Gillespie’s Volstead filly the fastest NA 2YO trotter to date

The progeny of up-and-coming freshman trotting sire Volstead (Cantab Hall) have continued to make waves around the harness racing world.

First, it was in the Southern Hemisphere where the Mark and Nathan Purdon trained we can have it all claimed the first major 2YO New Zealand Trotting stake with We Can Have It All, a Volstead filly who claimed the inaugural $40,000 Young Guns Series Final at Alexandra Park on May 19th.

A day later and across the Tasman in Victoria, it was another daughter in the Nathan Jack trained Violet Stanford, who produced an early payday for her connections in the $50,000 Vicbred Platinum Home Grown Classic final at Listed level.

The former Swedish G1 winner has now flexed his siring muscle in North America as the sire of the fastest North American two-year-old trotter to date in the Ronnie Gillespie trained, Sugar Instead.

The $11,000 yearling sales purchase looks like an absolute bargain after she trotted a qualifying mile in 1:57.0 flat in her second public appearance at Scioto Downs on Monday morning (19 June).

Gillespie was doing the steering and admitted to being pleasantly surprised once he saw the clock on his return to scale.

“To be honest with you, she kind of shocked me,” said Gillespie.

“I knew she could trot under two minutes and felt like she was ready to go 59, but she left out of the gate so easy. We got to the first quarter in 29 and she was just so relaxed, then we went through the half in 58 and she wasn’t up on the nickel or anything.

“She started to run a little down the back but didn’t feel like she went another quarter in 28 (28.4) and we really just coasted home. She could have gone faster but everything she did, she did it on her own,” he said.

Sugar Instead is out of the unraced Windsong Legacy mare, Sugar Pop, and was bred by Elmer D Miller from Goshen, IN, and is raced by Susan Sickle from Clarksville, PA.

SUGAR INSTEAD REPLAY

“We purchased her at the Blooded Horse Sale. She was actually the cheapest horse we bought at the sales that year, we paid $11,000 for her. She was so calm and good natured we actually looked to buy a couple more Volstead’s but they got outside our price range.

“When it came to educating her, from day one this filly was always really well gaited and she has been a real natural. She don’t have a lot of body but she is very leggy. I’ve trained her with a few pacers in the barn but she has been going right by them.

“She always seem to be easy, and we have never had to do anything outside the ordinary with her to get her to trot or enjoy her work. It’s like she has been there before, she almost seems more like a three-year-old then a two-year-old in that sense, she is very intelligent,” he said.

Sugar Instead showed enough from her second qualifying run that Gillespie is daring to dream big with his trotting filly, and while there is a lot of water to go under the bridge has designs on some of the bigger stakes races in Ohio and interstate for the daughter of Volstead.

“I am very high on her and everything we have done with her so far, she has never let me down.

“You only live once, and on July the 1^st we are planning to put her in the Next Generation and hopefully she will progress to the Sires Stakes and bigger races here in Ohio.

“If she steadies and improves and stays healthy, we have her eligible for the Breeders Crown but we will let her tell us how she is progressing because that is obviously a long way just now,” he said.

Gillespie has just the five two-year-old’s in work at present however the 51 year-old is coming of a career best year in which he achieved over $600,000 in stakes driving and $160,000 as a trainer.

The talented horseman has drawn high praise from his adversaries including Tim Tetrick who has known Gillespie for nearly 25 years.

“You’ve got to love and eat and breathe it,” Tetrick said. “He did all of that. I always respected his horsemanship. He was such a hard worker and it showed. He knows horses.”

Roger Huston, a Hall of Fame announcer and the voice of the Little Brown Jug, said every time he watches Gillespie, he sees everything it takes to maintain success in harness racing − skill, dedication and passion.

“I am so impressed by Ronnie Gillespie, not just on the racetrack but as an individual,” Huston said. “To become a star at his age, he had to pay a price to get here. He is an inspiration to so many who may see themselves getting involved in harness racing. He’s just phenomenal.”

Hopefully for Gillespie and Sugar Instead, the best is still ahead of them with so much promise for the rest of the 2023 season.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink