(San Pail with trainer Rod Hughes and his son, Wyatt - Dave Landry photo)
For many of the people featured in the “horse that changed your life” segment, the life changing horse arrived at a pivotal early point in their careers.
But driver Randy Waples was 42 when his life changer trotted into his life. In 2007, Waples first drove superstar-to-be San Pail for trainer and majority owner Rod Hughes of Dunsford, ON. The pairing proved to be magic.
Waples said the reason it was “absolutely San Pail” that changed his life went beyond the fact the Ontario Sired winner of $3 million was a three-time winner of the Maple Leaf Trot and the 2011 Horse of the Year in Canada and the United States.
“People looked at me differently,” Waples said of the impact of driving the son of San Pelligrino out of Village Beauty bred by Glenn Van Camp of Port Perry, ON. “I was able to compete at the highest level with a very good horse and he made me look good and people just, all of a sudden, looked at me in a different light. I had the goods (in San Pail), but I still couldn’t screw it up because there were good horses in there to beat him, too. It worked out for me. And he’s meant everything to me. He’s the ultimate.”
And that’s from a driver who has driven his share of champions and potential life-changers en route to more than 6,300 races and in excess of $123 million over 33 years in the sulky.
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