Lifes A Puzzle living up to his name

Lifes A Puzzle p, 2, 1:50.4, a son of world champion harness racing pacer and sire Lazarus N, certainly lives up to his name.

Alison Hynes conditions the winner of $164,370 who is racing at Plainridge Racecourse for owner Richard A. Humphrey of Cornish, Maine. Bred at Dumain Haven Farm and foaled on May 10, 2020, at Pine Bush, New York, Humphrey purchased the now 4-year-old gelding for $10,000 on Nov. 8, 2021, at Harrisburg.

“We take horses for Jimmy King, Jr., during the winter months,” Alison explained. “We broke Lifes A Puzzle in North Caroline as a baby and then sent him to Jimmy.”

Originally from Cumberland Maine, Alison received her trainer’s license in 2004. She became immersed in the Standardbred industry after she began riding retired racehorses and befriended trainer Gordon Corey, who introduced her to the sport. Now a youthful 66, she went to work for him in 1974 and has never looked back.

“We go to North Carolina to winter train for six months and then come back up to Maine for six months,” Alison offered. “It’s a great life, really. Gordon has been breaking Jimmy’s babies for 25 years now. Lifes A Puzzle started out his career really strong and won his first start—a stake race for Jimmy in 1:50.4.”

The bay gelding scored a pair of winning qualifiers—in 1:58.1 and 1:55.3 with Tim Tetrick in the sulky at Harrah’s Philadelphia before winning that $30,000 New Jersey Sires Stakes leg handily. He was then second his next time out by a neck in 1:51.3 in a $30,000 NJSS and finished third in the $240,000 NJSS Final at The Meadowlands on July 22 of that year. He later won a conditioned race at Harrah’s on Aug. 31 in 1:53.4 and was third in the $150,000 New Jersey Classic on Sept. 16—his final start of his freshman campaign. He had earnings of $75,150 from two wins, a second, and two thirds in five starts.

“Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to repeat that first win performance,” Alison said. “He can be difficult—he really wants to go—and when you try to put him in a hole he’ll almost choke down. This year was the first time he’s had three starts sitting in a hole.”

At the start of his sophomore campaign, Lifes A Puzzle qualified twice at Dover Downs in late March, pacing in winning times of 1:58.1 and 1:54.4. He won his second start of the year at Harrah’s in 1:51 and then did not hit the winner’s circle again that season until Oct. 19^th, when he won in 1:51.1 at Plainridge for Alison. He followed that up with a win on Oct. 26 and again on Nov. 11—both times clocked in 1:51.2, wrapping up his 3-year-old season with another $80,720 in his coffers.

“The speed is obviously there,” Alison offered. “At the end of last year, it seemed like he was finally catching on to the idea of racing out of a hole.”

Lifes A Puzzle, now 4 in 2024, began the year with a 1:59.2 winning qualifier at Cumberland on May 4, where he stormed to a 12-length victory on the front end for driver Kevin Switzer, Jr. He promptly followed that up with a 1:51.3 winning effort at Plainridge on May 13, this time coming from off the pace to score his seventh career triumph and pushing his lifetime bankroll to $164,370.

“He’s had a few soreness issues that have plagued him a bit,” Alison admitted. “We’re working on those, and we’ve made some equipment changes that I think will help him. We’ve opened his bridle up a bit and put some angled pads and aluminum (shoes) on his front feet.”

Lifes A Puzzle is out of the Somebeachsomewhere mare L Dees Lioness p, 2, 1:50.2s ($473,484), the dam of six foals, including Life’s a Puzzle half-brother Carlo’s Superstar (by Well Said) p, 2, 1:53.1 ($35,095); the 3-year-old Always B Miki gelding Drinkin Doubles ($3,200); and the American Ideal yearling filly Lenna.

“His name really suits him, as he just wants to go, go, go, and he can be difficult to control in a race,” Alison concluded. “But we think we have him on the right track now and will have to see how he behaves moving forward.”

by Kimberly Rinker, for Harnesslink