A six-year-old black, Canadian gelding trotter and a six-year-old bay pacing mare from the United States do not appear to share much in common at face value besides their age, but a dive into their racelines shows their true connection: their driver.
In addition to sharing Doug McNair as their primary reinsman, Logan Park and Grace Hill share in the fact that their connections will have a chance to celebrate each other's success on Feb. 3 in Charlottetown, P.E.I at the 35th edition of the O'Brien Awards as the pair of stars are honoured as finalists in their respective categories of Older Trotting Horse and Older Pacing Mare.
Logan Park was bred by Reg and Donna Higgs, spending the majority of his early career under the care of conditioner Rob Fellows. The now six-year-old gelded son of Archangel out of the Muscle Mass mare Rite Outa The Park made his debut for Fellows' son Kyle in his first qualifying start of 2023, on March 18.
"He had a great year," McNair told Trot Insider. "He's a good horse to drive, an easy horse to drive. I think he went three-quarters in 1:23 and a bit, went the mile in 1:50 and a piece about two or three times last year. He even did it on cruise control once or twice. That's pretty incredible. There aren't too many trotters around that can do that.
"He was fun for me. Every Monday night when he's in to go, unless something goes wrong, you're almost guaranteed a win. That's how good of a horse he was."
Logan Park made 20 starts in 2023, winning 12 and finishing second in three of them. He capped off his season with a win in the Preferred Trot at Woodbine Mohawk Park, yielding his final bank sum of $348,970. His mark of 1:50.3 -- an all-time Canadian record for a trotting gelding -- was earned on July 4 in a Free-For-All Trot and then, replicated in back-to-back starts on Oct. 2 and Oct. 9, each at the Campbellville, Ont. oval.
"When they are going that fast all year, it's a surprise he stayed so good. In his third-to-last start of the year, he won the Breeders Crown elim. To keep going good all year, it takes a good trainer, a good horseman to do that. They did a nice job with him."
On Oct. 21, Logan Park won the Breeders Crown elimination in 1:52.1 at Hoosier Park before finishing fourth in the final.
"Winning the Breeders Crown elimination was his highlight. It's Grand Circuit, top horses. There was only one elimination, a couple of them got the byes, so it was pretty exciting to get the top one into the final."
Owned by Outofthepark Stable, Reg Higgs and Arpad Szabo, Logan Park has a career record of 24 wins, eight seconds and four thirds from 64 starts to go along with $1,069,192 in purse earnings.
"He was good his four-year-old season; come back five, he was stronger. You could drive him like a pacer. You could speed him off the gate or race him from the middle. He was a lot better near the front end."
On the opposite end of the spectrum, McNair found success with the pacing mare O'Brien Award finalist, Grace Hill.
Virgil Morgan began conditioning Grace Hill in mid-August of 2022. Since that debut in her current stable and under the guidance of McNair for the majority of those starts, the mare has only ever missed top five on one occasion.
"He knows what he's doing," McNair said of Morgan. "He's great to drive for. He doesn't give me instructions and he understands the game. Win or lose, he is pretty mellow, doesn't get too high or low. Obviously, he has a key for her because she's really turned things around when she got in his barn."
The six-year-old daughter of Always B Miki and the O'Brien Award-winning Western Terror mare Western Silk earned 10 wins, two seconds and one third in her 15 starts of 2023. She finished fourth in her 14th start and her only miss on the board was in the final start of the year in the Breeders Crown.
"She's a pretty amazing horse," McNair added. "She was so much the best all year. At the end of the year, she got a little tired of going 1:47 miles and it's tough on them. She was the best in that division all year long."
She banked $643,276 of her $1,893,906 career sum over the 15 track appearances. In 61 career starts, Grace Hill has a record of 29-10-5. Bred by White Birch Farm and owned by Tom Hill, Grace Hill took her career mark and set an all-time Canadian record for mares of 1:47.4 when she won in the Roses Are Red Stakes at Woodbine Mohawk Park on June 17.
"After the accident [I was in before the Roses Are Red], she just came back in the very next race and won [for me]. That was probably the most exciting race I've ever won. Just the way it went down. They were fast fractions, maybe 1:21 and she came :26.3 the last quarter, she went 1:47.4. That was probably the highlight for her for the year. "
McNair looks forward to the return of both Logan Park and Grace Hill in 2024.
"In the wintertime, you could really take a month or two off, but then you have horses like them. Looking forward to them coming back," said McNair. "You win one or two races, and that can just can make your whole year. They're definitely exciting and I look forward to driving them, for sure."
(Standardbred Canada; photos courtesy New Image Media)