Since moving to the Ron Burke barn in December, the 9-year-old son of Western Hanover has been unbeaten in seven starts; four of those wins came in February and earned him Horse of the Month honors from the U.S. Trotting Association.
He began February with a 1:51.3 win in a claiming handicap at the Meadowlands and followed that with two more in preliminary legs of the Winter Survivor Series over the same surface. The second leg win earned him a new mark of 1:51.2 -- faster than he had won in his 150 previous career starts.
In the $86,700 Winter Survivor Series Final, driver Yannick Gingras and Oil Magnet made their winning move just past the half-mile pole and then held the others safe in a 1:53.1 victory over a sloppy track. The win, the 23rd of his career, raised his 2013 earnings to $68,550 and his career bankroll to $328,610.
Burke’s idea to buy Oil Magnet was based upon having briefly trained his half-brother, Crazy For Ever, who had won three of five while under Burke's direction.
“That was part of the reason I was interested,” Burke said in a recent interview with Ken Weingartner of Harness Racing Communications. “It seems like a family that carries its speed into the later years. We like to work with families we’ve had some success with, so we were willing to go there again.”