After making a limited number of starts over the past few seasons, driver Brad Forward is primed and eager for a full-time return to the racebike.
The Newfoundland native made just 27 starts in 2015, all within a matter of weeks. Prior to his appearance during Old Home Week at Charlottetown Driving Park, the former Canadian seasonal dash-winning leader and National Driving Champion was last active in Sept. 2014 -- a span of 11 months between drives. Showing no signs of rust, he was victorious aboard R Caan in his first drive of the year.
Forward hasn't been a full-time driver since May 2014. That season was also abbreviated as he returned home to handle some family concerns and also had to deal with a pair of on-track accidents. His 2013 season finished strong with a top-ten placing in the nation's dash-winning charts, despite starting the year on the shelf with a broken ankle.
"Things for me the last few years have really been a roller coaster, there's just been so much going on. Rene Allard has been asking me quite a bit to get down here [to the U.S. to drive], Patrick Shepherd, the same way. These guys have to be getting frustrated asking me."
Turning 45 in March, Forward told Trot Insider that his planned full-time return was actually set for last year, and it wasn't going to be in Ontario. He was packed up and ready for the start of the 2015-2016 meet at Pompano Park in Florida.
"We were supposed to be gone. All my gear is in Florida. We went to Florida, but then my girlfriend Melissa's mother died....I was down there in September. I was talking to some guys and I told them I was just over in Disney, I'll be there Sunday. Then we had to go home."
Just going into the hospital for what was thought to be a touch of pneumonia, cancer was found on Melissa's mother's lungs. She died 10 days later at the age of 53. Being the only child, Forward clearly wasn't in any position to leave until Melissa was ready.
"I had multiple people down there I was lining up to drive for, and they were waiting...'are we putting you down now?' and I said 'just wait'," stated Forward. "Then I just kept putting it off...next week, next week, then I just left it alone until she was ready."
By that time, the season at Pompano was half done. His gear still enjoying the sun, Forward was forced to consider other options. There was consideration given to driving in New York, but those plans were ultimately changed for a more familiar location.
"I was talking to Patrick about Ontario, but New York was where I had my heart set on. But I always did well in Ontario and I had a lot of good people behind me. You have to make sure you have the people behind you.
"We're going to make a move here pretty soon. I got my gear sent to Patrick's house so that's where I'll be starting off."
While the popular reinsman hasn't been active on the racetrack, mentally and emotionally he's constantly there.
"I bet you I dream about it two or three times every week. It's always on my mind and I miss it dearly.
"To be honest, I really can't wait. That's one thing I really miss: going to work and doing something that you love. Then I come down here and you go to work because you've got to go to work. And I hate it. My brother has a construction company with tractors and dump trucks and all that stuff. My sister has a a restaurant, my brother has a restaurant...I don't like any of it. I've been so long with the horses and I've always loved it. I'm like 'why did I ever stop? this is crazy'."
Along with that burning desire to return is a true appreciation of how honoured and blessed he is for trainers to constantly ask for him to drive.
"I was really surprised also with people asking, especially Rene. He took chances on putting my up the last couple of years," said Forward. "It's the same thing as an athlete: if you're sitting on the sidelines, you're probably not going to get a chance to play until you get sharpened up. These guys took me and put me right in. They took a chance on their part."
Noting that he felt great upon his first drives of 2015, Forward will look to rekindle that feeling when he returns to Ontario. He plans on being available in Ontario around the start of March.