Pumpkin Princess provides treat

Christmas came early for one lucky bettor at Assiniboia Downs on Wednesday, but it was more like Halloween for owner/trainer Robert Haar.

Haar had three horses in the sixth race and won it with 41-1 shot Pumpkin Princess, triggering a massive payout on the 20-cent ASD Jackpot Pick 5 for the second week in a row.

The Pick 5 only pays out the entire pool when there is a single winning ticket, which is rare. But last week, one lucky bettor had the lone winning combination, resulting in a windfall of $53,443.36.

Normally it takes weeks or even months to build the pool back up after someone scoops it, but punters saw the big payoff and quickly pumped the pool full again. This week, the Pick 5 paid even more.

The combination of Buck Owens ($14.50) in the fourth race, Tachin Up ($5.40) in the fifth, Pumpkin Princess ($84.50) in the sixth, Valley Victory ($14) in the seventh, and Known to Be ($11.40) in the eighth returned a whopping $54,526.55 for a single 20-cent ticket.

The only favourite in the sequence was Tachin Up. After that horse won, many players thought they had a good shot at the Pick 5. Pumpkin Princess knocked most of them out of the running.

Of Haar’s three horses, Pumpkin Princess (41-1) was thought to have the worst chance, behind Hold My Earrings (36-1) and Bee a Bali (18-1). That’s exactly why his younger brother, jockey Nathan Haar, chose to ride her.

He didn’t think another rider would try as hard as he would on her, and he wanted to make sure she got a strong ride.

“Let somebody else ride those two, and then I’ll ride the one that we don’t think will do no good,” Nathan told his brother.

Pumpkin’s Princess went from last to first with a huge wide rally to win by a neck.

“It just helped out that the race in front of her fell apart,” said Haar.

Bee a Bali finished fifth and Hold My Earrings was eighth. Pumpkin Princess came into the race off a sixth-place finish, for a trainer who was 1-for-18 and a jockey who was 2-for-14 at ASD.

She was also running short.

“She wants every bit of a mile,” said Haar.

And appearances can be deceiving. Pumpkin Princess didn’t cost Haar much. In fact, she didn’t cost him anything.

Haar trained her dam and raced her sire. He offered the breeder $3,000 for the filly as a yearling, but the breeder wanted to take her to the sale. After she ran poorly in her first two starts at 4½-furlongs, Haar kept asking him to sell her to him.

“I kind of annoyed him, I think,” said Haar. “Because he goes, ‘When can you have a trailer here?’ And I said, ‘Monday.’ And he says, ‘Come get her.; And I said, ‘Well, what did you want for her?’ He said, ‘I told you to come get her.’”

She won her first start for Haar at Fargo and won the $30,000 NDTA Stallion Stakes Derby there on Aug. 1.

Haar’s horses were just starting to get comfortable with the Downs surface after racing at Fargo and Arapahoe Park, where the surfaces are harder.

His horses were coming back tired after their first starts here.

“I don’t know that it’s necessarily deeper,” said Haar. “But it’s definitely heavier.”

Haar’s career record of 242-243-225 from 1,478 starts gives him a 16 per cent win clip over 16 years as a trainer, and he says that doesn’t include about 150 South Dakota wins that don’t appear in Equibase records.

Nathan’s record is similar: 839-899-874 from 6,069 starts, a 14 per cent win clip over 14 years.

“I am probably the hardest person on that kid out of anybody,” said Robert. “I cook him pretty hard. But in the end, that’s my best friend.”

These two brothers are capable of winning at any time. It just took them a while to get rolling at the Downs.

Robert is 37. Nathan is 32. There’s lots of winning time ahead for the pair from Aberdeen, S.D., who came here thanks to track announcer Kirt Contois and assistant director of racing Derek Corbel.

Both spend the off-season promoting the Downs south of the border.

“The competition up there treats you with dignity and respect,” said Haar. “It is the most welcoming place I would say I’ve probably ever run.”

Their father, who got the boys into racing when he started announcing the races in Aberdeen in 1994, used all three of Robert’s horses in a $3 Pick 3 on Wednesday that paid $33,738.30. He missed the second leg.

“It just sucks when your son hits one at 41-1 and you can’t finish the ticket off,” he told Robert, who didn’t cash either.

“I actually bet the other one,” said Haar, referring to Bee a Bali.

Trick or treat.