Outside post? No problem.

Five wide all the way? No problem.

First dirt race after four tries on the turf at Santa Anita California? No problem.

First race in three months?

No problem either for Big Hug, the tough five-year-old mare.

No wonder she was Alberta’s 2024 Horse of the Year.

Big Hug is just that good - as good or better than her overpowering victory in the inaugural $50,000 Red McKenzie Handicap when she overcame a trip so wide they could have built a WalMart between her and the inside rail.

But then, like Avon, Big Hug came a calling.

Fifth and still five-wide, Big Hug ran up alongside pacesetter Force to Rekn With at the quarter pole.

Not even really asked by talented jockey Rafael Zenteno Jr., Big Hug flew past Force to Rekn With, who ran a big race herself getting the first half mile in 45 seconds flat while still under a snug hold.

“She moved by them quick,” marvelled Hedge after Big Hug’s two-and-a-half-length victory - a race where Force to Rekn was seven full lengths ahead of third-place finisher Tone It Up.

“(Big Hug) ran big. She’s just a nice, nice horse.”

Zenteno Jr. admitted the five-wide journey had him “a little worried.

“I didn’t want to take back and I didn’t want to push her too hard too early.

“She was comfortable and I just let her do what she wanted.

“She’s such a good horse,” said Zenteno, who clipped heels in Saturday’s seventh race and was injured. Medical results were presently unavailable.

Few horses could have survived that arduous five-wide task. But then there aren’t many horses as gifted as Big Hug.

“There was no trouble out there where she was,” said trainer Rick Hedge, who co-owns Big Hug with Lori and Martin Neyka’s Empire Equestrian.

“No trouble like she got into in California at Santa Anita.

“At least she had a free run.”

After winning six of her eight starts in Alberta last year, Hedge and Empire Equestrian wanted to see how good she really is and sent her south.

While she didn’t win any of her five races at Santa Anita, Big Hug certainly wasn’t disgraced competing against Grade 1 winners and horses who were purchased for over $1-million.

She never finished more than seven lengths behind the winner in any of those races. But she certainly had excuses.

“Big Hug had troubled trips in all of her five races in California,” said Hedge.

Twice she got stopped. Twice she was wide. Once she broke in a mess.

“I’m very happy with the way she ran down there against world class mares.

“She’s tough.”

And as stubborn as a weed.

In the March 15 mile and a quarter Santa Ana Big Hug ran what could have been a winning race.

“A horse stopped in front of her at the three-eighths pole and and she had to let everything go by her before she could run again.

“She probably lost four or five lengths and she only got beat by five lengths.

It’s hard to regain that momentum and go again when something like that happens.”

Big Hug also got stopped in her last start in California - the March 29 Wilshire when she tried to go through a tight hole that closed in a hurry.

That was another race she could have won.

“She probably lost four lengths and she only got beat by two lengths,” said Hedge. “She was going the best at the end.”

Hedge said Big Hug lost the February 1 Megahertz Stake at the gate.

“She got left. She probably lost six lengths right there and she only got beat by six lengths.”

Friday’s Red McKenzie was Big Hug’s first race in three months.

So she could have been excused if she didn’t run as well as she did.

Not Big Hug.

Hedge said he gave Big Hug a month and a half layoff at Empire Equestrian to run in the paddocks. When she returned to the track she was ready to roll after another month and a half of training.

Big Hug was sired by Mr. Big and is out of the mare Temeeku, who broke her maiden for no tag at Del Mar, California.

Somehow, she was purchased for just $3,400 at the Alberta Yearling Sale. She is now a winner of just short of half a million dollars.

“I liked her the first time I saw her. She looked at me and said ‘Buy Me.’ So I did.

“One person bid. I bid $3,400 and that was it.

“And she’s easily the best horse I’ve ever trained,” said Hedge, who has trained many stakes winners in his career and many more as one of Alberta’s all-time best jockeys.

“She’s just a nice, nice horse.

“She’s blessed with a big heart and super lung capacity.

Big Hug’s next race will be the July 12 Red Smith at Century Mile.

Four races later came the co-featured $50,000 Spangled Jimmy.

It was a tale of two completely different stakes races at Century Mile.

While Big Hug overcame a very wide arduous trip, Itsallgoodman never had to leave the rail to win the Spangled Jimmy.

“Beautiful trip and a very patient ride by Dane,” said trainer Gonzalo Anderson of jockey Nelson’s performance.

Third - on the fence - during the early going while Ticket to the Top carved out sizzling fractions of :22 1/5, :44 1/5 and 1:08 3/5, Itsallgoodman, shot through the hole vacated when Ticket to the Top tired and drifted and steam-rolled on to a length-and-a-quarter victory over Ticket to the Top, who still had enough left to claim second in a tight place-photo over Drinking Again.

Owned by Curtis Landry, a strong supporter of Alberta horse racing, who has owned many stakes winners, Itsallgoodman has now won $238,000.

The Spangled Jimmy was Itsallgoodman’s sixth win in 17 lifetime starts.

“I was really happy with his race,” said Anderson, who has only been training for four years but is a force in every race he contests.

“We work hard. I’ve got a good crew with good owners.”

The Spangled Jimmy was Anderson’s 100th career victory.

“I didn’t realize that until I watched and listened to the replay,” said Anderson.

“It’s pretty exciting and very special.

“I always loved horses. My dad had horses back home in Venezuela,” said Anderson, 37, who came to Canada in 2009.

“My dad was a doctor but he also trained horses.”

Anderson said Itsallgoodman’s next start will - like Big Hug - will take place on July 12 in the Century Mile.

“In his last start, the Journal, Itsallgoodman was fanned wide. He lost a lot of ground.”

While some people think Itsallgoodman is a better sprinter, Anderson said he believes Landry’s horse can handle a distance.

“He ran pretty good in Winnipeg last year going a mile and an eighth in the Manitoba Derby.”

And, Itsallgoodman only lost last year’s Count Lathum going a mile and a sixteenth by three parts of a length - the same distance he ran finishing second - also by three quarters of a length - in the Beaufort.

“(Itsallgoodman) came back really good. I think he will run well again in the Century Mile.

“Hopefully he and the other horses I train will have a good year.”

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Author: The Turcottes: The Remarkable Story of a Horse Racing Dynasty.