Game Changers: Bookie Baby

October 3, 2025

TORONTO, September 3, 2025 – Once a week, throughout the Mohawk racing season, Woodbine will profile a horse who has had a life-changing impact on one of their closest connections.

This week, Renee Samson, who after spending four years as a groom for several top conditioners, including Carmen Auciello, Dave Menary, Rick Zeron, and Scott McEneny, started her own training career this year, and the horse at the centre of her new journey, Bookie Baby.

Samson, based out of Morriston, Ontario, spoke about her close-knit relationship with the 9-year-old pacer, who continues to impart invaluable lessons upon her.

Bookie Baby (ON)

Foaled: April 28, 2016

Sire: Sportswriter

Dam: Borderlinegorgious

Wins-Seconds-Thirds: 11-20-26

Earnings: $107,181

Trainer: Renee Samson

Owner: Renee Samson

Breeder: Wall Tyme Stables, Inc.

What goes through your mind when you watch Bookie Baby race?

“A lot of anxiety… It kind of makes me feel like I'm going to puke. Obviously, I want her to do well, but I'm super anxious as a new trainer to see if the changes I've made in her training schedule and her equipment are going to benefit her, and if they're not, then when I'm watching the race, I need to look and see what else I can do to help her.

“So, it's anxious, but also very much that I need to be on my game for it. But overall, every single time she goes out, I always tell her to be good and be safe because I just want her and her driver to come off the track safe and preferably sound. That's the biggest thing.

“Whenever she races, my first thought is ‘just get around, stay safe, and come back home.’”

When did you know you had a special connection?

“I would say a couple of weeks after I bought her. She's not very talkative. She has a little lip wiggle that she does, but she does it all the time. I would walk into the barn in the morning after she's already been fed like two hours earlier, or when I'd come back from jogging, she would nicker at me and I was kind of like, ‘Oh, okay.’

“Soon after she started doing that in the barn, whenever I bought her the track, especially Flamboro, no matter where I went, she would follow me with her eyes. One time I was standing behind her, talking to someone and I just glanced back over to make sure she's alright and she's got her head turned as far back as she can and she's making eye contact with me.

“I don't know if she's mad or whatnot, so of course, I go back and see her, and she starts doing the same thing where she sees me and her ears go up and she looks all excited and she nickers at me. I was like, ‘Okay, I'm happy you’re as happy to see me as I am to see you.’ That made me feel really special. We’re getting somewhere, us two girls.”

Talk about her personality on and off the track?

“She races under different people, but I hear that she's pretty alert and grabby. She’s pretty much the same at the track as she is at the barn. She's pretty chill, but she'll let you know what works for her and what doesn't, and she'll do the same thing at the track too.

“If I'm doing something a certain way, she’ll be like, ‘Nope, don't like that.’ She'll let me know, never in a mean way, but she'll act a little different or give me a certain look or kind of pull her foot away.

“She does that at the barn, too. She’ll say, ‘Nope, I don't want to jog today. I'm tired of jogging, tow me instead.’ So, we'll tow her. And sometimes it's, ‘Nope, I want to go on the wheel. I don't want to do this. I want to stay outside.’ She's very bossy but in a good way. She loves being outside, she loves her food, and her favorite thing is having spa days.

“She likes to be rubbed on quite often, much more than the average horse. Instead of a normal 30 minutes or so, she wants the hour. She wants all the brushes, all the kisses, and even at the track, she doesn't really do a whole lot wrong. She doesn't kick. She doesn't bite. She's not mean. She just sometimes gets a little rowdy and she does her cute little rears, but they're not at you, they’re saying ‘I'm excited. I'm full of life.’ She might be nine, but she very much acts like our babies.”

“Three words to describe her?

“Quirky. Tough. Smart."

How has she changed your life?

“She's the first horse I've ever owned and the first horse I've ever trained. I didn't think I'd own a racehorse for a very long time because throwing out $8,000 is just not obtainable for someone who's a groom. But then she came along, I had just got my trainers, and everything lined up so perfectly. She may just be an eight claimer, but with the amount she's taught me, she's absolutely priceless.

“She's not the same horse she used to be – and being a free-legged pacer, it definitely gets your mind working to figure her out. We don’t have any wins yet, but we’ve collected a couple of good cheques and had a lot of fun experiencing everything being a trainer and owner has to offer with her.”

Matthew Lomon, for Woodbine