McCoy: Gillespie’s Dream Turns Nightmare Overnight…Loses Ride In Hambletonian

Driver Ronnie Gillespie’s dream of driving in the Hambletonian this weekend won’t come true in the short term, but his work to prepare a pre-race favorite may cause his phone to ring in the future.  After reading his story, one can only hope so.

Columbus, OH – Ronnie Gillespie’s horse didn’t have it on this muggy afternoon, the second race at Eldorado Scioto Downs.

But Peppermint Man did, taking the lead as soon as the wings on the gate swung inward and never gave it up.

Bruce’s VO N Coke, with Gillespie in the sulky, finished far up the track at this state-of-the-art facility.

“They took that one away from me, too,” said Gillespie, a 52-year-old harness racing lifer, a trainer/driver who speaks softly, carries a big whip and is as respected as anybody who sets foot in a paddock.

On a police blotter, taking Pepperment Man away from Gillespie would be petty theft.

Earlier this summer, the same owners committed the equivalent of grand larceny on a police blotter.

They took Big Ranger away from Ronnie Gillespie. No explanation. No warning.

They pulled a trailer into Gillespie’s farm.

“I thought they were delivering me a horse,” he said. “Instead they told me they were there to haul away Big Ranger. I asked why and they said I’d better call the owners.”

He did and received no reason. And months later Gillespie still has no explanation why Big Ranger was taken from him and given to trainer Anette Lorentzon.

Big Ranger?

Yeah, Big Ranger, a colt that on Saturday could become the first Ohio-bred to win the prestigious Hambletonian, a horse that some insiders believe could be the next Muscle Hill or Greyhound.

“That was a big disappointment,” said Gillespie, a sentence that qualifies as understatement of the decade in harness racing.

“It was a real shock because I broke the track record and woke up the next morning and they had the trailer at my place and said, ‘We’re taking him,’ and gave me no explanation other than we’re taking the horse.

“I asked them why and they never did give it to me, but I heard from other people that they didn’t want me to drive him anymore,” he said.

Madison Global put out a short and terse press release and said the move was made, “For several reasons,” but not one reason was given.

“As time goes on, you find out the real story because people are always going to talk,”  says Gillespie.  “And I kinda’ have an idea about what really happened, and when the real story came out I was right.”

Gillespie said he doesn’t want to put names out publicly, “Because it’s over with, although it’s not a good feeling.”

One would hope and pray it had nothing to do with color. Not Big Ranger’s color, Gillespie’s color. He is an African American with a Mississippi upbringing and a pleasing Mississippi drawl.

“Driving in the Hambletonian has always been my dream and we were on the same page,” he said. “I had offered to send him to another trainer and I would just drive in the Hambletonian.

“And I was gonna drive him in the Breeders because it was here at Scioto, a place I love,” he added.

“But they never gave me the opportunity…I wake up one morning and they take him. I was out jogging and came back and saw the trailer and asked one of my guys, ‘Who’s that?’ And he said, ‘Some guys looking for you.’”

No, they were looking for Big Ranger and spirited him away.

“I called the owners and they didn’t say why, they just said, ‘We’re taking him.’ I thought they might offer me 5 or 10 per cent of what he made. But nothing.”

Gillespie has been with that group for five years, “And I made ‘em a lot of money. Now they’ve put me up for a lot of stress to take that type of horse away from me.”

“Nothing against the other trainer (Anette Lorentzon), but her reputation is not better than mine. I not only made him the 2-year-old Horse of the Year, I made him the Horse of the Year. He broke every track record where he went.

“He is probably the best horse ever to come through Ohio…I’m telling you, he is something special.”

Big Ranger was Ohio Horse of the Year in 2025 and Gillespie won his 1,000 career race last July on the Scioto track, wire-to-wire in 1:56 at the Ohio State Trot.

“My life-time dream is to drive in the Hambletonia,” said Gillespie.

That won’t happen. Gillespie, the man who trained Big Ranger and drove him until he was pulled away from him, will be at Scioto Downs Saturday while Big Ranger tries to make history at The Meadowlands.

In the second Hambletonian eliminations, Big Ranger won in 1:50, fastest time. In the first Eliminations, Apex won in 1:50.4.

Big Ranger was purchased for $25,000 in a yearlings auction at Spring Haven Farms.

“I wanted to buy him and keep him myself, and I wish I had,” said Gillespie. Instead, ownership belonged to Madison Global and they turned Big Ranger over to Gillespie.

“At first I didn’t think much about him, but about mid-February I knew he was something special,” said Gillespie. “When I first started with him, he was laid-back and lazy. And because he is a big horse I wasn’t pushing him.”

Then the miracle.

“One day I went out to train him, some animal came out of the woods and scared him,” said Gillespie. “He ran off and he was trotting. I hit the watch and said I was not gonna look at the watch until he’s done.

“When I looked at the watch, it was, ‘Whoa, I can’t believe this,’” he added. “I knew then. I knew this horse was really special.”

That was February 16th of last year and as Gillespie put it, “That day he trained like a real horse.”

So Gillespie trained him and drove him to seven straight wins in seven starts.

But on that chilly February morning, when Big Ranger ran like a zephyr, Gillespie knew the horse was Mr. Big Stuff. He immediately made him eligible for everything the following year, the Breeders Crown and the Hambletonian.

“I knew very early about him because I would train him with pacers and 3-year-olds and it didn’t make no difference,” said Gillespie. “He was a professional all the time.”

And not only does Gillespie know it, Big Ranger knows it.

“He acts like a human being,” said Gillespie. “He knows he’s special. When you go in the barn, he wants the attention. He comes out of the barn with pride, with his head up. His confidence is really high.

“And from what I saw in the (Hambletonian) Elimination he is going to be hard to beat,” he added with pride, knowing he laid the groundwork for perhaps a once in a generation horse.

Of winning his 1,000th race behind Big Ranger, Gillespie said, “That was real special. I was at a fair and I had a chance to win my thousandth there. But I wouldn’t do it. I knew Big Ranger was in the Ohio State Fair and I wanted to win my thousandth with him there. And I did.”

Of course, he went wire-to-wire. He has gone wire-to-wire in every win, “Except one,” said Gillespie.

“The first leg of the Sires Stakes,” Gillespie explained. “He made a little jump behind the gate and I sat next-to-last. When I pulled him, he just opened up and took ‘em all.”

Training Big Ranger as a 2-year-old wasn’t all oats and flowers, though.

“He went through a lot, people don’t know that,” said Gillespie. “He went through a lot of different challenges. He had an abscess. His level count was very hot, very hot. It took me a lot, I had to do a lot of managing.

“He came back as a 3-year-old a lot healthier, got a lot bigger,” said Gillespie. “And I knew he was ready when he set the record the first time I came to Scioto with him, 1:51, and I never touched him. And I said, ‘He’s ready now.’”

And he’s ready for the Hambletonian. Gillespie wonders what it will be like.

He won’t get the chance. They took away his horse of a lifetime.

Gillespie shook his head and lowered it a bit, but proudly said, “Hopefully, I can find another one like him. But I’ve been at this for 25 years and never seen one like him.”

Find another like him?

“Doubt it.”