Sentimental favorite Ten Carat Garrett finally shining in memory of Garrett Whelan
by Melissa Keith
In Murray Brown’s recent HRU column, “A conversation with Jim Whelan,” the two discussed Whelan’s wide-ranging career in harness racing. The interview touched upon the Troy, ON horseman’s one horse currently racing at Woodbine Mohawk Park, Ten Carat Garrett (p, 4, 1:53.3s; $31,901), who lowered his lifetime mark on Saturday (April 4).
While 4-year-old Ten Carat Garrett has only made 11 lifetime starts, all this year the Bettors Delight gelding has steadily improved for owners Whelan and 2156604 Alberta Inc. of Guelph, ON.
“Garry Merner was a really, really good friend of my son, Garrett,” Jim said. “They had very alike characters and personalities… He was working in the oil fields back and forth, and he’s always been involved in the horses with his dad… When he came back from the west and he wasn’t working, he lived with Garrett. They became very, very close, like brothers.”
After leaving his “partying ways” in the past, Merner got married and became a father, also enjoying success as a top trainer at Mohawk. His friend Garrett, also a skilled horseman, was always there for him.
“When Garrett passed [away, on Oct. 5, 2023], he was just devastated,” Jim said. “So, he went to Lexington and bought this colt, just by himself.”
Merner acquired Madisons Delight for $13,000 at the 2023 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale.
The second foal of Artistic Madison (p, 6, 1:51.1s; $403,972), a mare who made most of her 178 career starts at Woodbine and Mohawk, Madisons Delight was quickly renamed Ten Carat Garrett, in honor of Jim’s late son.
“He was an aggressive stud colt,” Jim said. “When [Merner] got him home, he was pretty nasty… Garry said that every time he went by his stall, he would be running at the bars, or trying to bite or kick you, just full of energy and mischievous. [Merner] said [the colt] reminded him of Garrett, so he changed his name to Ten Carat Garrett.”
When Jim heard about the colt’s name, he reached out to Merner, who was unwilling to sell Ten Carat Garrett.
“But he said that if you want to buy into him, that’s no problem,” Jim said. “So, I bought into him as a yearling, and Garry was training him.”
Despite being gelded in fall 2023, the 2-year-old Ten Carat Garrett was still rebelling against Merner in May 2024, “making breaks and just being a real problem,” Jim said. “I said, ‘No problem. If he’s not going to race as a 2-year-old stake horse, then let’s just turn him out and let him develop.’”
A second attempt to make a racehorse out of Ten Carat Garrett, in November 2024, was also disappointing.
“Starting out, he was good, but by the first of February [2025], Garry phoned me one morning and said, ‘Listen Jim, come and get this horse… He’s going to kill me or I’m going to kill him,’” Jim said. “[Merner] was obviously having a bad day and [Ten Carat Garrett] was up to his old tricks. He said, ‘I just can’t get along with him.’ So, I said no problem… I brought him home.”
Starting over again with the 3-year-old gelding, Jim initially turned him out on his farm for a few weeks.
“I made a point of trying to get him over his little quirks,” said the 70-year-old horseman. “It took a long while, with a lot of schooling on the [farm] track, behind the gate and everything… He would have some company on two of the three days, maybe; I was only training one other horse [Off Road Hanover]… I just took my time with him, and a couple of times I came close to saying, ‘this is too much.’”
Something about Ten Carat Garrett’s connection to his son motivated Jim to keep trying. He said he could see potential in the well-bred gelding.
“I think he just learned some bad habits and needed time to develop, but he was responding in a positive way,” Jim said. “You would think he was really coming [along] well, and then some days he’d take a little bit of a relapse and test your patience. But every day, sitting behind him, I was always thinking of [my son] Garrett, and he was very patient and very talented [as a trainer and driver].”
On Jan. 18, in line to Jim again for his second start, Ten Carat Garrett came within a nose of breaking his maiden. It was time to try Mohawk.
On Jan. 24, Jim and Ten Carat Garrett finished fourth of seven, despite a class hike and the move to a much larger track.
“His first several trips to the track, he was nervous and hyper and strong, not easy at all to control, but he was smart,” Jim said. “I made sure I was always with him and he didn’t get startled. I was just very patient, and now he’s just a lovely horse. If he’s a little bit upset, you just rub his head. He loves attention.”
On March 7, within days of Garrett Whelan’s March 4 birthday, Jim drove the 4-year-old gelding to an 8-1 upset.
“All but one of my kids were there [at Mohawk], and my grandkids were there,” Jim said. “It was just amazing that I was driving him and I won with him and they were all there to celebrate that victory.”
The gelding’s latest win was with Jim’s nephew Michael Whelan in the sulky last Saturday (April 4), this time as the 3-2 public choice.
“Mike drove him exactly the way I recommended,” Jim said. “I said, ‘Let him leave out of there and don’t be scared,’ and the trip worked out perfectly. He came home in [:26.4] and was drawing away at the wire.”
Jim added that Merner “look[ed] at him in amazement” afterwards.
“Garry deserves an awful lot of credit,” Jim said. “He was very patient with him, and Garry saw something in the colt; he picked him out and bought him.”
Merner still shares ownership of Ten Carat Garrett with Jim, who is awaiting two surgeries: The first to install a cardiovascular stent; the second, a lung transplant due to pulmonary fibrosis.
“I have to be on oxygen 24 hours a day, so I warm him up and race him, but I have my oxygen with me, as a rule,” Jim said. “I don’t need it on the bike; I can go without it for 15 or 20 minutes. I’m not doing anything too physical; the horse does the work.”
On one memorable occasion, Jim was training Ten Carat Garrett while toting a heavy canister of oxygen on the cart.
“The first trip was fine,” Jim said. “Of course, the first trip is not as fast as the second trip. The hose goes around your ears and under your nose and down to the tank. So, the tank bounced off of the jogger, onto the track.”
While the plastic hose looked delicate, it was actually unbreakable.
“It was strong and it kept pulling on my head… I had to reach down and grab [the tank] and pull it up, like I was fishing,” Jim said.
At a moment when his trainer was at his most vulnerable, Ten Carat Garrett proved worth his weight in gold.
“The horse was excellent,” Jim said. “He just kept going, doing his thing, and I was able to keep the lines in one hand while using the other to get [the tank]. I’ve got a machine now that produces oxygen… It’s much lighter, about the size of a lunch can.”
While not an extremely religious man, Jim said he felt something spiritual in Ten Carat Garrett’s transformation and recent racing luck. Something that brought him closer to his late son.
“This horse makes you believe there’s a greater being,” he said. “All the things we’ve been through with him, and it seems to be that whenever there was a little bit of a crisis, he always acted very responsibly, like someone was looking out for me.”
