Trainers

In the Case of One Trainer, All is Well

A Tim Case profile by Paul-John Ramos

It was at the age of six when Tim Case first jogged a horse on his family's farm in Maine, opening a new chapter in its rich equine tradition. Nearly thirty years later, after scraping for a decent career and being overshadowed by his elder brother's feats as a driver, Case has found his own place in the sun as one of the northeast's leading trainers.

Now 35, Case enjoys his position as the defending Yonkers Raceway training champion while also regularly earning wins at the Meadowlands and Pocono Downs. Walter Case, Jr. continues to rack up driving victories at an astronomical rate, but it is this younger Case who has become a training powerhouse and recently crossed the $2 million mark in lifetime earnings. "I was happy about the training title last year," Case remarks, "When people see my name, they automatically think of my brother. The title has helped to set me apart from him a bit, like I'm on my own." It should be again noted that Tim Case is 35 years old ; he is the youngest trainer ever to finish atop the Yonkers standings in a given year, and no other such champion in the track's lengthy history comes close.

Despite owning a last name that the harness world equates with success, the success of Tim Case has come after a long, upward climb. He began his racing career as a trainer and frequent driver in the family's native state of Maine, where purses are small and opportunities for horsemen even smaller. After years of shuffling between the state's bush tracks, Case reached a point where he was without horses to train and in need of a steadier job. He found work in the construction industry and was out of racing altogether from 1994 until 1996, when he returned as a Meadowlands groom. It was at the Big "M" that Case found his big break. "Some people from Stake Your Claim Stable liked the grooming work that I was doing," Case recalls, "When they found out that I had trained before, they gave me some horses to work with."

Stake Your Claim Stable, a corporation headed by the trio of Richard Jack, Eric Trosten, and Ralph Ferrara, remains one of Case's most loyal clients. He has also maintained a strong relationship with his two largest clients, owners David Schneider of Coral Springs, Florida, and Gerry Mager of Teaneck, New Jersey, both familiar names on the Hilltop. Overall, Case has 45 horses in training, 40 of whose careers are based at Yonkers. His operation, however, is much more than vanning horses between tracks : it is centered at Mount Hope Farm in Otisville, New York, a fully-equipped facility where Case seeks optimum care for his charges. "We like to give our horses time on the farm," Case stresses, "We'll turn them out, take them through the pool to keep their limbs strong, just try to keep them healthy and happy. That's what it's about - keeping them healthy and happy, keeping them sound. You don't just keep them on the road all of the time and put them out on the track, like people think. There's much more to it than that."

Mount Hope is conveniently located for Case's trips to Yonkers and Pocono ; it is just over an hour by car to either track. But his workdays are nevertheless long and, in some ways, limiting. While the many hours of training have paid off, Case has been forced to quit work as a driver. "People in this business nowadays are either a trainer, an owner, or a driver ; only one thing. The people who have tried to do two things at once end up exhausted. They're beat from all of those hours. Training and driving is just too much for me to do. I get up at 7 A.M. and work until 1 to 2 P.M., so for me to do the training and stay around until 11:30 at night five days a week as a driver is just too much, too many hours. Even now, I'll only stay around for the races on certain days, when I have a lot of horses running or if I need to watch over things." But doesn't Case's presence at the track help his horses to run better? "Owners like to feel that the horses run better when I'm at the track, but they really don't run much differently," Case responds, "When I'm not here, a piece of equipment might be put on a horse incorrectly, but that can be taken care of. Fortunately, I have very good people working for me, and I try to be instructive and make it clear how I want things to be."

Case considers six-year-old pacer Sir William Walace to be his best horse in training. He claimed the Canadian-bred son of Dexter Nukes on behalf of owner Jim Finnegan for $100,000 at the Meadowlands last year. In 2002, Sir William Walace has won 6 of 22 starts for $53,200, with wins coming at the Meadowlands and Yonkers. "He's been a lot of fun. He's no problem to train and does his job. The higher races got too hard for him, so I dropped him down to non-winners of 12,5 at the Meadowlands [June 8th]. When he came to the top of the stretch in that race, he looked like he was tired and wouldn't hold on, but he just kept going. He's actually better on a mile track, even though he's won a few races at Yonkers." Equally impressive was Walace's May 18th race at Yonkers in which he turned aside the challenges of three horses to win wire-to-wire for driver Jay Randall. Although not a horse who puts together lengthy winning streaks or 20-length routs, Sir William Walace's desire to go all-out is entertaining to see.

Another Case favorite is Sharp Memory, a 6-year-old pacer by Falcon Seelster who was a $30,000 claim at Garden State Park for David Schneider three years ago. Regularly driven at Yonkers by Bill Parker, Jr., Sharp Memory is 5 for 22 in 2002, competing against solid handicap horses such as Chad Lefleur, Art Attack, and Life Sizzles ; he has over $230,000 in the lifetime bank. Case does own one horse : R G Hyakutake, another Dexter Nukes offspring who has won at Yonkers and Pocono this year. And aside from these are Peter, Armbro Tipster, Ruff, the list goes on and on.

Yonkers Raceway has felt turbulence in recent years with the possibility of video gaming, the call for industry relief from Albany, and rumors of the Raceway's land being up for sale. Yet Case, who has been through difficult times himself, can still imagine a Yonkers Raceway with strong purses and prospering horsemen, providing VLTs become a reality. "Once we have the slots, you'll need good horses to run here. Horses here will be on the same level as Freehold or a place like Dover, where the cheapest horses run at $10,000 and all of the rest are above. I'd like to have 60 horses in training and own 4 or 5 after the slots come." But he is also certain that slot machine dollars alone will not be enough to sustain racing. With VLT money must come new horsemen and a new audience. "This industry is in my blood ; I was raised in it. There aren't people nowadays who come into this business from the outside. Everybody is brought up in it."

"They don't do enough to promote this track. I wish they would start some kind of youth program or hold some kind of children's days like they have at the Meadows, Pocono, or the Meadowlands, to create a younger clientele, a younger group of people. They should be pushing this place more. They should just be pushing it."

Case has stayed positive and hopes to retire from a thriving industry in 15 to 20 years. "But you never fully retire," he adds, "You still might have 15 horses or so to work with." Regardless of when, where, and how many, the sky now appears the limit for a young man whose racing career was grounded only a few years back. And with his newly found prosperity comes a newly found independence, even from a last name that brings to mind stale assumptions - assumptions of instant fame and wealth. "I like to think of myself as myself," Case says, "When I started out in this work, I had nothing. Everything that I have today, I've worked hard for and earned. I feel really happy about what I've accomplished."