Abundant in wins during the twilight of his racing career; abundant in crosses to 1974’s top stallion.
By Melissa Keith
The article is written. The last few adjustments being made. And then Charlottetown Driving Park’s Open Trot goes behind the gate. Two minutes and three seconds later, more adjustments must be made: Abundaspin, Steven Shepherd driving, has recorded lifetime win number 81, drawing ever-nearer to the half-million dollar mark in career earnings.
Abundaspin is the P.E.I.-based trotter as well-known for his “warrior” status as his frequent presence in the winners’ circle. The 14-year old has never missed a single season of racing to which he was eligible. The gelding’s 2014 performances have ensured that even when he takes mandatory retirement, he’s got a good chance of recapturing his title as Trotter of the Year in P.E.I. At press time, Abundaspin was one of numerous trotters tied for eighth most wins in North America (ten wins in 2014); most of his rivals are less than half his age. The gelding’s maiden-breaking win came at Rosecroft Raceway on December 3rd, 2003, before such seasoned headline-makers as Foiled Again (ten years old) or Sebastian K (eight years old) were even foaled.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Abundaspin’s sire, 22-year old Abundance, was still standing stud this season in Pennsylvania. His 19-year old dam, Spinthrift Hanover, has produced six foals in her breeding career, her most recent being Span From Gold in 2013. What stands out in Abundaspin’s pedigree is an abundance of Stars Pride blood: his dam’s sire, Super Bowl, is by Stars Pride, and Abundance is also linebred 3 x 3 to Stars Pride. 1974 marked a full decade of Stars Pride’s dominance in the North American stallion ranks, based on collective earnings of his offspring. The 1974 Hanover Shoe Farms stallion brochure proclaimed him the “greatest sire in harness racing history.” Having supplanted Rodney as the top trotting sire in 1964, Stars Pride would retain that title until a year before his death in 1977, at age 30.
Abundaspin started his career inauspiciously, with four consecutive underwhelming qualifiers at Pocono, followed by a distanced seventh in his Pennsylvania Sire Stakes debut in July 2002. After finishing sixth in another qualifier before self-destructing and coming eighth in his subsequent pari-mutuel start, the two-year old trotter was done for the year. After a three-year-old season and part of a four-year-old one at Pocono and Rosecroft, it wasn’t until Abundaspin’s May 2004 arrival in Ontario that he began to establish his winning ways for trainer Brett Robinson at Hiawatha Horse Park, Georgian Downs and Kawartha Downs. The now, four-year old mostly (but not completely) eliminated breaking and finishing up the track from his repertoire that season, enjoying a particularly productive winter. He trotted to four straight victories at Georgian for driver Dan Clements, followed by a second-place finish there, and then moved on to Woodbine.
On December 18th, 2004, “Spinner” won his inaugural start at the Rexdale track for Chris Christoforou, taking a new lifetime mark of 1:56 in the process. He would also capture his next two races there with Christoforou in the bike, but soon after was again throwing breaks and poor finishes into his charted lines. 2005 would prove to be an inconsistent and disappointing season for Abundaspin, who chalked up a scant three wins in 21 pari-mutuel starts for the year.
The trotter’s best was yet to come however, but not until he had grinded out another few campaigns spanning Kawartha, Mohawk, Woodbine, Flamboro, Georgian, Western Fair, Hanover and Rideau Carleton, for nine different trainers.
His first win on a half-mile oval was June 22nd, 2006, at Flamboro. It would be far from his last.
At age 10, the gelding with the distinctive white face would trot his fastest-ever mile. On June 15th, 2010, “Spinner” and reinsman Michael Langdon went wire-to-wire in 1:55.2 in a Georgian Downs conditioned event for then trainer Jim Marchment.
In 2012, at age 12, Abundaspin was based at Rideau Carleton, but on the cusp of a dramatic lifestyle change. “When he was racing in Ontario he was racing for a family friend, Jamie Copley,” says his current owner, Mikaela Lustic. “I had shown an interest in Abundaspin because I had never had a trotter before. When I mentioned this to Jamie he thought it was a great idea to bring him here to race in the Open Trot because it would provide him with a great home in PEI.” She purchased the gelding in summer 2013, and fresh off a winning qualifier at Rideau Carleton on June 6th, “Spinner” made his inaugural trip to the Charlottetown winners’ circle a week later. In his next four starts, he would win the Open Trot at Red Shores Summerside twice, take the top class at Charlottetown, and then return to do it again at Summerside.
Like many Island visitors from out of province, Lustic’s trotter was flourishing in his new surroundings. He wrapped up a successful 2013 campaign with 14 wins in 39 starts, the co-fifth winningest trotter on the continent. Whether it was back class, maturity or appreciation for half-mile racing surfaces, the gelding had abandoned his former tendency to destroy his chances after a break. After going offstride early in Charlottetown’s Open Trot last December 21st, Abundaspin recovered nicely and rallied to a strong place finish, by a nose margin. It was his only break since leaving Ontario.
Abundaspin is trained by Harold Shepherd, and driven by either Harold or Steven Shepherd. “Harold is a good friend of the family and loves working with trotters. I’ve seen him and Steven look after other horses and know that they take great care of them,” explains Lustic. “I also felt that having Harold look after the horse would provide me with great opportunity to learn more about the horses, as I haven’t been involved with the harness racing industry for very long.” Her stepfather Neal Moase is a well-known local horseman and her younger brother, Jonah Moase, is rapidly making a name for himself as a successful trainer.
Together, the Shepherds and Mikaela know exactly how to motivate Abundaspin: “He loves his carrots, and I mean he loves them. We have a funny tradition in the family where if a horse wins they get seven carrots because of the fact that it is ‘the lucky number.’ He still gets carrots if he doesn’t win, just not seven of them.”
Despite the frequent “better with age” compliments her horse receives, Lustic is realistic. “Abundaspin is an amazing race horse, and I’m sure there are other racehorses around his age that are still racing well too. However, I do believe retiring them at the age of 15 is a good idea,” says the University of New Brunswick at Fredericton Engineering student. “His wire-to-wire win (on November 1st at Charlottetown) was fantastic, but I’ve been sad to know he has to retire since this year started. I only got him last summer, but we’ve had a great time together. We had a great race season together last year, and another one again this year. He is an amazing horse and I am definitely going to miss him. It was pretty special the other day because his 80th lifetime win (in 387 lifetime starts) was his 20th win with me.”
Being a full-time student and racehorse owner has posed a few logistical challenges for Lustic. “I definitely try to make it to Red Shores as often as possible, unfortunately it is hard to manage. With the cost of the bridge, gas, and the time it would require to take off from doing schoolwork it is definitely hard. However, I do catch the races on Red Shores’ (website) which is better than nothing.” Viewing the races online can still be an engrossing experience, as Lustic knows firsthand. “I call him ‘Spinner’ as it is much easier to yell than Abundaspin while cheering him on during a race. The funniest is some days I’ll watch the races at school while doing schoolwork and be cheering things like ‘Come on Spinner! Let’s go ol’ boy!’ and completely forget that there are other people around.”
“I also must say I’m very lucky to have Harold Shepherd as a trainer/driver and Steven Shepherd to help out all the time too,” adds Lustic. “They really are amazing with him, so that makes it much easier not being around every day.”
PEI’s trotting landscape will look at lot different in 2015, after Abundaspin’s final spin around a racetrack. What does the gelding’s future hold? “Harold has found him a nice little farm to live at as a pasture companion with other horses,” Lustic tells TROT. “I wish that I could keep him and turn him into a saddle horse, but unfortunately with all my schooling and work I really don’t have the time. All I hope is that the new family treats him as amazing as Harold, Steven and I have.”
