WINNER’S CIRCLE

in the Commentator Stakes at Belmont Park on May 29.

Bred by chemist Cheryl Prudhomme and retired dentist Dr. Michael Gallivan in Fort Edward, Ouster made a brief impression in his debut with a third-place finish at Aqueduct in March 2022. After a threemonth break and two more races, Ouster finally won his first race with a 1¾-length victory on the Aqueduct turf course in November.

and got a phone call from him,” Hennig said. “We got together and helped built it up. It came along at the right time for me, too. He does a really great job managing his stable. He’s got horses well-placed everywhere. That’s why he’s winning a lot of races. If a horse doesn’t fit here, he will move them somewhere else. We are trying to do the best that we can.”

Since that initial contact, the O’Neill-Hennig team has won seven races on the NYRA circuit, including two at Saratoga, in 2021. That followed with five wins last year and six victories halfway through this year.

Hennig is currently handling 10-12 horses for O’Neill as a couple of horses are rotated to other tracks. At the same time, O’Neill has also been sending claiming horses to trainer Rob Atras, which has also been successful.

Ouster has been one of Windylea Farm’s consistent horses by earning over $275,000 in 12 starts. The 5-year-old gelding has won 3-of-6 races this year with a pair of second-place finishes. His lone blemish this year was an eighth-place finish

“He has come a long way. The horse showed early that he might be all right, but it took a lot of time to get him stretched out,” Hennig said. “He kept having these little nagging things. Once we got him stretched out to a distance, turf or dirt, it came to him. When you look at him, you can see that’s what he wants. He’s a monster.”

Along with Ouster, Into Happiness made dramatic lastto-first going-away move in the middle of the track to put the Windylea Farm colors in the Winner’s Circle on Opening Day. This was the second straight win for the 4-yearold filly, who was claimed for $40,000 by O’Neill and Hennig on June 23.

“That was a nice big turnaround for her first race back,” he said. “We didn’t have to do much with her. We just had to keep her happy and lead her back over there.”

Hennig and O’Neill will explore options for both Ouster and Into Happiness. In the meantime, Hennig is glad to get the pair of wins this early in the meet.

“It’s always nice to get that out of the way,” he said. “When you get 3-4 weeks into the meet and you haven’t won a race, it starts wearing on you.”