Bittersweet race for Thomas

The sad truth is that even if Fielders Choice wins the $51,250 Charles Singer Memorial on Friday night at the Meadowlands, something will be missing as trainer Kevin Thomas owns the 3-year-old trotting colt in partnership with Lyle Anderson’s River Ridge Farm of Ottawa, Ontario. On Aug. 27, Anderson was aboard Comair’s Flight 5191 when it crashed near the Lexington, Ky. airport.

Anderson, 55, and his girlfriend, Christina, who had just watched their 2-year-old trotting filly, Queen Charlotte in a Kentucky Sire Stakes, were among the 49 fatalities.

“Lyle owned about 18 to 20 horses, and we sold all of them except this one,” said Thomas. “This is the last one he had his name on (River Ridge Farm). We’re going to put him in the January Mixed Sale up there (at the Meadowlands) if we don’t get him sold before then.

“Lyle was a super guy and we hit it off right away,” Thomas recalled. “I met him racing in the Canadian Trotting Classic. You know, we had a few beers and got talking. He had a horse called Beardmore (who won the 2003 Valley Victory). He was an investment broker and advisor for TD Waterhouse. Sometimes it still seems like every 15 (minutes) or so something will pop into my head about him.

“We sold four of his horses at Harrisburg a couple of weeks ago, and every time you look at those horses it touches your heart,” Thomas said. “Lyle’s son, Alex, still has Fielders Choice, and it affects him more. He was also working with his dad in the office. River Ridge Farm was a farm Lyle had up in Ottawa, Ontario. He sold it four or five years ago and just kept the horses in that name. He had a lot of powerful broodmares.

“I’ve got Fielders Choice in two series here in 2007, and I might decide to nominate him to the Su Mac Lad as well,” he noted. “Even though that’s a big jump, he’s that kind of horse. He’s still got to go through that January Sale, and I’ve had some inquiries about buying him privately. I would love to keep training him.”

Fielders Choice, installed as the 7-2 second choice in the morning line, captured both of his Singer prelims to improve his record to four wins in eight starts and earnings of $19,723. A field of 10 three-year-old trotters will go postward in the Singer, carded as race four.

“Lyle Anderson bred and raised him,” Thomas explained. “He owned the dam, Blue Skies Again. I bought him out of a sale here as a yearling (for $25,000) and Lyle retained 75 percent. It was the same year (2004) I purchased Berto Primo, another son of Garland Lobell.

“Training down, Fielders Choice could trot off and hide from Berto Primo (one of two Hambletonian finalists in the last three years for Thomas–the other was Justice Hall, who was fifth in 2004),” he noted. “I worked him early as a 2 year old in 2:12, and he got a little sore so I had to back off. I thought I’d just wait until the next year, and I just took my time with him. The way things worked out, I got him going a bit later this year. When they miss their entire 2-year-old season it’s kind of hard for them to catch up with the good ones. His two wins in the series were confident, and he’ll be even stronger this week. He’ll have to be. I think he’ll be even better than Berto Primo. Berto made over $250,000 this year and took a mark of 1:54.2. Fielders Choice has every bit as much potential. Ron Pierce picked him over Red Dragon last week, and that’s always a good indicator.

“I bought two yearlings myself this year because Lyle Anderson was my main client, so I’m a little short in that department, yet I’ve got plenty of good older horses right now,” Thomas added. “I still have Justice Hall, and Berto Primo is also coming back. I’ve got a couple of good 2-year-old trotters. They might come under the radar for next year’s Hambletonian--Cayenne Turbo and Prayer I Am. The latter won the American National in 1:57 and banked almost $200,000.” (Meadowlands)

« Back