him and send him to the breeding shed. He retired with $1,413,550 in career earnings from 59 wins, 49 seconds, and 28 thirds in 223 starts.

After breeding those initial three mares in 1997, Dontgetinmyway bred 14 mares in 2002 (in Michigan) and was then moved to Indiana’s Victory Hill Farm in 2023, where he bred then 74 mares, with his best season coming in 2017, when he bred a book of 118 mares. His last official season at stud was 2017. In total, Dontgetinmyway produced 376 starters who earned $26,056,202.

Some of his best performers include Go On BB p, 4, 1:50f ($1,461,538); Radar Contact p, 7, 1:49.2 ($983,096); Rocket Fuel p, 7, 1:50 ($784,006); Firstclassalltheway p, 5, 1:49.3 ($458,211); and A Sweet Ride p, 4, 1:49.4f ($558,573). While Dontgetinmyway passed away several years ago, his indefatigability has been passed on to his progeny who continue to race throughout the Midwest.

by Kimberly Rinker, for Harnesslink