Roy O’Hagan found a way to heaven once and now islooking to do it again.

But he didn’t have a very good winter.He has one horse “not worth a quarter” and another that

has him stumped. But as he says: “at age 77 it could be a hellof a lot worse.”

O’Hagan is largely unknown to the vast majority of peo-ple in the racing game but as a horse owner he has had morethan his fair share of successes. Most recently he procuredRock N Roll Heaven from the 2008 Lexington Selected Year-ling Sale before selling him last June for a princely sum. Thecolt went on to become one of the best rookies last year, win-ning over $600,000 in just nine starts.

Paisley, Ontario, is a small village located 25 kilometresnorthwest of Walkerton (forever known for its tainted waterscandal). There are no signs stating it to be the “Home of RoyO’Hagan” but then he’s been gone a long time.

In the big scheme of things O’Hagan is not a name in theracing game but because of horses like Sparkler, Cam KnowsBest, Doctor Gerson, Dreams Are Real, My Old Friend John,Sharks On Track and of course Rock N Roll Heaven, he’sdemonstrated many times that he is a good judge of horse-flesh, a careful developer of young horses and a superb sales-man.

Not bad at all for a kid born in the dirty thirties.“It definitely wasn’t a good time to be born. There was

no money and everyone was terribly short of whiskey.”O’Hagan and wife Marlene hang their shingle at Scioto

Downs these days. They spent a cold winter in the new Win-ter Miles Training Centre near Oveido, Florida, and now areworking their way north.

“I’ve got this Credit Winner colt that is giving me prob-lems. He just will not trot the way I think he should so I havea friend there who might be able to help the cause. It’s notrouble getting stalls at Scioto with the way things are in Ohioso it’s a good place to spend a couple months before I headback home,” he explains.

O’Hagan was a product of an Ontario farming family buthe put his hand to a mechanic’s wrench rather than a plow.

“I just always loved the idea of tinkering around withengines. I guess it’s a bit like what I’m doing with these horsesnow.”

His apprenticeship started in 1949 and by 1955 he had hisown garage in Formosa.

“I had that for two years until the fall of 1957 and oneday said I was tired of it because I couldn’t see a future. Bythen I was married with three children and felt there had tobe more so I joined the military.”

Heaven has a lot of appeal for 77 year-old horseman Roy O’Haganbut not quite the one you would expect. By Harold Howe

There he stayed for nine years largelybecause “the money was great and thepension plan better.”

He found himself stationed inKingston, Calgary, the Middle East andLondon, Ontario, which is where hebecame seriously interested in horses.

“I never realized how tough it was onthe family. I just decided it had to end so Iwent back to being a mechanic again andgot my first horse in 1966. That’s when Ibegan dinking around the horses. Myfather had all sorts of horses on the farmand he was a good horseman.”

Again disillusioned with the car busi-ness O’Hagan landed work at OntarioHydro’s Douglas Point Nuclear GeneratingStation where he spent a total of 15 years.

“I kept playing around with thehorses but never had much stock. In 1981I bought a run down farm of 106 acres andbuilt a track. I trained from there for fiveyears before selling it in 1986 when theplace was full of horses. It was a lot ofwork when I was also working at the sta-tion,” he recalls.

“At 56 I retired and that was that. I

had a bit of money and got the notionthat I would go to Harrisburg to buy threenice yearlings and take them to Florida forthe winter to develop at Ben White Race-way. I also built a new home on the farmbut then my wife and I divorced andthings went downhill.”

That proved another tough winter.“I think I paid $14,000, $15,000 and

$17,000 for the three. The first was a Nerothat bowed a tendon at two, the Tyler B hadOCDs before we really knew a lot aboutthem and he was lame most of the time.The other, a No Nukes colt was the bestgaited horse you’d ever see,” relates Roy.

“I trained him in 2:25 before Easterwhen Dick Williams III came along andwanted to buy him. He was a trotting guybut had an owner who wanted a goodpacer. I priced him at $125,000 and Dickasked to go a trip with him.

“He liked him and we shook hands butthe next day was Good Friday and I foundthe horse laying in his stall with manure allover the place. We did everything we couldbut by Friday night he was dead and therewas not a penny of insurance.

“So the whole Harrisburg trip was adisaster. I figured I’d taken about a$75,000 licking without counting the lackof insurance. Let me tell you I was sick.”

But time has a way of healing woundsespecially with horse people. That next fallRoy back at the sales.

“I told my brother Tom that I wasgoing to take another run at it but didn’thave much to play with. I went to theNorth American Sale at Garden State Parkwhere I found a nice little Landslide horsethat I was able to get for $4,800. I said thatone would do me just fine so I loaded himup in the truck and trailer and headed to

May 2010 • The Harness Edge

KNOCKING ON HEAVEN’S DOOR

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O'Hagan picked out the Rocknroll Hanover colt Rock N Roll Heaven at theLexington Select Sale for $57,000. He sold him the following June to Frank Bellinoof New York and the colt went on to win $614,000 from nine starts as a two-year-old for trainer Bruce Saunders.

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The Red Mile for the winter. His name wasDoctor Gerson.”

While he was not an imposing pres-ence the colt had ability. O’Hagan recallstraining him very early in the spring in 1:59at Lexington before heading to the Mead-owlands.

“I spoke with Jim Campbell abouthim because he’d just had Run The Table,another Landslide son. He told me tobring the horse down and maybe he’d buyhim if he looked the part. I came downand got John (Campbell) to drive him. Heraced well finishing third in around 1:57.Jim said afterward that he was worriedthat while he showed some ability that hewas not big or rugged enough to standthe kind of racing that went on at theMeadowlands.

“I was stabled in Jim Doherty’s barnand for the next start I asked Jim if he’ddrive him. Well, Jim left like a jet planeand down the road he goes to win in1:55.2. By the time we got back to thebarn people were buzzing around likeflies. Jerry Silverman comes over and saidput a price on him. I did and Peter Heffer-ing ended up owning him.

“He proved to be a decent horse overthe years winning over $300,000 but what

was important to me was that it put cashin my pocket and got me rolling. It was aspringboard.”

Someone who has noticed O’Hagan’ssmall operation is bloodstock agent BobBoni.

“What separates Roy from many ofthe guys is that he buys more pedigreethan a lot of them and he stakes them bet-ter. The type of animal he goes home withis one that you can get excited about inthe spring if you get a call on them. Andon top of that he’s a good horseman.”

There were a few more than camealong but none like Doctor Gerson until1996 when he hit with a colt from the firstcrop of Cambest that he found at the NewJersey Classic Sale for a mere $5,000. Thatturned out to be Cam Knows Best.

“I’m a gambler on first time stallions.If the stallion was a good racehorse that Iadmired I will not hesitate buying butalways and I mean always it’s colts only.I’m not hung up on price if I like the horse.

I prefer to buy in the $15,000 to $30,000range but that doesn’t always happen. Ipaid $57,000 for Rock N Roll Heaven and itnever bothered me a bit because I likedhim that much.”

Cam Knows Best, who was originallynamed Warrior Hanover, accompaniedO’Hagan to Florida that winter.

“I got him started at The Meadowsbefore going to the Dignity at the Mead-owlands. Jim Doherty drove him and hewon in 1:55.4 when Bob Glazer of PeterPan Stables came over and wanted to buyhim,” says O’Hagan.

“I said he was for sale but as part of apackage. There was another horse, ScootllDo, but he didn’t want him. Then he cameback and said he’d get him sold for mewhich he did. I didn’t even have time tobath Cam Knows Best and he was sold.”

Noel Daley briefly trained the horsebefore he was moved to Brett Pelling’s sta-ble. His career earnings tallied $592,000.

The next notable O’Hagan came up

May 2010 • The Harness Edge

KNOCKING ON HEAVEN’S DOOR

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Sparkler, the winner of the 2004 Confederation Cup at Flamboro Downs, was an$18,000 yearling buy for O'Hagan who later sold him to Pat Ryan of London,Ontario. A son of Jate Lobell, Sparkler has over $755,000 earned.

The Harness Edge • May 2010

with was Sparkler, a 2002 purchase. Thisson of Jate Lobell came from the old Tat-tersalls sale for $18,000.

“Gee, I liked that horse. He was anice, long rangy type but he had a bumpon his right hind leg right about where thehopple would hang. It was about half thesize of a walnut. Everyone saw it and waswondering what it could be. Somethought it looked like a reaction to aninjection which may have scared off somepeople,” he suggests.

“Anyway I got him for the price I did,which was less than what he should havebrought even though he was a Jate Lobellwho was out of fashion by then. The crazything is that bump never bothered him. Ijust hung the hopples a little different sothey would not rub and he carried on. Ienjoyed that horse so much.”

That year he wintered at ReveilleFarms (now the new Winter Miles TrainingCenter). “I came to The Meadows beforegetting back to Ontario where I sold himto Pat Ryan of London.”

Sparkler blossomed as a three-year-old winning the Confederation Cup thatyear and would go on to earn $755,000before the end of his career.

Next to come along was Sharks OnTrack, a $32,000 purchase from Tattersalls.

“He was a Cams Card Shark colt I soldbefore he ever qualified. I was at SpringGarden Ranch that year when aroundcame Bill Robinson and Peter Heffering.They said they heard I had a pretty nicecolt and wanted to see if he was for salewhich he was,” remembers O’Hagan.

“He was the most different horsebecause when he’d go around a turn hecould almost lay down on his side. Any-way that day in April I trained him a milein 2:12 but when I turned him loose in thatlast turn he must have come home in 27seconds. They bought him right there buthe ended up breaking a bone in his lefthind which was too bad, he was meant tobe a good one.”

Dreams Are Real was his next score atthe Lexington Select Sale. That $45,000son of Artsplace debuted at Tioga Downsfor the newly created 2007 KindergartenSeries. He won two legs before DeoVolente Farm came knocking and boughtthe colt who was placed with Erv Miller.However, he was a disappointment failing

to live up to his promise winning just$163,000 lifetime.

Later that year O’Hagan was back atthe Lexington Select Sale where he collaredMy Old Friend John, a $15,000 Cambest colt.

“I got him started in Lexingtonbefore shipping north and put Paul Mac-Donell up. He won his second start in 1:55and it wasn’t long that night before thephone started ringing. It was Bruce Saun-ders and he wanted the horse.

“I priced the colt and he bought himfor some people in New York but the colthas never turned out like I thought hewould. Bruce still has him but somethingis not right there.” To date the now four-year-old has earned $187,000.

Obviously, Saunders was undeterredbecause he came back the following Juneto purchase Rock N Roll Heaven fromO’Hagan. As of this writing the colt islooming as one of the heavyweightsamong this year’s sophomore crop.

“I bought My Old Friend John fromhim the year before. I know Roy to be agood and honest guy. He had told me hewanted a Rocknroll Hanover horse andjoked that once he had him ready he’d callme. Roy pinhooks horses and makes agood living for himself. He did call meafter Rock N Roll Heaven qualified the firsttime,” says Saunders.

Rock N Roll Heaven was a $57,000purchase again at the Lexington SelectYearling Sale and from the HuntertonFarm consignment.

“It seemed everyone was dismissingthat colt because they felt he was toosmall. Trainer after trainer dismissed himand while it is easy to say now I did notthink he was small. He wasn’t big but nei-ther was he a pony,” recalls Steve Stewartof Hunterton.

“The crazy thing is that last fall thosesame people told us they didn’t want thebig colts. I’ve said it before and that is sell-ing yearlings in this business is almostcomedic at times.”

Roy concurs with Stewart’s observa-tion regarding the colt’s size.

“I did not view the horse as small. I hadmy son Mike hang on to him while I steppedback and had a good look. I loved him, theway he stood, his manners and attitude sowhen we got him for $57,000 I was veryhappy. That says a lot considering he was

the most expensive horse I ever bought.”Down to Florida O’Hagan went again

and it did not take him long to discover heliked the horse even more.

“I guess I have a reputation for beingtough on my horses but I don’t beat onthem. I look after my animals, feed themwell and get them legged up. Then when Igo to work them I expect them to perform.I believe in a lot of 2:10 miles,” he explains.

“Two days before we shipped northfrom Florida I worked Rock N Roll Heavena mile in 2:01 off a half in 1:02. We thenwent to Scioto Downs and got ready toqualify him.”

He qualified on May 30 and again aweek later before being sold to Saundersand his owner Frank Bellino as part of atwo horse package.

Clearly, there is a pattern to O’Hagan’sapproach to pinhooking horses. It seemssimple but few follow a similar path.

“I go to a sale looking for value. Idon’t give a damn about the programthey are eligible to. And that’s where I runinto problems with people back home inOntario. These fellows who get hung upon just Ontario-breds are just hurtingthemselves,” he says.

“The Ontario program is great butthat is not the only place that good horsescome from. I find it almost impossible tosell a horse to anyone in Ontario. Firstthey have to be Ontario-sired and thenthey are always looking for a discount.I’ve just had very little luck.”

O’Hagan generally zeros in on fivesires.

“I’m going to the sales looking forvalue and that can come at different pricepoints. I want to like the animal when Isee him. I think I go in with an open mindbut I have to like the horse.”

In recent years he has settled on Win-ter Miles Training Center because he likesthe turns on the track and the proximity towhere he and Marlene live.

At 77 he does not see this practice con-tinuing forever but then again who knows?

“I genuinely love what I’m doing.There is no one to answer to but myself.I’m disappointed with what I have thisyear but that happens. Oh, I’ll probably beback in the fall to get a couple more; itwould be nice to have one more Rock NRoll Heaven.” �