The Hall of Fame trainer has crafted a different program for a different kind of horse.

by Melissa Keith

Blair Burgess is probably best known for training two Dan Patch Horses of the Year, one on each gait: Glidemaster (2006) and Real Desire (2002), respectively. He told HRU that he doesn’t want to jinx himself by being overconfident, but current trainee Special Mission (5, 1:52.3s; $52,660) is rapidly raising his hopes.

The 5-year-old son of Walner—Special Hill is riding the crest of a four-race win streak at Woodbine Mohawk Park. Special Mission is also the co-fastest trotter in North America at the moment. He shares a 1:52.3s seasonal mark with five other horses, including WMP preferred regular Amigo Volo.

Burgess said Special Mission’s co-owner Dan Roland of Sandstone, MN “got him ready” before sending the horse to race in Ontario. Bred Winr Stables, of Colona, IL shares ownership of the full brother to 2022 Dan Patch 2-Year-Old Trotting Filly of the Year Special Way (3, 1:51.2m; $1,160,575).

Special Mission skipped racing this week, in preparation for the upcoming New Holland Trotting Series, which kicks off March 11 at Mohawk.

“I like the opportunity to manage a good horse, and hopefully this horse will fit into that role,” Burgess said. “He’s pretty stoic, but he wants to get out there.”

With just 12 lifetime starts, Special Mission’s WMP win margins have been eye-catching at conservative classifications so far. Burgess is carefully bringing the stallion along, not wanting to push too hard, too soon.

“The idea is to keep him relatively fit, and bring him back for some summer and fall stakes,” said the trainer, mentioning Special Mission’s nominations to the 2024 Maple Leaf Trot and Breeders Crown.

Owner Dan Roland said he was fortunate to find the blue-blooded trotter for just $20,000 last year.

“Part of what was intriguing about him is he only had three races; he only had $7,500 on his card,” Roland said. “We had been trying to find a Walner mare for a couple of years, probably, and obviously they are all quite expensive. We couldn’t find any that we could afford… A year ago September was when we bought him on OnGait.com. He had been injured. The people who had him prior to us had bought him as a yearling, trained him at 2, and brought him back at 3, and he raced just three times I think, and then he got hurt.”

Special Mission’s sister Special Way hadn’t yet raised the family profile.

“At the time we bought him, she had only raced maybe two or three times,” Roland said. “It was a good family, but it wasn’t a great family without her in there.”

The Minnesota horseman said he sought out help to get Special Mission ready to race.

“I’ve got a vet I trust that used to run Iowa State University, named Scott McClure,” Roland said. “We took [Special Mission] to him and he said the suspensory had been injured pretty bad, and he thought he needed at least a year off to heal up. We’ve had luck in the past using a shaker plate and BEMER stuff on suspensory injuries. So, we took that time with him and put him on the plate everyday while we were doing our other stuff.”

Local trainer and friend Justin Anfinson qualified Special Mission at Hawthorne Race Course in October 2023, with Todd Warren driving. In November, the horse recorded back-to-back wins there with multi-length margins.

“They basically never really pushed him more than a quarter of a mile, you know,” said Roland.

He was a Hawthorne vet scratch Nov. 27 due to illness, but made his Dec. 21 Mohawk debut a winning one for Burgess and driver Tyler Borth.

Special Mission bled that race.

“Since he’s been on Lasix, it’s been under control and no big deal,” Roland said.

According to Roland, he originally decided to send his horse to Woodbine Mohawk Park due to the track size and conditions that suited Special Mission. Although he only knew Burgess through Facebook interactions, the trainer’s background seemed perfect for the lightly-raced trotter.

“I looked him up and tried to research him a little bit, and for the reputation and history that he has, he really keeps a pretty small stable…” Roland said. “We didn’t really want [Special Mission] to go to somebody where he was the 40th or 50th horse in line. We wanted him to get some personal attention.”

Roland said he also wanted Burgess’ opinion on Special Mission’s potential.

“We wanted him to go to somebody who had really good horses before and knew how to take care of good horses,” Roland said. “Obviously with that past injury, you never know what’s going to happen, but that’s part of what I’ve been most happy about; that Blair’s been very conservative with him.”

That approach is one that Burgess defends.

“There’s only so many times they can go that fast, so it might as well be when it counts,” said the U.S. and Canadian Hall of Fame. “We’ve only been racing him two weeks out of three, to not overuse him. He’s been very sound and very good. I would have liked to have one more start [before the New Holland Series].”

Special Mission is currently based at Tomiko Training Centre, in Hamilton, ON.

“He showed moderate talent at 3, but since he came back, he hasn’t really put any bad efforts in,” said Burgess, who thinks that having access to regular turnout at Tomiko has helped Special Mission remain content. “He never misses time outside. He’s one of the best-behaved stallions I’ve ever had.”

The former $100,000 yearling has a soft spot for Yes I’m Hungry, “a big fat pacing mare in the paddock adjacent to him,” said Burgess. “He’s just happy that she’s there every day.”

Hopes are high for Special Mission to continue improving on the racetrack while being part of a small renaissance in Minnesota breeding. He was bred to four of his owners’ mares and eight outside mares in 2023, and is expected to return to Minnesota this breeding season.

“It’s a growing program,” Rolands said. “I think our foal numbers are up maybe 30 to 40 per cent, while a lot of states are going backwards.”

This year, Special Mission will be standing commercially in Minnesota for the second consecutive year, then returning to race at Mohawk.

“Bad for me, but good for Special Mission,” said Burgess, with a laugh. “He has a different program set out for him.”

A different program that suits a different kind of horse, agreed Roland.

“He’s just one of those unique horses that has just got a personality that draws people in,” Roland said. “He’s a big, athletic horse, but for a stud horse, he’s nice to be around, nice to work with. He’s got kind of a quirky personality, but everybody that’s done anything with him really seems to like him.”

The 2024 New Holland Trotting Series concludes with the March 30 final.