By Dick Jerardi
Jamie Ness got a cold call about a decade ago from two San Francisco Bay area horse owners. They loved the game, but did not see much future at Golden Gate Fields (the track closed last year).
Charles Lo and Troy Johnson could not have imagined the journey they would be going on when, along with Ness, at the suggestion of Charlie Weston; they purchased a Florida bred yearling son of Speighster at the October 2020 OBS sale. They had a $20,000 limit. The horse went for $19,000.
The following year, Ness was convinced he had a star 2-year-old.
“He was a dynamite 2-year-old,” he said. “I was just licking my chops ready to run this horse. I come in one day and he has heat in his knee and had a little chip.”
So they had to wait on Spikezone. The horse did not make his first start until June 2022, midway through his 3-year-old season. His debut was a winning one.
“We ran him for ($25,000) first time out and slipped that one by,” Ness said.
Ness put him in for a $50,000 claiming price at Parx on Nov. 16. 2022, not thinking he would be claimed. But he was claimed.
When Spikezone was entered 27 days later with a $40,000 claiming price, Ness and the owners took him right back. They ran him once and one problematic knee became two. The horse needed surgery on both knees. They gave him 10 months off before he started again in November 2023.
“We gave him double time like you’re supposed to,” Ness said. “It’s probably why he’s still going good because we didn’t hurry him back.”
The journey culminated Saturday night with the announcement at the annual Horsemen’s Awards banquet that Spikezone was voted 2024 Parx Horse of the Year. Ness, who was voted Trainer of the Year, was not expecting Horse of the Year.
“I really wasn’t,” he said Monday from the Poconos where he was waiting for the wind to die down so he and his family could venture back to the ski lifts. “There were a couple of nice horses that made a few more starts locally than him. I was a little shocked on that one, but maybe if you just looked at his overall record, that’s what swayed it.”
All Spikezone did in 2024 was make 14 starts and win 11 times. Even Ness, who has won 4,576 races and is closing on $100 million in purse earnings during his amazing career, never had a horse win that many times in one year. It started in the winter with three wins at Tampa Bay Downs. Then, Spikezone came north and won two races at Parx. From July 24 until Nov. 27, the horse won six in a row, four at Delaware Park, one at Laurel Park and, finally, on Nov. 27, he won the Let’s Give Thanks Stakes at Parx.
So, 14 starts, 11 wins, $378,082 in earnings. That’s some year; a Horse of the Year year as it turned out.
“We don’t spend big money,” Ness said. We get some nice horses sometimes. We get a lot more volume. The next horse I buy for ($19,000) night not be able to break his maiden.”
Spikezone was able to break his maiden because they were patient with him. He was able to win 11 races in 2024 because they were doubly patient after the double surgeries. Now, Spikezone has won $538,522 for his owners. Only three Ness-trained horses (Ghost Hunter $746,617, Magic Michael $671,120 and Repo Rocks $569,400) have won more.
“Horses don’t have three knee surgeries and compete at that level,” Ness said. “The old saying is if you’ve got a $40,000 horse with a surgery, cut it in half, cut it to ($20,000). That hasn’t been his thing.”
No, it has not. Spikezone has been the exception to the rules because he has the two most important qualities in the modern race horse: speed and heart. That rare combination has gotten the horse to the winner’s circle 15 times in 27 career races. And, after winning at Aqueduct on Feb. 9, with a career-high-tying 98 Beyer, the now 6-year-old shows no signs of slowing down.
