Brandon Campbell had just finished winning - what else is new? - the first of the four $90,000 Super Finals races for two-year-old colts with 7-1 Libra Mundi Saturday night at Century Mile - when post-race interviewer Don McDougall innocently asked him if he liked his chances in the other three Finals.
“Well I kind of like Jacques Lambert’s three-year-old filly, Imashipwreck in the three-year-old filly race,” said Campbell. “She’s got a chance to win at a big price.”
Calling Nostradamus.
Sure enough Imashipwreck did win. At a very, very big price upsetting heavy favourite Custard Dolce while sent off at 44-1 and returning $90.80 to win. It was the biggest upset in the history of the Super Finals.
“I told you!. I told you!” yelled Campbell,” after giving Imashipwreck a perfect trip riding on the back of the helmet of Custard Dolce, who had won 16 of 20 races and looked unbeatable. “I called it! I called it!”
Campbell wasn’t the only one in full throat. Lambert was also beside himself.
“I can’t believe it! I can’t freakin believe it! She won! She won!” Yelled Lambert embracing Campbell on the track and again in the winner’s circle. “I can’t believe it! Oh my God; she won it.”
Also yelling and crying were Lambert’s wife, Julie, son Jaden, daughter Jasmin and a host of other well wishers.
Any way you look at it it was a shock. Imashipwreck had finished ninth - beaten 16 1/2 lengths to Custard Dolce in their last meeting in the Century Casino on October 18. Before that, on October 11, Imashipwreck finished seventh - beaten 10 lengths - to Custard Dolce in a three-year-old Open pace.
Hardly anyone gave Imashipwreck a chance on Saturday except Campbell, who liked the way the daughter of Captain Deo out of the mare Rollin Deep had been training. Campbell also liked the rail that Imashipwreck had drawn and the way the race could shape up.
But he was one of the very few.
Lambert said “Honestly the best I was hoping for was a second to Custard Dolce.”
But win it? Not bloody likely.
“She was chasing Custard Dolce and Mademechangemymind all year,” said Lambert.
“Custard Dolce had been so dominant.
“But it’s horse racing and you never know. Still, it was amazing.”
With Custard Dolce finishing fourth and Mademechangemymind out of it, the tote board lit up like a Christmas tree.
As well as paying $90.80 to win, Imashipwreck also paid $37 to place and $48.40 to show.
Runner-up Blowing Inthe Wind returned $34.90 to place and $43.20 to show. Third-place finisher Chics Dragon Flies paid $22.00 to show.
Lambert was so nervous that he didn’t even watch the race.
“I just couldn’t watch. I had a horse - Captain Van Gogh - in the next race and I was attending to him.
“My wife and my kids were watching the race on the television in the paddock. First, there was silence. Then, all of a sudden, they were cheering their heads off. I thought maybe Imashipwreck was going to be second or something which would have been great.
“I went to the paddock to see what was happening and the first thing I saw was Imashipwreck in front and opening up half way down the stretch. I looked at the television and I couldn’t believe it. I thought ‘Are you kidding me?’
“We were all going nuts. It got pretty loud. We couldn’t contain ourselves.
“Then we all started running to the winner’s circle.
“I never watched the whole race until we got back to Red Deer at two in the morning.
“This is what we work for 10-12 hours a day. Getting up early. Going to bed late. A lot of hard work goes into training race horses,” said Lambert, who moved from Manitoba to Alberta three years ago.
“It’s moments like the to keep going.”
Lambert, who owns Imashipwreck with Regina’s Jim Wilson, said “Imashipwreck will follow all day.
“It started with drawing the rail. She had a lot of outside posts before. The rail gave her a chance. The only way Custard Dolce doesn’t race as good is if she’s in front cutting the mile. So I was surprised that she went to the top.
Lambert wasn’t the only one surprised to see Custard Dolce on the lead.
“We were all surprised,” said one of Custard Dolce’s owners Derek Wilson glumly.
Imashipwreck and Campbell pushed Custard Dolce to a first quarter in :27 seconds and stayed right behind her through a half in a quick :55 1/5.
“I knew we had a chance then,” said Campbell.
“Horse racing is filled with ups and downs,” sad Lambert, who has 60 horses stabled at his It’s a roller coaster. Saturday was just our day and in the biggest race of the year.”
Imashipwreck came close to Custard Dolce in the Gord and Illa Rumpel back in August when she was second at odds of 57-1 .She was also second to Custard Dolce in the Diamond elimination.
“I kept dreaming that Imashipwreck would one day get a trip on Custard Dolce’s back. But until Saturday that had never happened.
“Saturday it did. It was the pinnacle of the year for me. Maybe ever.”
The Super Finals had been delayed a week because of unsafe conditions and Lambert said that in retrospect that turned out to be a good thing.
“Last Saturday she wouldn’t eat. I was worried. But this week she ate everything we put in front of her. So I had hope,” said Lambert, who has a stable of 16 horses - nine of which are racing - but has some 60 horses in total including yearlings, weanlings, two-year-olds; broodmares and boarders.
“Last Saturday she wasn’t comfortable either. Stakes horses have to go into a retention barn 24 hours before the race. It wasn’t something she was comfortable with. This time she had already been in the retention barn so maybe she felt more comfortable.
“But it’s still amazing.
“There’s nothing more we could ask for.”
The mile went in 1:53 2/5 - the fastest of the four Super Finals - one for two-year-old fillies; one for two-year-old colts, another for three-year-old colts and then this one for three-year-old fillies.
It was the fastest Imashipwreck had ever paced.
“That was the cherry on top,” said Lambert.
“It was very surreal. It still is.”
Lambert’s operation is a family affair. His wife Julie, who is also a clinic manager for a local veterinarian for in Red Deer, where the Lamberts now live with a big farm that has a half-mile training track, works 8-to-5 at the clinic. In the mornings and after work Julie helps out a lot.
So do Jaden, 15, and Jasmin, 19.
“Jaden is like my second trainer. He goes to school and plays a lot of hockey. When he’s not doing that he really helps out. So does Jasmin, who is going to college. She spends a lot of time driving Jaden to hockey games and practices.
It all goes back to Lambert’s grandfather Sylvio Fillion, who raced horses in Manitoba for many years. Jaques worked for Sylvio since he was in elementary school.
Lambert got Imashipwreck when his brother Miquel bought the mare Rollin Deep from breeder Jim Rhodes in foal to Captain Deo.
“Miquel foaled the mare and raised the baby Imashipwreck. Then he sold Imashipwreck to me for $5,000 and I sold half to Jim (Wilson).”
Imashipwreck won $45,000 Friday night and now has lifetime earnings of just under $150,000.
“It’s amazing how it all worked out,” said Lambert, 43, who previously worked in management as a commodity trader and for an Ottawa public insurer.
Then he went back to his first love - horse racing.
As well Rhodes and Wilson, who came to Edmonton for last week’s cancelled card but unfortunately didn’t come from Regina this past weekend, Lambert wanted to mention his other partners in horses: Dr. Larry Hanson; Dr. Doug Weir; Sam Johnson; Rick Scott; Reg Wonnenberg; Gail Brassington; Gord Empey and Charlie Maze.
“Amazing,” said Lambert again.
STOCK REPORT
Libra Mundi made the winning move from Campbell to win the first Super Final race when he blasted down the backstretch from fourth to first and then pulled away from Ruler Of Dragons to win by a length in 1:54 4/5. It was Libra Mundi’s fourth win in nine starts.
Sent off at 7-1, Campbell said he looked at the tote board and said to Logan Gillis “Seven-to-one? She should never be that high.”
He was right then too.
Favourite B A Dragon won the Two Year Old Filly race in what turned out to be a two-horse race in the stretch with Ontario regular Austin Sorrie, who will represent Canada in the Prix des Rencontres Internationales du Trotteur Français, in the bike and Blue Star Strike battling it out with B A Dragon going on to a two and a half length victory over YV Four Roses when Blue Star Strike tired late in the Two Year Old Filly race.
Sorrie is currently Canada’s leading driver.
B A Dragon has now won five of her eight lifetime starts with this mile going in 1:55 1/5.
The Final Super Final the Three Year Old Colts race saw Westcoast McCoy come from dead last to a neck victory over Momas Work Of Art.
Westcoast McCoy hadn’t raced since August but his two qualifiers showed he was ready. In his most recent qualifier he came home in :26 4/5.
Westcoast McCoy won in 1:54 3/5.
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Author: The Turcottes: The Remarkable Story of a Horse Racing Dynasty.
