Bucket list purchase Fresh Face Yankee provides unbelievable experience for Tim Smith
by James Platz
Tim Smith has held his trainer’s license for decades, but last fall he looked to fulfill a bucket list item when he attended the Midwest Classic Mixed Sale. Through the years he has guided scores of horses in hundreds of training miles, but had never sat behind one of his charges in competition. Freshman Fresh Face Yankee has not only helped him realize a long-held goal, she has shown to be one of the best trotting fillies on the Indiana fair circuit, scoring multiple wins with the trainer at the lines.
“It’s just one of those things I wanted to do,” Smith said. “You know, I could have never dreamed it going this way though. It’s just unbelievable. Unbelievable. You know, a good horse like that can make anybody look good.”
At last November’s Midwest Classic Mixed Sale in Shipshewana, IN, Smith’s objective was to pick out a horse that he would train down in hopes of campaigning as driver this summer at the Indiana fairs. A few years back he had good fortune with selecting Clever Character out of the same sale, paying $5,000 for the son of Tellitlikeitis. The pacer would go on to win just over $192,000 in his freshman campaign.
As the sale progressed, he had yet to buy a yearling, and was not sure he would leave with one to help satisfy his bucket list desire. But Lester Schmucker of Chapel Ridge Farm struck up a conversation regarding a filly in his consignment that had entered the ring.
“I was on the verge of not even getting anything and forgetting it,” said the Spencerville, IN resident. “It was getting down to the end of the sale and we were up there by the ring, my wife and I were. I was about to give up and go home. She was at the end of the sale, and Lester just took her up and put her in the ring. He came down here and stood beside me. He says, ‘You know, that’s the nicest, Crescent Fashion filly I’ve ever raised.”
Crescent Fashion stood at Chapel Ridge, so Schmucker had seen his share of the sire’s progeny. What happened next Smith attributes to a higher power. He had not spent any time inspecting Fresh Face Yankee before she was slated to sell. Nevertheless, he bid on her and bought her for $5,000, the same price he paid for Clever Character in a similar scenario.
“I thought, you know, I’ve watched all of them go through and I just never got the urge,” the conditioner said. “Never. Nothing nudged me. For some reason, and that wasn’t just Lester, it just nudged me to buy her. There was a nudge from above that got me to buy. I’ve bought several in between those two and haven’t had a lot of success.”
He now owned a young trotter, now the question was whether she would make it to the races. Bred by Fashion Hill Farm, Fresh Face Yankee is out of Swan For All mare Swan Yankee, a six-figure earner during her racing career. Training down this winter and into the spring, Smith wasn’t sure she would be ready for the fairs due to a breathing issue that persisted early on.
“I was having trouble with her, and she breathed terribly,” Smith said. “It just wasn’t going good, but she’s really nice to mess with. She’s nice in the barn, and she’s just nice to be around. So, I just kept going with her. I put hobbles on her, and that gaited her a little better. She’s doing better, but she’s still breathing terribly.”
The owner and trainer had the filly scoped a few times, but she continued to show no issues. As time went on, she improved, and training with other company, she began to display her ability.
“I trained her with some other horses, and before I knew it, she could beat anything in the straightaways,” Smith said. “The turns she has problems with, on a half mile, anyway.”
Knowing he had a horse for the fairs, Smith asked six of his fellow horsemen for references so that he could acquire his license to drive. When the season opened at Converse in early June, the 66-year-old was ready for action. Drawing post 2, Fresh Face Yankee struggled to negotiate the first turn and made a break in her June 5 debut, interfering with eventual winner Honeymoon, driven by Robert Taylor, and Katch Me Kaya, steered by Doug Rideout. Smith and his charge recovered to finish second, but were placed fourth by the judges.
“She made the break, but then I got put back behind Doug, which was understandable,” he said. “I mean, it did screw him up. So that’s the only time she hasn’t really been first, second, or third since she’s been racing.”
To date, Fresh Face Yankee has four wins, three runner-up performances and a third-place effort in nine starts at the fairs. The trainer has sat behind his filly in all but one start, a fair circuit contest at Harrah’s Hoosier Park. That day she won by a length and a half for Trace Tetrick, kicking home in 27 seconds and beating fillies that are now competing in Indiana Sire Stakes.
“I think she will be good on the big track, but I never staked her,” said the retired electrician. “I never in my wildest dreams ever thought she’d be anything like a sire stake horse. She could definitely draw it with them, but that’s alright. I’m having fun; that’s the reason I got her.”
While Fresh Face Yankee continues to struggle with the first turn, she consistently rebounds to finish strong for her owner. When she stays flat, she’s capable of big efforts, much like a recent start at Frankfort on July 16. Lining up fourth in a five-filly field, the young trotter successfully managed the turn and set all the fractions on the way to a 5½ length score. The 2:01.2 clocking established a new track mark for 2-year-old distaff trotters.
“I wasn’t out to break a track record or anything,” Smith said. “I just go whatever she is comfortable going and she just does it. I knew she was going good. Honestly, I had no idea.”
The filly currently leads the division in points with only a few stops remaining before the Governor’s Cup Championships at the Indiana State Fair, slated for Wednesday (Aug. 13). Smith said following the fair final he plans to put Fresh Face Yankee away and hope she comes back even better at 3. Until then, he is savoring every chance he gets to sit behind her in each fair start.
“I’m having fun and I’m probably not going to get this opportunity again,” he said. “She’s been just a sweetheart to train. I couldn’t ask for a better horse. You know, she is just nice to be around and nice to drive. For a bucket list horse, she is the best.”
