Rick Zeron captured the 2016 O'Brien Award of Horsemanship after a season with stakes stars the likes of OSS Super Final and O'Brien winner Mass Production and the speedy Shamballa. If his instincts are right on two of his sophomore fillies, he could be in line for another award-winning campaign in 2017.
On Monday night, Zeron's Chapter Heaven made an impressive three-year-old debut with a maiden-breaking 1:58.1 score at Mohawk Racetrack for Ontario-based owners Zeron Palermo Stable of Oakville, Jim Walker of Port Perry, Dean Lockhart of Collingwood and Van Camp Trotting Corp. of Port Perry.
A $42,000 Harrisburg yearling sale purchase in 2015, Zeron had high hopes for Chapter Heaven going into her two-year-old season but had to shut her down after a tear was found in her right hind suspensory after her mid-June qualifier.
"I was extremely disappointed," Zeron told Trot Insider. "She was my go-to horse last year, that I thought for sure was going to be better than Mass Production.
"She's a creature, an absolute creature. I'm so high on her I'm beside myself. I staked her up pretty good. I don't know if she can compete with the top five fillies in North America but in her category she's going to be a bulldog, I can tell you that."
Chapter Heaven was one of three qualifying winners for Zeron on Friday, April 28 along with the aforementioned Mass Production and sophomore pacing filly American Cheer. She will make her first start of 2017 after recovering from an injury at age two.
"American Cheer was a great filly for me last year. She got kind of spooked in the horse trailer going down to Monticello [on August 29], and my assistant trainer Ernie Hendry warmed her up and said to Scott [driver Zeron] she was a little bit off. Scott post paraded her and said she's a little off but she paces out of it. So they raced her, she sat fifth and finished second.
"We come home and I said go let's x-ray that. So we went and x-rayed it, she broke a sesamoid. It was broken the day before when she raced on it, that's how good she was."
A $30,000 Harrisburg yearling, American Cheer (American Ideal - Character Flaw) showed no signs of weakness in a 1:57.3 qualifying score under minimal encouragement.
This Thursday (May 11), Zeron sends out American Cheer in search of her first victory for co-owners Walker and Fabian Vata. She leaves from Post 3 in the evening's ninth race at Mohawk and is listed as the 7-2 third choice on the morning line. To her inside is Village Jamie, who reeled off a sharp 1:56.2 qualifying mile at Flamboro Downs on May 4.
In 2016, Zeron drove 116 winners and horses to $2.58 million in purse earnings, while training 49 winners and horses to $1.66 million in earnings en route to the Horsemanship Award. Expecting big things from both sophomore fillies, which he referred to as his "hidden gems," he looks to be well stocked for a title defense this season.