When Cory Hoffman and Stephen Chesney acquired Calgary Cat in a $25,000 claiming race in November 2013, they were hoping the thoroughbred would earn enough to pay the bills and allow them to have a little fun along the way.
Well, in 2014 alone, Calgary Cat won five races to go along with a second place finish and a third, earning the partners nearly $350,000. 2015 hasn’t been bad either, as the Cat won his first race, the $132,000 Jacques Cartier Stakes at Woodbine, taking home $75,000 as the winner.
Racing journalists and others in the business named Calgary Cat the Sovereign Award winner for 2014 as the nation’s top sprinter.
So, are we having fun yet? Judging from the broad smile on Hoffman’s face as he recounts Calgary Cat’s track exploits, visiting the winner’s circle on a regular basis is plenty of fun. Not to mention quite lucrative.
Calgary Cat has exceeded all the expectations he and Chesney had placed on him. But with success, expectations have risen. Where once they were looking to recoup their investment, now, if the horse stays healthy and he continues to rack up the wins, they think he might qualify for the Breeder’s Cup at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.
Of course, that’s a long way off and lots could happen before then. There are plenty of allowance races to win before Kentucky might beckon. And Calgary Cat’s most recent foray at Woodbine, his home track, didn’t pan out so well. The Cat finished out of the money.
Still, there were extenuating circumstances. Calgary Cat ran after only three weeks rest. Like a pitcher in a rotation, race horses need time off between starts. In the horse racing world, a month off.
“Maybe we got overzealous and ran him too soon,” said Chesney. “Next time he runs, that won’t be an issue”
Entering him a little early marked a bit of a change from the pampering the thoroughbred sprinter has received so far. After his breakout year in 2014, the owners sent him to winter in Ocala, Fla . That way he could avoid the stress of a cold winter and do some swimming. There’s actually a horse pool in the stables in Ocala that’s used to train the animals and keep them fit, said Hoffman.
The Cat trained there under the tutelage of Tino Attard, the son of Kevin Attard, his Toronto-based trainer who recommended the horse’s acquisition at that 2013 claiming race.
Having the right trainer is the key to success, Hoffman and Chesney said. Neither one of them are horse experts and you need the educated eye of a trainer to notice the finer points that might make a horse successful.
Calgary Cat was put up for sale in the same claiming race as another horse, Weather Bill. It was Attard’s recommendation that led to the acquisition of Calgary Cat. And he’s the guy who’s been training him in Woodbine ever since.
“A lot of credit has to go to Kevin Attard,” Hoffman said. “He’s one of the hottest trainers at Woodbine.”
It looks like his owners gave up on him a little too soon, Chesney said.
Especially when you consider his bloodlines, he might have added.
His grandfather was Seattle Slew, a Triple Crown winner, and he counts famed sire Secretariat, perhaps the greatest race horse of all time, in his lineage.
When Calgary Cat was acquired, he joined a long list of more than 100 horses that Chesney has owned over the years. An accountant by profession – Hoffman is in the insurance business – Chesney had been interested in horses since he was a kid.
Owning a horse takes it to a whole other level. “There’s no feeling like having a horse running down the stretch and you know you own him,” Chesney said.
Especially when he’s a successful racer. Cost of ownership can run to $3,000 a month, what with stabling and feeding him, training him and paying for veterinary bills.
“It’s an up and down game,” said Chesney. Over the years, he figures he’s broken even.
Calgary Cat promises to vault him into the red.
“You only get one Calgary Cat,” said Hoffman.
“He’s a one in a lifetime horse,” added Chesney.