Groves’ ClevelandTopRookie (above, middle) hit the head of the final quarter mile in a dead heat…eventually finished second this week at Urbana. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
It may come as a surprise, but the head basketball coach of the Botkins Trojans can do more than run the pick-and-roll. His other passion is standardbred racing, and his horse ClevelandTopRookie is an up-and-coming three-year-old.
Urbana, OH – It’s just a guess, but if you asked a hundred Shelby County sports fans what Botkins basketball coach Phil Groves does for fun in the off-season only a handful would have the right answer.
And up until about a month ago I would have been in the midst of the unenlightened. Until, that is, I bumped into him one night at Scioto Downs Raceway, in Columbus.
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A casual fan of harness racing…was my first impression as Groves passed me on the concourse in a hurry to get to the paddock area. But casual fans usually don’t go backstage for no reason at a horse race.
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Maybe he’s in a hurry to meet a friend, I thought. But I thought wrong.
As it turned out, I mentioned to Ohio Harness Horseman Executive Director Frank Fraas that I had just run into the Botkins High School head basketball coach in a hurry to get back amongst the horses that had just vacated the track after the second race.
“That doesn’t surprise me,” said Fraas. Phil Groves is a horse owner…not just a racing fan.”
And there you have it, and you know what they say about people who assume. Right?
Uh, yeah, and after making the proper adjustments about people and multi-tasking, I met up with him this past week at the Champaign County Fair, where his up-and-coming three year old pacer, ClevelandTopRookie, had the pole position in the evening’s third race in Urbana.
Multi-tasking? Turns out that Groves is about far more than the pick-and-role, box-and-one, or the match-up zone. The man is passionate about horses, and harness racing.
“It’s a family affair,” he says with a smile. “Our five kids, and a new-born, we all get to be involved with something competitive outside of the school. So we enjoy the time we get doing it together.
The family business…Phil Groves with three-year-old ClevelandTopRookie, and second grade daughter Kennedy, his stable buddy.
“My dad and mom were in the business, raised horses in Chicago, where I was born, and they raced on the Chicago circuit. When I was two years old they moved back to the Fairlawn area in Shelby County and my dad’s family farm. It was a better home life than Chicago, and once you get horses in your blood it’s hard to get it out. My brother and I have grown up in the business.”
A chemistry teacher at Botkins, Groves has always had the look of a calculating man on the sidelines, a necessary complement to the horse and racing business. Trust it, he knows a lot more than the periodic chart of elements.
Buy the wrong horse and you never stop paying for it. Train that horse improperly and the hole becomes deeper – the bills that come with owning a racing horse. As you might expect, if you’re competitive you get a double dose – competing on the track and with the bottom line. His dual life experiences of coaching and racing seem to support each other.
“They’re both uniquely competitive,” he says. “And I love the competition. You prepare, and once you send the kids out on the court, or hand the reins over to the driver and he goes the track…it’s out of your hands. But the preparation, the effort, and the believing in your pupils is really cool. To see the product of their effort and work is very satisfying. Same with racing.”
But can you make a comparison between teaching basketball to Jameson Meyer (former Botkins guard) and teaching ClevelandTopRookie to stay on stride? Groves laughs at the suggestion?
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“That’s a good question. It was an electric time in 2021 when we won the state tournament in basketball. And in 2016 we won the Signature Series Final in Delaware, with Hunter Myers driving (who recently died as a result of injuries suffered in a racing accident). He was 17 and so talented that I trusted him to drive my horse on that big a stage. He was that good, and we miss him.
“I’ve been very fortunate to coach some great players, and comparatively Jameson Meyer would be right there with some of the nice horses I’ve had. As a coach. and as a trainer, you just try to put the players and the horses in the right position to be successful. if you can do that you just try to stay out of their way. You keep them healthy and happy and they normally take good care of you.”
Groves celebrates a district tourney title as coach of the Botkins boys basketball team.
His purchase of ClevelandTopRookie has indeed taken good care of the Groves family racing effort.
“We bought him last fall, raced him, and we found that he had a chip in his right knee. We had him operated on to remove the chip and he’s come back sound this year.”
As of last week ClevelandTopRooke had won 6 of 15 races he’d started.
“He’s seems to be a nice horse for us. He’s very gentle, he’s very good with the kids, and my son Preston jogs him every day. Like I said, it’s a family thing and everyone can be involved. He’s had a couple of tough trips this year, but he seems to be a good purchase.”
ClevelandTopRookie (racing horses have some crazy names) had the pole position last week and another tough trip over the mile course at Urbana. He got boxed in traffic until the final quarter mile before he could break out and make his way to the front of the field. But it wasn’t his, or Groves’ day, and he finished a close second at the finish line – in the money, but not the kind of money that make horse owners run out and buy more horses.
Hay money, they called it. Money to sustain the effort.
Like losing a close basketball game, Phil Groves seemed to handle it in stride…not unlike coming up short to Anna, or Jackson Center, or Minster.
Which offers another good question to a multi-tasking horse trainer, and coach…is he equally happy when his horse and basketball team wins?
“That’s another great question,” smiles Groves. “I hope they both win.”
Spoken like a true family man.
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