A short story experiment

by Trey Nosrac

Last week in this slot was a ramble about the importance of telling stories for our sport.

Today will be an experiment that could make storytelling simple and free.

The idea would fall under the category of, “What does it hurt?”

Completely at random, one minute ago, I went to the entries/results tab of the USTA website and selected a couple of horses that were entered to race. There was no rhyme or reason for the choice, with the exception that I chose one racehorse from the upper level of racing and another from fair racing.

Next, I asked Artificial Intelligence to create a five-hundred-word story about both of these horses. My command was to create a few paragraphs that fill in some blanks, such as where they were raised, sold, trained, pedigrees, injuries, whatever AI could find to make an introductory story.

The goal was to take what are, at this moment, names in the entry box and turn them into more of a story. Let’s see what happens.

IRONHORSE HERBIE

Ironhorse Herbie is not a millionaire. Most harness racing fans outside Michigan have probably never heard of him.

In the fall of 2024, Ironhorse Herbie walked into the Winner’s Circle Speed Sale in East Lansing as Hip #13, a yearling colt by Musclesprinctonian out of the Big Stick Lindy mare Stickum Vicky. He was consigned by Brett Boyd Racing.

Bob Tait bought him for $25,000. That price deserves context. The 61 yearlings in the sale averaged $9,704. Herbie brought more than two and a half times the average and was the highest-priced trotter in the sale. The catalog offered a clue why. He was a full brother to Libbys Lucky Lady, a Michigan Sire Stakes champion and seven-time winner. Herbie arrived with expectations.

A year later, Ironhorse Herbie began trying to justify them – not at The Meadowlands or Lexington, but on the Michigan fair circuit. At 2, he won a Michigan Sired Colt Stakes Blue division at Caro and took a 2:10.2 record over the half-mile track. Published results from that summer show a young trotter who kept hanging around. After six starts, he had a win, three seconds, and a third.

Not a superstar, but an honest racehorse. Later published records placed his 2-year-old earnings near $20,000. Now he is 3 and still out there, traveling the Michigan fair circuit. In June 2026, his name appeared again in the Caro results, with Phil Peden listed in connection with him.

The story is simple. A $25,000 yearling. The sale’s highest-priced trotter. A full brother to a Michigan champion. A 2-year-old stakes winner. A 2:10.2 fair-track record. Now he is a 3-year-old going from fairground to fairground, trying to earn another check. No documentary crew; just a horse, his people, a trailer, and another fairground down the road.

SURREAL IDEAL

Surreal Ideal was foaled in 2018, a son of So Surreal and the Western Ideal mare Jkmusicofthenite. As a yearling, he was cataloged as Hip #530 for the 2019 Standardbred Horse Sales Company auction. Raised at Eugene Yoder Farm in Topeka, IN, he was consigned by Spring Haven Farm, acting as agent for Eugene A. Yoder.

Then came the first interesting twist. He never went through the sale. The official results list Surreal Ideal simply as OUT. No sale price. No buyer. No auction-ring drama. For whatever reason, the future 1:47.2 pacer and winner of 12 consecutive races left no hammer price behind.

Then another blank. He did not race at 2. In a business where 2-year-old speed can determine reputations, careers, and bank accounts, Surreal Ideal began with an empty page.

At 3, racing for John Bontrager, Jr., he improved. By late October 2021, he had made 19 starts, won four, and earned a little more than $30,000.

Useful horse. Nice horse. Nothing screamed superstar. Near the end of that season, Vernon Beachy and his partners entered the story. Since December 2021, Surreal Ideal has raced for 518 Group LLC and Ohio-based Gitup Racing. At 4, he worked through conditioned races at Northfield Park and The Meadows. In August 2022, he paced in 1:49.3 at The Meadows.

Now things were getting interesting.

By August 2024, he was winning an open at The Meadows. In June 2025, at age 7, he won the $26,000 open pace at Scioto Downs in the fastest mile of the meet at that point. Stalled cover forced him four-wide near three-quarters, and he still came home to win by 2½ lengths.

Then he became almost impossible to defeat. During the fall of 2025, Surreal Ideal began stacking victories. The streak eventually reached 12 consecutive wins. In those 52 races, he finished in the top three 45 times. He won 25.

Trainer Vernon Beachy later said the horse had “kind of flown under the radar.” A yearling that was listed as OUT. An unraced 2-year-old. A horse that flew under the radar and is still flying.

I do not believe these AI products are great literary stories. I’m not even sure the stories are 100 per cent accurate.

I believe that if a human took the time to interview the owners, trainers, and drivers, the human writer could unearth quotes, stories, trivia, humor, perspective, and incidents that would add meat to the bones of what AI offered.

Where does this experiment go? Trey is not sure.

What I am sure of is that in less than five minutes, these two horses became much more than names in a program. I felt myself beginning to cheer for “Herbie,” the plucky underdog, and felt amazement at the feats of “Surreal.” The stories, as wooden as they were, made me care, and there must be some value in caring.

ADDENDUMS:

Ironhorse Herbie

On July 7, Ironhorse Herbie was in the trotting stakes for 3-year-old colts at Midland for a purse of $3,400. I was excited to learn I could stream this race. I was also surprised how excited I was for the start of the race. I logged in an hour early and watched several races. My connection was tenuous, but after selecting him as my horse for the silly little experiment, there was a whisper of a connection.

Herbie made a trotting miscue before the starting gate and drifted out of the picture. But not for long. Herbie regained his stride and began passing horses. At about the three-quarters mark, he was second and closing. Alas, the rally took out some steam, and my Herbie finished third. The experiment inspired me to run off the Michigan Fair racing schedule and post it above my desk – and don’t ask me why, I will follow Herbie through the summer.

Surreal Ideal

On the fourth of July, 2026, Surreal Ideal finished second by a head in the open class at Scioto Downs.