Puslinch-trained harness racehorse chases undefeated season

CTV’s Colton Wiens meets Beau Jangles, who remains undefeated after his first fifteen races, ahead of the Pepsi North America Cup.

A local champion harness racehorse is looking to stay undefeated this season after winning every race of his career.

Beau Jangles lives at the Shamrock Training Centre in Puslinch, Ont. and trains under the guidance of Dr. Ian Moore. Moore said the Ontario-bred Beau Jangles seemed a bit oversized when he first saw him at a sale in Harrisburg, Pa., but the horse has quickly made a name for himself.

“I like them to look like a yearling should look — not too big, not too small. He was a little bit oversized, but in retrospect now, as we look back, he never really changed a whole lot from two-year-old to three-year-old," Moore said. “He’s got more muscular and more, as horsemen say, filled out a bit in the chest and so on, but hasn’t really gotten any bigger than he was last year.”

“It wasn’t until the qualifying time that we thought that maybe we have something nice here, but never really knew how nice until the season progressed,” added Moore, a veterinarian and trainer.

Last year, Beau Jangles won all 12 of his races and has earned around $1.8 million since his debut.

“It’s about 1.8 million now I think in Canadian dollars. And he is, let me see, 15 for 15 now, after 12 wins as a two-year-old last year,” Moore said. “Beau Jangles received horse of the year not only in Canada but in the U.S. as well and never left Canada. And that’s the first time that’s ever happened.”

Moore said while it is not highly unusual for a horse to win this many races, staying completely undefeated throughout a lifetime is rare.

“He’s just about the best one we have, I guess,” Moore said. “By the time we got to about six for six with this guy, we were starting to smile a little bit and think, this might be alright.”

Riley Noble, Moore’s assistant trainer and the caretaker of Beau Jangles, said looking after a horse of this calibre is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“His attitude, his demeanor. He knows what he is. And he makes sure everyone around him knows what he is. And that just makes it more exciting,” Noble said.

Like any top-tier athlete, those who know Beau Jangles say he has a fierce desire to win.

“He loves it. We get to the track, and we walk in the paddock and he’s roaring and screaming, letting everyone know he was there. He’s just happy to be there,” Noble said.

“Beautiful gait to him and very light. He’s got tremendous will and desire to race against whatever’s around him,” Moore said.

Moore noted that Beau Jangles was bred at Tara Hills Stud in Port Perry and was originally named T.H. Bojangles.

“So it was T.H. Bojangles, as in the song Mr. Bojangles, I guess. So, one of the primary owners, Adam Ainspan, had a dog that was called Beau. They decided before we qualified him to change his name to Beau Jangles as it is today.”

The standardbred’s attitude stands out a bit more than the other 21 horses Moore trains.

“Not as laid back as some of the other ones I look after. I do have to watch my back with him sometimes, because he will sneak up and bite me or whatever,” Noble said. “He doesn’t need a lot of maintenance ... but can be a handful sometimes. He is a stallion and so, he bites and plays, it’s not dirty. But he is very playful.”

Moore said this is likely Beau Jangles’ last year racing before he becomes a commercial breeding stallion, expected to retire around the end of October or early November.

On Saturday, Beau Jangles will compete in the qualifier for the Pepsi North America Cup at Woodbine Mohawk Park in Campbellville.

“We do the best that we can. We control everything that we can control ... but we can’t control the draw for pole positions. We can’t control the other nine horses, the other nine drivers, the weather, the track conditions,” Moore said. “So, all those variables, in order to have success, all those variables have to fall in place with good management.”

If he qualifies, he will compete for the $1-million prize the following weekend.