Windsun Lane aiming for Singer title

November 29, 2007

Windsun Lane will try to earn the first big paycheck for his new connections in the $49,750 Charles Singer Memorial final on Friday night at the Meadowlands. The Lindy Lane gelding is listed the 2-1 morning line favorite from post nine in the stakes event for 3-year-old trotters.

Ontario-based reinsman Rick Zeron purchased Windsun Lane from Rodney Bolon on Oct. 8. He shares ownership of the trotter with David Mailman and Blaine Hobson. Unraced at two, Windsun Lane has won eight of 23 races and $76,092 this season.

�I had watched him race up here at Mohawk,� Zeron noted. �He was caught in and I was driving a horse (Jazzman Hall) on the outside of him (on Sept. 27). Going around the last turn, he backed up behind me, went three or four wide and just flew by me down the stretch. After the race, I inquired about buying him. I thought he was a real nice trotter, he finished right through the wire, his ears were up and he loved his work.

�It didn�t matter that he was a 3 year old and a trotter, I�m just always looking to buy horses,� he added. �This horse just looked like he enjoyed being out there. I thought this is a useful horse. I can buy him and put him in some late closers. There are a couple of series (at Woodbine) for him.�

In his first start for Zeron, Windsun Lane broke stride at the half and finished seventh, prompting his new trainer to make some equipment changes.

�I changed his bridle and fooled around with his shoes a little bit,� he said. �I really didn�t like the way he was shod.�

Those changes proved effective as Windsun Lane romped to decisive wins in his next three starts, including the first leg of the Charles Singer Memorial on Nov. 16. He wired the field by seven lengths in 1:56.1, in his Meadowlands debut. In last week�s second leg of the series, he was nipped at the wire by the pocket sitter, Miss Color Chip. Although Zeron drove Windsun Lane in both of his starts at the Meadowlands, he will turn the lines over to Ron Pierce for Friday night�s Singer final.

�He�s stepped right up for me,� Zeron noted. �He just cruised in his first start for me at the Meadowlands. I�m going to have a pretty full card to drive up at Woodbine, so Ron Pierce is going to drive him again for me in the final. This horse can come off a helmet like a pacer. I�ll speak to Ron, and if we can kind of get him middle-raced, instead of sending him down the road, I�m quite confident he can get the job done.�

Zeron has been a regular driver on the Woodbine/Mohawk circuit since 1995. At 51, he is completing one of the best seasons of his career. He set a personal earnings record of $6.8 million in 2006 and has banked more than $5.7 million in 2007. In addition, he races a mid-size stable of horses who have earned more than $1 million in each of the past two years.

�I haven�t let up my workload because I enjoy it,� he said. �I love having about 20 horses in the barn (at the Campbellville Training Center in Ontario), training and managing the stable in the morning. It gives me something to do. I can�t lie around and do nothing. It�s the challenge, too.

�Looking back on 6,400 wins and $65 million I guess I haven�t quite reached my point of total happiness yet,� he added. �Probably winning the Hambletonian would top it off right there. I just go day by day, trying to win races, keep my owners happy, make money and raise my family. I don�t plan on backing up for awhile.�

Aside from posting career numbers, Zeron is also teaching the ropes of the business to his son, Scott.

�He�s 18 and has close to 30 wins,� he said. �I�m not letting him drive at the big tracks yet. I want him to learn to drive a bad horse good before he comes over to my operation and tries to drive a good horse better. He won his first race back in May at Georgian Downs. We were all there and we were pretty happy about it. He�s in college right now taking business and accounting.� (Meadowlands)

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