For Wayne Givens, a Moment in the Spotlight
It's been an extended road trip for Wayne Givens, spending the last few weeks in Canada with Powerful Mist(Powerful Toy), one of the top contenders Saturday in the $1.5 million Pepsi North America Cup at Mohawk Raceway.
That's a long stretch for someone who considers himself a homebody. The quiet trainer from southern Delaware is happiest at his 45-acre farm and half-mile training track in the southern part of the state. For most of his career, Givens never ventured far from there, campaigning mainly on the Delaware and Maryland circuits. Sure, he would take a nice horse occasionally to Yonkers or Roosevelt or the Meadowlands.
"We'd ship out from there but I've always done good racing Delaware and Maryland Sires Stakes horses," Givens said.
Most of his time was spent close to home, and that suited him just fine. Not that it hasn't worked well. Givens, 60, has won over a 1,000 races with horses that have banked over $10 million. For some fans, Givens has been a well-kept secret.
"Not a lot of people know a lot about him outside the area, " Dover Downs publicist Marv Bachrad said of Givens. "He and his brother Les are very successful trainers on the Delmarva peninsula. The Givens brothers have been two of the most successful conditioners from the least populated part of the state. Wayne and Les have been very prominent in the Delaware Standardbred Breeders Fund where their horses have been right there for most of the decade of the stakes event, with both trotters and pacers.
"Wayne has risen from a claiming specialist into a trainer with good racehorses, He has a lot of patience and a lot of ability."
As it turned out, Givens was in the right place with the advent of slot machines at Dover Downs and Harrington Raceway.
"If they hadn't gotten slots, I don't know if I could have continued," Givens said. "As I got older, I don't know if I could have continued to ship to run like I used to. It sure made it a lot more convenient and the purses are a lot more. To make a living now, you don't have to leave home."
Sometimes you have to pack the traveling trunk. He hit the road with Winbak Speed (Village Jove), a terrific claim who won the 2009 Presidential Final at the Meadowlands and hit the board in major stakes in Canada and Indiana.
"We've kind of stepped it up a little bit," Givens said. "When you get horses like him, you start spending a little more money. It's just worked out good."
Especially when it leads to a colt like Powerful Mist. For all the races he's won over the years, Givens concedes going for this kind of money will be something special.
"Normally I don't get nervous, but I'm sure on race night I'll get a little bit nervous," Givens said. "Especially when you're racing for a million and a half. It makes you feel a lot better when you think you've got a shot."
It's a shot that began with a $27,000 yearling purchase at the Winbak Farm sale.
"It was at Joe Thomson's farm in Maryland and Winbak does a real good job raising their babies," Givens said. "I think it's a plus when you buy from a farm like them. When I got through looking at the colts, he stood out to me. I think he was the best looking thing in the sale."
Givens was hopeful he had a nice colt who could do business in the DSBF stakes. Powerful Mist has been all of that, winning a pair of $100,000 finals.
But he also showed he could be much more against open company. He won a Woodrow Wilson and a Matron elimination last year.
Last week, he stepped up at the right time, winning his NA Cup elimination in a career best 1:50.2, beating Rockabillie (Rocknroll Hanover) and heavily favored Big Jim (Western Ideal).
It was the kind of effort that produces big dreams.
"I think my colt's real good and I think he's got a good shot," Givens said. "He seems to be on top right now and everything seems to be going good. I think he's as good as the ones we're in with.
"I can't say enough good about him. He's never had any problems or done anything wrong."