Harness: Daley feeling right at home back in the United States

There’s no place like home.

That may be true for many but for trainer Noel Daley home is where he goes to work, and after a brief change of venue that took home to another hemisphere, he’s back in New Jersey and looking forward to a full 2020 season in North America.

“I came here when I was 28 years old,” said Daley. “For the last five years (prior to 2019) I had been thinking about returning to Australia. I had a lot of family down there and when the opportunity came I decided to go.”

What Daley found once back in his native land was that everything wasn’t exactly as he would have wanted it to be. “For one I was training a stable in Sydney. It’s the only circuit you can make any money at,” said Daley. “The problem was that I was still 500 miles away from a majority of my family.”

While the family part didn’t work out exactly, the racing side was a departure as well for Daley, who was the private trainer for a well-to-do owner. “It was a situation where they bought some expensive horses that they picked out and liked. That wasn’t the way I was used to it in North America where I looked at horses and got to choose,” said Daley.

It didn’t take Daley very long to realize that he was missing what he had in North America. “I found myself checking out the results at The Meadowlands a lot,” said Daley.

Eventually the 58-year-old trainer realized that he was in the wrong place. It took just one airline ticket to bring Daley back to the United States and he found his way to Kentucky in short order. “I timed it so that I would be in Lexington for the yearling sales,” said Daley. “It’s really the part of the sport I love the most, to select and train yearlings.”

The good news was that owners hadn’t forgotten Daley’s impressive credentials and got him back going in a very meaningful way. “We picked up 14 babies,” said Daley. “The most expensive was $90,000 but that’s fine. I’ve trained nine million dollar winners and the most cost $65,000,” said Daley before correcting himself slightly.

“Actually Mr Muscleman cost just $2,000 but we didn’t buy him. Actually we paid $165,000 for him and that was after he finished second in an overnight race at Rosecroft.”

The year was 2002 and Daley had forged a relationship with owner Adam Victor. “We got a call on the horse. Syl King Jr. was training him. I went up to the Amish country to go a trip with him and then we decided to purchase him,” said Daley, recalling a rather huge gamble at the time.

In Mr Muscleman Daley staked his reputation but found himself quickly rewarded as the son of Muscles Yankee would go on to a solid 2-year-old season in New Jersey that culminated with a Grand Circuit victory in Lexington. Mr Muscleman would further justify Daley’s insight and Victor’s bank account by going on to earn in excess of $3.5 million in his racing career.

That was 18 years ago and Daley is clearly in the rebuilding phase in his return to North America, but has a solid foundation with the youngsters and seven raceway-types returning to action. “It’s funny, I’m just racing a few right now,” said Daley. “I’ve won two races and they were both dead heats.” The return of Princess Deo to Daley’s care at the end of stakes action at The Meadowlands led to the first dead heat as the daughter of Trixton tied Evident Beauty in the final of an SOA of New Jersey stakes in December.

Then in his North American debut, Laredo Torpedo N won in a dead heat at The Meadowlands on January 4. The son of Bettor’s Delight returns for his second start in New Jersey on Saturday night.

Now back with a reasonably sized stable at Magical Acres, Daley hopes to put together the building blocks to a successful season and hopefully help grow his stable. “I’ve got 10 trotters (babies). They are all trotting right now,” said Daley. “That’s unusual but I’ll take it.”

Daley would like to have more youngsters to train at this time next year and hopefully get his stable numbers around 30-head. “I’m 58 and I’d like to have maybe 10 more good years,” said Daley. “I’m not interested in training 100 horses.”

Daley made a bold move to reverse course but he sounds completely at ease with his decision. “It was one thousand percent the right thing to do,” Daley said. “I put down money on a house.”

Ironically while in Australia and racing in Sydney, Daley’s stable was not very far removed from Shane and Lauren Tritton’s. The pair announced they are relocating to the United States this May. Shane, the son of Yonkers-based trainer Peter Tritton, trains and his wife Lauren drives the stable’s horses.

“He’s a pretty sharp guy,” said Daley of Shane Tritton. “He trains them pretty hard.”

“She’s little but can definitely make speed,” Daley said of Lauren Tritton.

The Trittons have been dominant for some time in Australia. Their move to North America will be interesting to watch since they will face an entirely different racing landscape. “It’s much different racing down there,” said Daley. “It’s not just about making speed in the races at The Meadowlands.”

History is certainly on the side of most any import or recent arrival from New Zealand or Australia to this continent. Daley’s return came while Dexter Dunn was enjoying a remarkable year. Andrew McCarthy has become a top-ten driver and now perhaps the Trittons will make their mark in North America.

What will be fascinating to see is whether wagering from the Southern Hemisphere on our product will take off with so many drivers, trainers and horses that breed familiarity.