When the 3-year-old pacer Ali went from pacing a 25 and change final quarter to suddenly going to his knees at Woodbine Mohawk Park on September 1 in an Ontario Sire Stakes catapulting driver Pat Lachance in the process, the visuals suggested the horse and not the driver would be out of action for a long time. Some four months later, Ali has been on his four feet with regularity and actually racing while Lachance only recently was able to remove himself from imposed use of crutches and commence his path to a future return. “He grabbed a front shoe and tripped,” said Lachance, currently on the mend. “It catapulted me and the moment I landed I knew I had fractured my tibia.” Lachance more than fractured a bone in his left leg. “It was a mess, broken in five places. I had 12 screws put in and a plate,” Lachance said about the operation that would sideline him for nearly four months. “There was no way to avoid it,” Lachance said. Ironically the New York-based conditioner had gone to Ontario on a dual mission. Lachance had been racing Ali, a homebred son of Dali, for his cousin Luc Ouellette in the States before suggesting a return to Ontario. “There was a conflict and a lot of the good ones were out of town, so I thought why not try him in the Ontario Sire Stakes and make it a family reunion seeing my cousin and brother,’ Lachance said. “It was a big mistake.” Even so, the reunion did in fact take place if not exactly in the precise location Patrick would have liked. “I was in the hospital for six days after the accident,” Lachance said. “The family came to visit me every day.” Fortunately for Lachance, though he’s had to spend the last four months out of the sulky, he’s kept his spirits high and his outlook positive. “Even though I was on crutches until December 28,” Lachance said, “I was in the gym every day working out. I’m the same weight today as I was before the accident and I feel great.” Of course doctors had ordered him to stay off his feet and let his bones heal and there is still more healing to go. “It’s still going to take more time and physical therapy,” said Lachance, “but I’m hopeful to be back at full strength in March.” Lachance expects to be back in the sulky on a more regular basis in the days and weeks to come as he conditions his stable back to the races. “I have 22 right now and only one is racing,” said Lachance. The mare Penpal has been a Friday night regular at The Meadowlands and will continue to race this winter while Lachance preps the remainder of his stable. “I’m looking to have a lot of them qualified by March and that’s my target for getting back on the racetrack,” Lachance said. Lachance, the son of Hall of Famer Michel, has kept his focus on young horses over the years and his stable again is comprised primarily of 2 and 3-year-olds. “I’ve got nine 2-year-olds,” said Lachance. “I’ve got three by Captaintreacherous (two colts and one filly) and one by Sweet Lou (colt). So far I’m happy with all of them.” Lachance has proven himself over time to be an astute horseman who looks towards developing horses for the long run. Perhaps his most recognized horse is Image Of Dawn, an iron horse that started as a 2-year-old in 2001 racing lightly for Lachance. The son of Life Sign would race for 13 consecutive years and earn a shade under $1.25 million for his career. The lessons of Image Of Dawn have not been lost on the trainer as he has repeatedly gone back to the same bloodstream, trying to find a successor with the talent and soundness to go on. Penpal, a daughter of American Ideal from a sister to Image Of Dawn, has banked $462K to date for the stable and only became a 6-year-old a few weeks back. Lachance showed some enthusiasm for another close relative to Penpal and Image Of Dawn named Shim. The 3-year-old is also by American Ideal out of Feel Life, a full sister to Image Of Dawn. “We raced him in the Excelsior A last year,” said Lachance of the colt that won two of his seven starts including a 1:56 2/5 performance at Yonkers. Shim was raced as nearly all of the Lachance stable has been known to over the years, and that means from behind. In the Yonkers victory he paced a back half in 55 3/5 coming from well off the pace. Clearly there is talent here and Lachance more than likely was trying to educate and produce a horse that improves with age. Another New York bred sophomore is returning for Lachance and his name alone could attract significant attention. “Make America Great showed some talent last year and I’m looking forward to racing him this year,” said Lachance. The son of So Surreal made his racing debut in November at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono and won in 1:55 2/5 racing from off the pace, naturally. The Lomangino Standardbreds-homebred is out of a half-sister to the $584K winner I Like Dreamin, a horse Lachance campaigned for six years including back-to-back $100K campaigns in 2013-14. Unlike Lachance, Ali was able to recover quickly from his incident and was back qualifying for action within two months. A 1:50 3/5 winner in Pennsylvania for Lachance last August, the now 4-year-old Ali finished fourth in a non–winners of 3 event at Woodbine Mohawk Park on January 7. Though he’s been slower to mend, the bet from this side of the fence is that Patrick Lachance has been energized by his incident and absence. He seems more than focused on a healthy and solid return. Likely to join him upon his racing debut in 2019 will be recent millionaire The Real One, who has been the proverbial cash cow since arriving in his stable in 2014. “The Filion’s are training him back and when he’s ready to race they’ll send him down to me,” said Lachance of the now 9-year-old that shows no signs of slowing down. The two have a lot in common.