From Peaceful Way to Starstruck Dreamer, Trottin’ Trevor Ritchie stays connected to stars of both gaits

by Melissa Keith

Peaceful Way (4, 1:51.4m; $2,746,240) made the final start of her career at Mohawk Racetrack on Aug. 24, 2007. The 6-year-old star was sent off as the 6-5 betting favorite in her Breeders Crown Older Mare Trot elimination, but jumped it off behind the starting gate and never caught the field. She went winless in six starts that season, frustrating in light of her three going-away victories in three Mohawk qualifiers. Somewhat ironically, the Grade 1 Peaceful Way (formerly Oakville) Stake eliminations and final span the week of their namesake’s disappointing last race at her home track.

The 2026 edition of the Peaceful Way is the first since the Canadian (2008) and U.S. (2021) Hall of Fame trotter was euthanized on Oct. 29, 2025. She had lived out her most productive years as a broodmare, as well as her retirement, in Europe. In 2013, Svein Seljord of Slattum, Norway, purchased Peaceful Way from the Standardbred Horse Sales Company’s mixed sale.

“When in Harrisburg we looked over Peaceful Way,” Seljord told HRU in 2022. “My daughter is a veterinarian, and found her perfect-looking and in good shape. On November 8th, 2013 we bought her for $110,000 [U.S.]. We also bought her weanling Forever Peace for $30,000 [U.S.] and took them to Norway, where we live on a farm 20 minutes outside Oslo.

Trottin’ Trevor Ritchie was Peaceful Way’s driver for some of her most legacy-defining wins. Their 1:52.4 victory in the June 4, 2005 Classic Oaks leg at Woodbine Racetrack kicked off a six-race win streak that included the 2005 Grade 2 Armbro Flight at Mohawk, equaling her own 1:52.4 Canadian record in the elimination. Ritchie was in the sulky for Peaceful Way’s wins in the 2005 Grade 1 Breeders Crown Open Mare Trot at Mohawk, Grade 3 Allerage Farm Mare Trot at The Red Mile, and American National at Balmoral Park. He was aboard when she broke stride due to interference from the starting gate in the 2005 Grade 1 Maple Leaf Trot, and for eventual redemption in the 2006 edition. On July 23, 2005, at The Meadowlands, Peaceful Way and Ritchie blazed home from off the pace to match Beat The Wheel’s 1:51.4 divisional world record in the third leg of the Classic Oaks.

Their 2006 wins together in the Armbro Flight, Matchmaker division at The Meadowlands, Maple Leaf Trot, and Allerage Farm Mare Trot earned Peaceful Way her second consecutive Older Trotting Mare of the Year title on both sides of the border. She had previously been voted Canada’s divisional champion at ages 2 and 3. Aside from qualifiers, the 2006 Allerage win would prove to be Peaceful Way’s last. On May 5, 2007, she broke stride on the lead in a Classic Oaks division at The Meadowlands in what would be her final race for Ritchie.

Looking back on his time with Peaceful Way, Ritchie said he wasn’t sure how he initially landed the drive on the 2003 and 2004 O’Brien Award champion filly. The Dave Tingley trainee had been driven primarily by Chris Christoforou both years, with John Campbell taking the lines for her American starts. “[Christoforou] did well with her, and I have no idea why they put me on her,” Ritchie said. “The [entry] sheet just come out, and boom, I was on her. There was no discussion beforehand. I believe I was surprised when I saw it. I said, ‘Okay, well, nice drive to pick up.’”

While Ritchie admitted that he didn’t remember Peaceful Way’s 18-plus length win in their first Mohawk qualifier together on May 24, 2005, another early memory of his time with the mare came to mind.

“The first thing I remember was going out on the track with her,” said the Canadian (2019) and Halton Hills Sports Hall of Fame (2025) driver. “Going slow, I wouldn’t say she was the slickest-going thing. She was kind of a small little mare, and I got thinking to myself, ‘Jesus, is this mare okay? Is she 100 per cent sound, or is she tied up a little bit or something?’ She just didn’t feel real slick-going. But man, oh man, when I turned her in behind the gate, I remember thinking, ‘Well, I guess she’s okay!’”

Among Peaceful Way’s jaw-dropping performances, one stands out to her driver, even now.

“That race was the Classic Oaks at The Meadowlands,” Ritchie said. “It was an incredible finishing kick that she had. The announcer was as shocked as I was that she won that race, because she was not that good that day around the last turn. I would’ve moved her sooner, but she just felt like if I’d have tried to move her over before I got to the lane… I might’ve lost her. I was just sitting there, holding my breath until we got off the turn. Once we got straightened away, I asked her to go, and you didn’t have to ask her very much either; she was just willing to do it.”

Ritchie remembered hoping that Peaceful Way might advance from fifth to third down the stretch, as Housethatruthbuilt maintained the lead. Instead, the Canadian mare unleashed the fastest last quarter (:27.2) of any trotter on the card that day, winning by a head.

“That was a real thrill, I must admit, coming through the lane with her that race,” he said. “She gave me a lot of thrills, obviously. She was just a special kind of mare.”

They repeated in the July 30, 2005 final, trotting a-mile-and-one-sixteenth in 2:01.2 to win by a neck.

Breaking issues that struck at some of the worst times, like the 2004 Hambletonian Oaks final, were just part of the Peaceful Way package.

“She had a mind of her own, and if you tried to get her to do something she didn’t want to do, you could lose her,” Ritchie said. “You just had to let her get out of there at her own pace. Sometimes she wanted to leave, so I would let her leave. Sometimes she didn’t, so I didn’t ask her. She’d have you on pins and needles a little bit. For the first maybe eighth-of-a-mile, you just weren’t quite sure how the race was going to unfold.”

The 2006 Maple Leaf Trot final was another standout effort.

“I remember being at the head of the lane and just saying ‘Go,’ and she just took off and opened up… There was a pretty good crowd there, and I shouldn’t speak for all drivers, but at least me, I usually could not hear the crowd, no matter how loud they were cheering, because you keep your mind focused on your job,” said Ritchie. “But because she had opened up by a bit, and she was kind of the darling horse at the time, I do remember the crowd hollering. It really was a thrill to win that race.”

Ritchie retired from driving in 2014. Chronic back issues were newly compounded by painful neck spasms that kept him from being able to look around on the track.

“I really wasn’t enjoying it anymore, because I was hurting out there, and I felt that I wasn’t being safe either for myself or others, so I decided to hang up the silks,” he told HRU.

Ritchie has sat behind his 2-year-old pacer Bulldog Xpress “maybe three times.” Returning to the sulky for a training mile “isn’t nearly as much fun as when I’m in the jogger, let’s put it that way,” he said.

Bulldog Xpress (p, 2, Q1:59.4s; $17,860) is owned by partners Pryde Stables Inc of North York, ON; Steve Wienick Racing LLC of Delray Beach, FL; Jfoderatritchiecanamerica of Staten Island, NY; and Hyatt Holdings Inc of Milton, ON. The Bulldog Hanover—Thirty X colt is among the array of pacers in which Ritchie has had a stake; Trottin’ Trevor owns none of his namesake gait.

“My partners have been buying horses for quite a few years now, and I’ve always wanted to buy trotters, of course, but none of them were that interested in trotters,” he said. “So, I kind of relented and went to the pacers. Having said that, we did buy a trotter one year, a fairly expensive one… and he was no good. That really sealed the deal for the rest of them.”

Ritchie described one of his group’s horses as “for sure, one of the top five 2-year-old pacing colts in the nation [U.S.] right now.”

He quickly added, “I’m being very conservative in saying that.”

That colt is world champion Starstruck Dreamer (p, 2, 1:48.4f; $130,500), whom he said will face fellow undefeated rival Shalom Hanover on Sept. 7 for the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes championships at Pocono Downs.

“It’s very exciting and nerve racking,” Ritchie said. “I’ve driven in my fair share of million-dollar races and never felt the nerves like when I’m sitting there watching.”

The Burlington, ON horseman remains involved in the racing game, and not only as an owner.

“I still do a little conformation consultation,” he said. “I’ve done that for Brittany Farms. We’ve done that, me and [my wife] Gemma, for 15 or 20 years now… The Harrisburg [Standardbred Horse Sales] Company comes around and looks at all the horses that are consigned to their sale. They couldn’t get up here that COVID year, because they weren’t allowed to cross the border, so their sales manager called me. I guess I was recommended to them by Dr. [Bridgette] Jablonsky, who, at that time, worked for Hanover [Shoe Farms]. They called me and I said no problem, we would do it, and we’ve continued to do it ever since. We go around and look at all of the horses that are stabled in Ontario that are going to the Harrisburg sale in the fall.”

Conformation grading by Trevor and Gemma is used to situate specific horses at an appropriate place in the sales roster. The couple make farm visits from late June into early July.

“As long as they’re happy with the job we do, we’ll keep doing this,” Trevor said.

Peaceful Way’s uncanny ability somehow seemed to come from within, rather than from physical giftedness.

“I would say she was 90 per cent freak,” Ritchie said. “Now, she did have a very strong hind end on her, but 90 to 95 per cent of horses have that. To be quite honest with you, there’s more luck involved in the game than anything else, because if there wasn’t, all of the guys with all of the money would own all of the good horses, and they don’t… Conformation is just one piece of the puzzle; pedigrees are one piece of the puzzle; and luck is the biggest piece of the puzzle.”

Is Trottin’ Trevor still a fitting name for Ritchie, in light of his recent success with pacers?

“It’s got a nice ring to it, so I don’t mind it, even though I’m basically exclusively pacers,” he said with a chuckle.