Mohawk handicapper Garnet Barnsdale on owning a piece of flawless, fractional Woodmere Rock It

by Melissa Keith

Garnet Barnsdale writes the Mohawk Horseplayers’ Journal. He is also a proud fractional owner of Woodmere Rock It (p, 2, 1:52.4; $64,463), the undefeated 2-year-old Maritime champion. The son of Tobago Cays—Musette Mindale matched the all-time Canadian record for 2-year-old pacing geldings on a half-mile track in PEI Colt Stakes Gold at Red Shores Charlottetown on Aug. 19, with TheStable.ca founder Anthony MacDonald driving.

Sharing ownership of Woodmere Rock It has been a thrilling ride for Barnsdale, who has recently been watching plenty of 2-year-olds in the Harvest Series at Woodbine Mohawk Park. The fillies racing on Oct. 12 included three with PEI race lines. Although Maritime-bred Woodmere Rock It is ineligible to the series, his string of going-away victories raises the question: What could he do on the bigger track?

Woodmere Rock It is owned by Thestable Woodmererock It of Guelph, ON.

“I’ve been with TheStable since basically the beginning, so I guess you could say 10 years,” Barnsdale said. “Some years I have bigger involvement than others. I basically saw their advertising, and at a certain point went and covered one of their seminars for the Down the Stretch newspaper.”

The seminar convinced Barnsdale that TheStable.ca was “a good way to get in at your own budget,” even for “a guy like [him] who never, ever thought or dreamed that he could afford to own a racehorse.”

MacDonald’s training videos and regular updates help in managing expectations.

“They have the training videos where his brother Curtis will go out with a drone and take videos of the horses training down during their training sets, and you can watch that on their YouTube channel,” Barnsdale said. “Anthony also does videos, like every day of the week, updating people on training; after races; kind of what went right, what went wrong; what he believes the next steps are with certain horses.”

Nine years later, he is still a satisfied customer who estimates he has owned shares of “30 or 40” TheStable.ca horses.

Over time, licensing requirements became one of Barnsdale’s main considerations when buying shares.

“Certain jurisdictions require a license for even one per cent, like Ontario does, which I think is detrimental,” he said. “You know, if 100 people buy one per cent of a racehorse, they shouldn’t be required to buy 100 different licenses, plus a Standardbred Canada license… To offset that, I do like to own Ontario-bred [horses] because I can actually go and watch them race without traveling somewhere far away… But I have owned a lot of Ohio-breds, because you can own up to four per cent without buying a license.”

Barnsdale has watched Woodmere Rock It race only once in person, when visiting PEI for the Atlantic Breeders Crown on Oct. 4. His horse won by over seven open lengths in 1:54.2 for driver Gilles Barrieau. He was previously able to visit trainer Jamie Smith’s stable during Old Home Week.

“He’s a really smart horse and a real sweetheart to be around,” said Barnsdale, who purchased 10 per cent of the future Maritime star when “Rock It” was a yearling.

“That’s the biggest share I’ve owned of any racehorse, and I guess I picked the right one to do that,” Barnsdale said adding with a laugh, “Apparently, there’s 36 owners: 35 are Maritimers and there’s one interloper.”

The Oct. 17 Maritime Breeders’ Stake at Charlottetown was likely the last start of the year for Woodmere Rock It. Bred and privately sold by Woodmere Farms of Marshfield, PEI, he is expected to remain in the Maritimes for his sophomore stakes. After that, “he’s got to go somewhere where there’s money, because he looks the part,” Barnsdale said.

With another PEI-foaled gelding, OSS Gold Super Final winner Redland Rocket Man, currently among the top 3-year-old pacers on the continent, it’s easy to fantasize about Woodmere Rock It’s upward trajectory. Barnsdale said he would eventually love to see his horse in the Mohawk open.

“That would be the pinnacle for me,” he said. “I dream, but I do temper that by telling myself: ‘Listen, let’s see what happens in the 3-year-old season.’”

In the meantime, he has bought shares in Countyourblessings, a first-crop daughter of Tactical Landing purchased by TheStable.ca at Lexington. Shares, priced at $100.50 (CAD) apiece, are now sold out.