This week, a closer look at Monalishi and Stonebridge Wizard.

by Matthew Lomon

Ontario-sired horses had their hoofprints all over the 2024 O’Brien Awards, claiming seven of the 13 award categories, including the Somebeachsomewhere Horse of the Year (Chantilly).

Making up the Ontario-sired septet are the aforementioned Chantilly (2-Year-Old Filly Pacer, Somebeachsomewhere Horse of the Year), Monalishi (2-Year-Old Filly Trotter), Stonebridge Wizard (2-Year-Old Colt Pacer), Willys Home Run (3-Year-Old Filly Trotter), Logan Park (Older Horse Trotter), Nijinsky (3-Year-Old Colt Pacer), and Its A Love Thing (3-Year-Old Filly Pacer).

The prominent presence of Ontario-sired winners headlined the 36th edition of the ceremony, held Saturday (Feb. 8) in Mississauga, ON honoring the top performers in Canadian standardbred racing over the previous season.

To ensure that these Ontario-rooted stars and their connections get their proper shine, All Over Ontario is delighted to embark on a three-part series spotlighting the best and brightest to come out of Canada’s most populous province in 2024.

Part 1 of our profile — which is devoted to triumphant 2-year-olds, Monalishi and Stonebridge Wizard — leads off with the former.

After finding the winner’s circle in six of 10 starts and producing an earnings total north of $562,000 as a rookie, Monalishi’s extraordinary efforts were commemorated with top 2-Year-Old Filly Trotter honors.

It’s an accomplishment her conditioner, Blake MacIntosh, said he won’t soon forget.

“It’s nice to be recognized and that she got recognized,” said MacIntosh. “She’s a good filly, and she deserved it. We’re proud of it, too. We’ve been nominated a couple of times and never got to win, but we’re very happy for the filly. She raced well all season, and she deserved the O’Brien.”

Hand-picked at the 2023 Standardbred Horse Sale Company’s yearling sale in Harrisburg, PA by MacIntosh, who part owns the daughter of Green Manalishi S—Pretty Phylly G with Tim Klemencic of Trenton, ON, Monalishi affirmed the veteran horseman’s inkling that she possessed the power to be great.

“I liked the look of her,” said MacIntosh. “She was really well put together; good size, nice long legs. The breeding wasn’t great. The mare went 0-for-3, but I looked back at my other notes on the family, and knew that the other three all had faults, and she was pretty close to being faultless. So, we took a shot.”

That carefully calculated shot, which at the time cost $28,000, quickly proved ingenious.

After dropping her maiden voyage, Monalishi caught fire, trotting to victory in five of her next six starts (5-1-0).

The dynamic youngster submitted her finest of several standout showings in a come from behind half-length Peaceful Way score on Aug. 24 at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

“We approached it like any other race; nothing different going in the race,” said MacIntosh. “I thought we had a good filly, and we could be right there, and everything worked out. She closed hard and she won the race.”

Monalishi also compiled a near-perfect record across five Ontario Sires Stakes starts, securing four Gold-level dashes with a close second in the Gold Super Final for 2-year-old fillies (neck’s difference).

MacIntosh offered high praise for the “great program” that provides considerable competitive opportunities.

“We go for lots of money, and you hope you have a Gold horse every year,” he said. “We’ve been fortunate to have some. To be able to race every week for between $80,000 and $100,000, and $150,000 is pretty special.

“We strive for that.”

Monalishi is a horse that is better when given space. Getting her into championship form wasn’t always a breeze, but it was certainly worthwhile said her St. George, ON-based trainer.

As the pair gear up for what MacIntosh hopes is another memorable sophomore campaign, he is pleased with the progress his solitary student has made over the winter.

“We sent her down to Anvil and Lace [Farm] in Kentucky, and they did an unreal job getting her fat and back up,” he said. “She grew a lot, lengthened out, and she looks amazing right now.”

The horseman with more than 1,270 training tallies to his name is ready to add to that total with Monalishi in 2025.

“We just want to see her race well, and hopefully she’s on top of her game again and can battle the best all year,” he said.

STONEBRIDGE WIZARD’S O’BRIEN A DREAM COME TRUE FOR BAKO

The 2024 season was also one to remember for Stonebridge Wizard, recipient of the O’Brien Award in the 2-Year-Old Colt Pacer category, and his trainer Jared Bako.

Victorious in five of nine starts across his first professional season (5-1-0; $284,100), the son of Dancin Lou—Odds On Magic was nothing short of a marvel for Bako, who recorded 112 winners of his own to pass the 100-win marker for the second consecutive season.

The Middleton, NY-based conditioner noted that he had long been eager to work with top-in-class youngsters, and Stonebridge Wizard was happy to oblige.

“This year was my first time having a deep roster of good young horses,” said Bako. “To have that opportunity to train a lot of very nice young horses was incredible, and to top it all off, that colt, in particular, winning the O’Brien is literally a lifelong dream come true.”

Bako and his long-time racing partner David Kryway, the owner of Stonebridge Wizard, had done copious amounts of research on the bay pacer ahead of purchasing him for $32,000 at the 2023 London Classic Yearling Sale.

While the plan was always to purchase a few yearlings from sire Dancin Lou (also part-owned by Kryway), Bako said Stonebridge Wizard, who checked all the boxes and had the look of an athlete, was the main prize they were after.

At first, however, the rookie racer appeared to be more of a wildcard than Bako and his brother Scott, Jared’s second trainer and Canadian barn manager, had initially anticipated.

“The first day we ever put the harness on him, Scott and I went out to break him — we’ve broken hundreds of horses over the years — and he was the wildest horse we’ve ever broken for a piece,” said Jared adding with a laugh, “There was that split second when we started him up on the racetrack, we weren’t sure we had control anymore.”

That rambunctious, borderline uncontrollable newcomer is now a far cry from the measured, perceptive, and cerebral racehorse that Stonebridge Wizard is today.

“From that moment forward, he got smarter and smarter every day,” said Jared. “Now, he handles everything you throw at him. I’m quite sure I could drive him in a parade, and he would tolerate it just fine and not worry about a thing. It is pretty special to watch a horse transition like that from being so silly about a lot of things.

“Now we look at this horse as a 3-year-old, and I’d send my daughter out to go jog him. My daughter’s not even 2 years old at this point. He’s just that kind of horse now.”

That maturity was on full display throughout the 2024 meet, but it was perhaps best exemplified in a strong-willed Battle of Waterloo triumph on Aug. 5 at Grand River Raceway, where he achieved his lifetime mark of 1:51.2.

While Jared said he and driver Doug McNair knew the $245,500 contest would be a stiff test, a horse of Stonebridge Wizard’s talents and intellect is by no means a one-trick pony.

“We based a lot of his performance that day on the rigorous training down that we put into our horses to build such a serious foundation into them,” said Jared. “Dougie and I talked about it two days prior, and we didn’t think we’d be able to win out of the 2-hole.

“So, if we made the front, we were going to take our shot… he’s got such an incredible set of manners that you can just wind him up, leave with him, and he’ll sit on the loose line, wait for you to ask him to go again, and he’ll take off again. You call on him again — and he proved it that day — you can keep calling on him, and he’ll keep digging in. He’s a pretty special animal.”

Stonebridge Wizard’s success during the OSS program was also very meaningful for Jared, a native of Aylmer, ON, who hoped to one day emulate the success he watched his father [Laurie Bako] find on the Ontario circuit.

Although he endured a tough go in the Gold Super Final for 2-year-old colts and geldings, Stonebridge Wizard captured two Gold-leg events earlier in the meet to grant Jared’s childhood wish.

“Just before I left, I raced one in the Grassroots Final,” said Jared. “That was my first experience with a stakes horse in Ontario. Then, to be able to send back a horse of that caliber and win at that tier is special to me because that’s where I’m from. That’s home base.”

Over their time together Jared and Stonebridge Wizard have learned plenty from each other. For Jared, his prized protégé’s ascent to stardom serves as a reminder that top racehorses are simply wired differently than the rest.

“Special caliber horses learn to adapt and overcome things so much faster than everybody else, and that’s why they end up being the elite athletes that they are,” he said. “They learn, and they develop, and they react to things so much better than everybody else.”

As far as next steps go, Jared is keen on the prospect of Stonebridge Wizard making another leap in 2025.

“I’d really like to see him make that step to a Grand Circuit colt and prove that he can compete on that level on a consistent basis,” he said.

Achieving that goal will require a team effort from those that are front and center, and others who work tirelessly behind the scenes to make magic on the racetrack.

“I’m very grateful for everyone who has poured their all into getting us into the winner’s circle, including my wife Ashley, who does a tremendous job keeping everything organized and running smoothly day in and day out,” said Jared.