Trainers, breeders, and owners all dream of seeing a horse start his career so freakishly brilliant that his potential appears unlimited. While horses of this caliber may be few and far between, an extraordinarily talented and aptly named colt burst onto the Indiana harness racing scene in 2014.
Freaky Feet Pete made his racing debut at Hoosier Park Racing & Casino on July 3, 2014 when he won a maiden race for freshman pacing colts in 1:55.1 by six lengths. Driven by Trace Tetrick, who would be his regular pilot for all 10 of his races, Freaky Feet Pete handled his first start like a true professional.
It wasn’t until his second career start that Freaky Feet Pete showed just how fast of a horse he was. In his first Indiana Sires Stakes test, Freaky Feet Pete passed with flying colours and set a national season’s record in the process with a final time of 1:51.4. While that may have been the start that garnered the son of Rockin Image-Skyway Lori a plethora of outside attention, his connections knew they had something special long before the colt went to gate.
“He trained great all winter,” trainer Larry Rheinheimer noted of his star pupil. “I don’t know if we knew how good he was when we were training him down, but I knew he was going to be a nice colt someday. He just knows how to take care of himself and is all business when he is on the track.”
Freaky Feet Pete quickly made winning races his business. The freshman colt ended his 2014 campaign winning nine of 10 races with his only defeat coming in a $75,000 Indiana Sires Stakes Final where he finished fourth. His final race of the season seemed to serve as a reminder of his talent as Freaky Feet Pete dominated the $200,000 Indiana Sires Stakes Super Final winning by 11 lengths in 1:50.4 over a track rated good.
“We ended his two-year-old season just like we wanted to, on a good note,” Rheinheimer said. “We didn’t want to push him and have to ship to other places because we were happy with what he had already done. We wanted to take care of him and let him have some time to mature.”
Hailing from the highly touted first crop of Rockin Image, Freaky Feet Pete is the eighth foal of the ultra-prolific broodmare, Skyway Lori. While she was a decent racehorse in her own regards, Skyway Lori’s biggest accolades came as a broodmare. With eight foals of racing age, she is a 100 percent producer and responsible for five $100,000-plus winners and two $200,000-plus winners. Freaky Feet Pete remains her fastest son with his 1:50.3 mark taken in Indiana Sires Stakes action at Hoosier Park.
“He’s wintered real well, he’s grown up a bit and filled out in some places,” Rheinheimer continued. “He’s not a big horse but he seems to be doing good and be himself.”
Indiana’s two-year-old pacing colt of the year will make his three-year-old debut at Hoosier Park on Saturday, May 23 and will start from post eight in race 11. With regular pilot Trace Tetrick at the lines, Freaky Feet Pete has been enlisted as the 3-5 morning line favourite in the field of nine.
“If all goes well, we will be right here all summer,” Rheinheimer said. “We staked him to everything at Hoosier Park and a few outside races, but we stuck to the races that were close. It’s just fun being a part of a horse like him.”
(Hoosier Park)