Owner’s Race Fantasy Becomes Reality

In thoroughbred racing, every owner’s dream is to win the Kentucky Derby. In harness racing, the goals are the Hambletonian for trotters and the Little Brown Jug for pacers.

Fantasy became reality for Ken Carver of North Hollywood on Sept. 21 when his homebred Nick’s Fantasy won the $293,581 Little Brown Jug at Delaware, Ohio, in stakes-record time of 1:51 2/5, a world record for a 3-year-old gelding on a half-mile track.

Carver, who campaigned standardbreds in California for many years as Markenjay Stable, attends races at Los Alamitos frequently and remains in the clouds over the Jug triumph.

“I’m the first California owner to win this race [in its 50-year history],” said Carver, who owns an escrow company. “Just having money and buying the best horses doesn’t always work. I was very fortunate. This is good for the little guy in the sport just hanging on to see this can be done.”

Carver claimed his first horse for $10,000 with trainer Marc Aubin in 1975 at Hollywood Park.

“I went to the track practically every Saturday of my life with my father,” said Carver, whose father, Jay, died in 1986. “When Nick’s Fantasy took the lead halfway on the final turn in the Jug, I looked at the sky and said, ‘Dad, this is for you.’ ”

Nick’s Fantasy is the grandson of a mare named Alison Sara, who raced twice for Carver in 1983 with a maiden victory before being bred to Trenton. Their daughter, Saraton, never made it to the races but was bred to leading Maryland stallion Tyler’s Mark to produce Nick’s Fantasy, her third foal.

He was lucky to be born alive. “Saraton was in foal at a farm near Pittsburgh, but we trucked her to a farm in Maryland so the foal would be eligible for Maryland-bred races,” Carver said. “The driver noticed the mare was acting like she was getting ready to deliver. He speeded up but two miles from the Maryland farm, he stopped. The foal just fell out under the feet of several horses. He rolled him out, put him in a wheelbarrow and started yelling for help.”

Nick’s Fantasy was gelded in training as a 2-year-old because of his large 17-hand size and raced early in his career for a $14,000 claiming tag three times in Pennsylvania before Carver and trainers Bob Ritchie and Kerri Lyon noticed they might have something special on their hands.

Stopped by a respiratory infection early last year, Nick’s Fantasy returned in June and developed into one of the nation’s leading 3-year-olds, winning nine of 27 starts and earning $544,378.