‘Right’ decision put Farber and Campbell on road to possible Crown glory

by Debbie Little

When Scott Farber sent his homebred Wrong Sounds Right to the 2025 Standardbred Horse Sales Company yearling sale in Harrisburg, PA, he hoped he would bring a good price. But $35,000 later, the son of Tactical Landing out of the Broadway Hall mare Broadway Jo Ell, was on his way to trainer Jim Campbell’s stable after Farber signed the ticket.

“Well, he had sold one earlier that really sold cheap,” Campbell said. “He thought there’d be a little better market for both of his yearlings, and when the first one didn’t sell well, he just said, ‘I’m not giving the other one away,’ so that’s how he ended up buying him back.”

Telling Tall Tales sold as Hip #185 at Harrisburg for $6,000, and the gelded son of Back Of The Neck—Scores To Settle has seven wins in 10 starts this season, banking $116,600.

Wrong Sounds Right was Hip #685.

“Jimmy thinks, and I can’t really argue with him, that there’s like divine intervention that allowed us to buy this horse back,” Farber said. “And I just flat out said to him, ‘Listen, I’m not letting this horse go.’ Because I was really upset with the amount of money that this horse was at $35,000. So, there’s just no way I was letting that happen.”

Wrong Sounds Right has rewarded his connections with a record of 6-1-0 from eight starts, banking $598,750, which included a victory in the Mohawk Million at Mohawk.

“Well, as good as this horse turned out, Scott and I have both said that we thank God that we have the horse and that we’re able to enjoy this run that this horse is on because he’s been nothing but a pleasure,” Campbell said. “This horse, he’s a real professional and he’s just a real cool horse to be around.

“He loves to race, and he’s the type of horse he can race any different style. Whatever [driver] Todd [McCarthy] wants to do with him, it doesn’t matter to him.”

Last week’s Breeders Crown elimination victory at Scioto Downs was Wrong Sounds Right’s first time on a five-eighths-mile track.

“I didn’t think that he would have a problem going to a three-turn track, but him never being on it, and some of his competition had been on it, it’s always in the back of your mind is it going to work against you or not make a difference,” Campbell said. “But yes, it felt really good that he had no problem going around it. You know he warmed up well, seemed good going around the track warming up, and he did everything that he was supposed to do out there, but it’s always in the back of your mind when they’ve never been on three turns before.”

Campbell, a six-time Crown champion, confirmed that win or lose, Wrong Sounds Right will not be heading to the Valley Victory at The Meadowlands on Nov. 14 after the Crown.

“This is going to be his last race as a 2-year-old,” Campbell said. “We didn’t stake him to [the Valley Victory] because when we were doing the staking, Scott and I, obviously, had no idea what type of a horse he was going to be, but we just both said if he’s not good enough for the Breeders Crown, then he probably wouldn’t be good enough for the Valley Victory. And if he was good enough for the Breeders Crown, we probably wouldn’t want to race him past that anyway. So, once we saw the way he was performing for us we were conscious of how many starts we were going to give him and that was one of the reasons I took the bye for the Jersey Classic race, just to give him one less start.”

Campbell said management of a young horse is even more important these days because of the speeds that they go.

“Me personally, I love racing,” Campbell said. “I love racing a horse. I like a good stakes horse. I like racing them every two or three weeks, and this horse has raced with three weeks off, two different times, one being last week in his [Crown] elimination, and the other being the New Jersey Classic final. He had three weeks in between those races, and I love racing them with more time in between as opposed to racing them week in and week out, just because of the speeds and it takes a lot out of them.”

Hall of Famer Campbell currently trains four horses for Farber, two for Coyote Wynd Farms, and two for Caviart Farms with a couple turned out. 

For 31 years, Campbell trained for Fashion Farms, but when owner Jules Siegel decided to sell everything last year, it left Campbell in a bad spot with people still thinking he trains for Fashion Farms. Campbell went as far as taking an ad out in the trades to let people know that he’s running an open public stable.

“As soon as that article goes to press, I’m going to be waiting by the phone,” Campbell told HRU with a laugh.

Farber couldn’t have been more complimentary about his working relationship with Campbell and hoped some owners would give him a chance, especially with the Harrisburg sale coming up shortly.

“There’s no better communicator that’s out there,” Farber said. “And I’ve found that out the hard way. I know they’re two different businesses, but you know I’ve started to do a little bit in the thoroughbred business, and a couple of my horses have gone to trainers in the thoroughbred business, and really, what it’s done is only made me appreciate Jim Campbell even more, because you know the guy, he’s just a true professional… I don’t need to know every time my horse goes to the bathroom, but I do need progress reports when these horses are training down. There’s a lot of money that’s involved in this, and you know Jimmy, he’s just a tremendous communicator. The way he runs his operation, the guy is just a true professional.”

When asked if they’ve started thinking about next year and the possibility of multiple million-dollar races, Campbell said he and Farber are trying to take it one day at a time with Wrong Sounds Right.

“Well, you never want to get, you know, too far ahead of yourself, but I think anybody that has a horse in the Breeders Crown final is, if they’re not saying it, they’re kind of thinking in their head, about what type of races they want to have them ready for next year, and we’re no different,” Campbell said. “Scott and I have had minor discussions, but you know, the main focus is to get through this week and do the best we can this week, and then we’ve got lots of time over the winter to figure out a plan.

“But it is nice to know that there are a lot of different opportunities for 3-year-old trotting colts. You know, starting with Oak Grove, The Meadowlands, and Hoosier, and Mohawk has the Canadian Trotting Classic. There are just a lot of opportunities next year for 3-year-old trotting colts.”

Farber has won big races in the past like the 2022 Hambletonian with Cool Papa Bell and a 2020 Breeders Crown with homebred Next Level Stuff, but something is special this year with Wrong Sounds Right.

“Well, I’ll tell you, Jimmy’s a very conservative guy, and I can understand why because you know how delicate a business this business is, but the other side of that coin is that I’m dreaming big with this horse,” Farber said. “I really am. It’s nice to be able to be 56 years old and to be able to be like a little kid and daydream. You know, I’m going to have fun with it. I really am because as we get older it’s harder to have dreams. It just becomes more difficult I think and this horse has allowed me to dream, and I’m going to dream.

“I’ve said to Jim several times, could you imagine if we let this horse go at $35,000?”