by Chris Lomon

From problematic pacers to troubled trotters to trekking across the U.S., Brett Erickson is always up for adventure – and a good challenge.

While some horse people might bristle at the thought of working with a difficult standardbred, Erickson, who is preparing to leave his home state of Iowa to ply his trade in the Golden State, embraces the opportunity to task himself with figuring out the challenging types.

“It’s going to be something different,” Erickson said. “I decided about midway through the summer that I was going to go somewhere, and I figured California would be a good place to start things out. I’ve raced up in Minnesota a few times, but I thought this would be the time to try something farther away. I have some stock that I’m going to take out there with me and I think they will do well. It’s time for change.”

That means plenty of travel and working overtime to have everything in order before he heads out in mid-October.

Erickson will first travel to California on his own to get settled, then drive back to Iowa to pick up the six horses he will be bringing with him for the Cal Expo meet, and then head southwest to begin the latest chapter in his horse racing career.

“I’m going to take a camper out there first, come back, get the horses, and then drive Back,” he said. “I’m going to put up a lot of miles in five days. It’s just under 1,700 miles one way.

It’s a 25-hour drive. I’ll be listening to a lot of music. I listen to anything from rock to country, to new hip-hop and rap. It all depends on the mood, how I’m feeling and what’s going on. It’s going to be a tough trip.”

But it will also be an exciting one for the horseman who has already set several career-best marks both driving and training this year.

Now, he’ll look to keep that momentum going at Cal-Expo.

“I was talking to a couple of people from Minnesota, who race down in California, and they said they would love to have me down there,” Erickson said. “I can get some drives there, I can shoe horses, so they said it would be a perfect fit for me. I train for [owner/breeder] Willa McDanel. She has some nice 3-year-olds, so we’re taking them out there and I’m going to get my feet wet on the west coast. I think I’m doing the right thing. It’s going to be different at first, but I think I’m going to settle in pretty easily and then go from there.

It’s the right time for me to do this.”

Erickson, who launched his standardbred career in 2015, doesn’t come from a racing background. It was, of all places, the bowling alley, that would lead him to the racetrack.

“I bowled in a league in Humboldt, and [alley owner/horse owner] Roger Sturtz was the one who introduced me to Adam Hauser here in Iowa,” Erickson said of the respected horseman who passed away in 2017. “Adam told me to come down to the barn for a visit. I had never had any association with the business or with the horses, but I went out to see what it was all about. It was a steep learning curve after I realized I wanted to be involved in the industry, but I worked hard to pick up as much as I could.”

He also learned the trials and tribulations of working with difficult horses.

“Over the years, I’ve had a lot of problem horses, so I’ve had to learn a lot pretty quickly, a lot more than you will learn from the easier ones,” Erickson said. “And I’ve had a lot of those troubled ones. The first few years I started driving and training, I had plenty that weren’t fast, that had issues or quirks, but I learned so much.”

Even in the most exasperating moments, Erickson never threw in the towel with any horse that came his way.

Three challenging horses — two pacers and one trotter — came to his mind.

Anitas Red Rebel, a 3-year-old pacing daughter of Pacific Renegade—Anita Hammer, has lived up to her name.

“She doesn’t quit,” Erickson said. “She’s not a front-end horse, but she does not stop. When she passes horses, she is gone. She’s very temperamental, but if you can get along with her, she is A-okay.”

Omaha Storm Chaser, a 3-year-old trotting daughter of Stormin Normand—Miss Blues, was a handful from the get-go.

Erickson worked overtime to get her on the right track.

“She started throwing a fit right away this spring,” he said. “She took a little bit to figure out, but once she got going, she was trotting back halves in :59. Her head wasn’t in it most of the summer, but we finally got her settled down and got her to relax. She actually tried, which was the big issue for a while. She’d get hot behind the gate and go right up in the air.”

Whats Up Lucy, a now-retired pacing daughter of Whats Up Now—Laci Girl, was one of Erickson’s first experiences with a trying type.

The pair teamed for a win at What Cheer [IA] on June 25, 2016, recovering from an early break to record a 1 ¾-length score in 2:03.2.

“She was a very temperamental filly,” Erickson said. “But that horse taught me a lot about timing cars and timing the gate. If you had that horse on the gate too early, she was up in the air. You had to be right on point with her, or you were done.”

One of his current projects comes in the form of Airmans Jackpot, a 3-year-old trotting daughter of Airman Batten—Cannot Tell A Lie, bred and owned by Rick Huffman.

In 28 starts, the filly has constructed an 11-6-6 mark to go along with just shy of $44,000 in career earnings.

On Sept. 30, at Humboldt, Erickson and Airmans Jackpot hit the jackpot in an Iowa-sire race with an $8,300 purse.

“People have a tough time getting along with her,” Erickson said. “She can make breaks because she’s tough to control. She goes out fast and sometimes she’ll just stop. I’m very good with troubled horses. The ones that have issues, I seem to get along with them. I don’t know why, I just do. The more you drive the tougher ones, the easier ones will be that much easier. That’s how I learned to drive.”

How would he describe his driving style?

“I can be very aggressive or be very relaxed,” Erickson said. “I don’t have to be on the front, but if I need to put one on the front, I can get them there. I can drive from anywhere on the track and be comfortable. I feel as though I am a very versatile driver, especially over the past few years.”

It’s something Erickson hopes will attract the attention of trainers and owners in California.

He will also have something else to look forward to when he arrives at Cal-Expo, specifically, the chance to try his hand at a familiar hobby.

“I bowl quite a bit,” he said. “I average 220-plus, so I’m a very avid bowler. I was talking to [trainer/driver] Rick Bertrand at Running Aces and he’s going to get me set up when I go to California. I’m going to start bowling in a league when I get out there. Some of the horse people are in a league and have a team, so I’m going to join them.”

If the team happens to be in a difficult jam at the alley, Erickson can perhaps use some of his racing magic to good effect.

“I don’t know what it is,” he said with a laugh. “I just seem to be able to get the most out of those difficult horses.”