Every time Trevor Henry looks out at the wooden structure standing at the back of his property, he draws a deep breath before a contented smile appears.
In a year of wins, losses and personal loss for the veteran Standardbred horseman, the modest 12-by-12 building is a haven, a place where he always feels right at home.
There’s no sign above the entrance, at least not yet, but when and if one does go up, the words gracing it will read
The Livvy House.
“I suppose you could say she was the one that built it,” said Henry. “Or, more accurately, she was the reason we were able to build it.”
“She,” in this story, is a temperamental, tough-as-nails trotting talent named Hey Livvy.
Henry, who drives the daughter of Donato Hanover, and co-owns the mare with Blue Chip Bloodstock Inc., and Ellen Ott, has had his hands full, often literally, over his time with the now six-year-old Standardbred.
He figured out early on in their partnership that it would be a battle of wills when it came to which one of them would call the shots once the starter car began rolling.
On many nights, it was a coin flip.
Trained by Jeff Gillis, Hey Livvy had long shown she possessed natural ability, but her headstrong ways would lead her astray at times, culminating in inconsistent results and head-scratching frustration for the team.
Sarah Anthon, Gillis’ wife, who has often paddocked the horse, knows her personality as well as anyone.
When asked the best way to describe the trotter, Anthon’s answer starts with a laugh.
“She’s a mare who knows what she wants. She has her own schedule… it’s on Livvy time. We cater to Livvy. But she really is a nice mare to be around and to work on. It’s more the challenge on the racetrack. Me looking after her, I just love her.”
In 2020, Hey Livvy repaid her connections for all the love, loyalty and infinite patience.
Whether it was kismet, maturity, a team effort, or perhaps all three, Henry isn’t quite certain.
“There were some issues with her getting qualified and no one could seem to get that bond going with her, so I tried my hand at with her on a few occasions. I didn’t always driver her, and whoever did, it just didn’t seem to click,” said Henry, who first qualified the horse in October 2018. “The owners told me that that if I drove her, they’d give me 10 per cent, which I accepted. I can’t say why we get along on the racetrack, but we just do.”
Gillis has some ideas as to driver and horse clicked.
“I think Trevor doesn’t get too stressed out about anything. He’s a pretty low-pulse guy and doesn’t get too worked up about anything. He also has lots of experience with precocious trotters, and he finds a way to get along with them.”
Hey Livvy constructed a 9-3-2 mark from 23 starts in 2020, a year in which she notched a lifetime best 1:51.1 mile at Woodbine Mohawk Park. She also brought in $280,000, the most single-year earnings in her career.
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The biggest highlight came on the night of August 30 at Woodbine Mohawk Park when Hey Livvy, who had stamped herself as one of Canada’s most accomplished mares in the Open ranks, stepped up in class and into the spotlight in the Armbro Flight Stakes.
Her rivals included harness racing heavyweight Atlanta, whose resume includes wins in the Hambletonian, Maple Leaf Trot, Kentucky Filly Futurity, and Empire Breeders Classic, along with nearly $2.9 million in career earnings.
Hey Livvy, at odds of 5-1, felt relaxed, recalled Henry, in the seconds before the starter called the horses to the gate.
As the field was sent on its way, Atlanta broke stride in the first turn as Hey Livvy was settled into third.
Henry hustled his charge out of third on the backside towards the front, clearing Plunge Blue Chip before a :55.2 half. The duo then began to widen their advantage over Plunge Blue Chip heading to three-quarters in 1:23.3.
There was no tussle between horse and driver down the lane, the pair working in concert as the finish line drew closer.
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It was just how Henry had long envisioned it.
“I’d say the highlight of the year was definitely the Armbro Flight. That race, she was in with some really tough mares. Atlanta made a break, which helped, but she still beat them. It doesn’t get much better than that.”
A horse that once had a need for a speed and little regard for anything else, had finally managed to assemble a near-perfect race.
Gillis was overjoyed to see it come to fruition. Admittedly, he didn’t see it coming.
“The talent she has is immense. You can be 15 minutes in the game and you can she has that big talent. I’ll say this – I thought we would be able to get her off the gate and sort of go as fast and as far she could, and rattle off some quick victories, but possibly fall short of beating some good horses because of her being very one-dimensional. I did not see her being a versatile type. Trevor, he taught her a lot. He deserves a lot of credit.”
Hey Livvy would win three more races on the year, including back-to-back scores in November.
Her last start of the campaign was a third on December 22, three days after Henry’s father, longtime horseman Ross Henry, passed away.
“When his dad passed on December 19, it hit hard,” recalled Henry’s wife, Shannon. “I would get up and see Trev watching the Armbro Flight… watching previous races. We couldn’t go see his parents anymore in the nursing home due to COVID-19, but Ross would still call and always ask, ‘How’s the trotter?’ We have eight ourselves but we knew he was talking about Livvy. He was proud.”
As the elder Henry struggled with memory loss, each passing day becoming more of a struggle to recollect things past and present, Hey Livvy gave him something to focus on and look forward to.
“We found that Ross would pick up on conversation with us whether it be Nickle Bag [an accomplished pacer Henry also drove] at the time or Hey Livvy at the end. Somehow, he would pick out the weekly Preferred horses and they would stick with him. He would focus on Monday night because that’s when Livvy raced and we feel there was some kind of thread there he was hanging onto, refusing to let go of what he used to do, even though old age wanted him to forget.”
Less than two weeks after Ross Henry’s passing, Hey Livvy was named an O’Brien Award finalist in the Older Trotting Mare category.
On January 31, the day of the annual ceremony that fetes Canada’s top horses and horsepeople, Trevor’s mother, Joyce, died of natural causes at the age of 85.
“When Trevor’s mother passed away a short six weeks later on the morning of the awards, there wasn’t a whole lot to smile about,” recalled Shannon.
Hey Livvy did her part to change that.
“When they announced her name as the winner, that’s all we needed to hear,” said Shannon. “For all the tough times over that six weeks, we had something to smile about. It took at team of people to help Livvy find her way. I now feel it’s ironic that Livvy or the partners have no idea how she helped Trevor through a tough time.”
Having solidified a new reputation as a trotter to be reckoned with and shedding notoriety as a single-minded horse hell bent on speed, the award-winning bay had finally hit her best stride.
For those who comprise her team, it is a most satisfying sight.
The man who has 39,300 career trips in the race bike to his name humbly acknowledges that.
“I guess we were able to build something special together,” said Henry. “With her, I feel right at home.”
Just as he does the moment he steps inside The Livvy House.
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