Dungannon native Candace Nivins riding high as groom for Chantilly
BY SCOTT STEPHENSON
From the moment she burst onto the scene earlier this year, two-year-old Chantilly has been making a name for herself in the highly competitive world of Ontario harness racing. The pacing filly has had a perfect rookie year - she’s won every race she’s run, is officially the fastest two-year-old in North America, has already won somewhere around three-quarters-of-a-million dollars, and she’s still just getting started.
But for Chantilly’s groom, Dungannon native Candace Nivins, all of that success is just background noise. In fact, when The Citizen sat down with Nivins to discuss the art of grooming a champion, it barely came up that the four-legged phenom had clinched her ninth-straight victory just a few days earlier. “I try to focus away from all that, because I’ll psych myself out when I get to thinking about it,” Nivins admitted. For Chantilly’s team, the health of the horse always comes first.
Nivins has a great deal of respect for owner George Millar and trainer Nick Galucci, who don’t like pushing their two-year-olds too hard, too early, even if it means more money and accolades. “They’ll say ‘yeah, she did amazing this year - let’s save something amazing for next year, when she’s three and a little more physically strong. Let’s not break her just to get our name out there.’” Though content to be a groom for now, Nivins hopes to someday be a trainer like Galucci.
While Chantilly may be their breakout star, Nivins also works with some of the other horses on Millar Farms. Currently, Chantilly is sharing her groom with Silver Label, Power Train, Chain Gang, and Win Me Back. Each one has their own distinct personality that requires respect, and their own individual wants and needs. “I love all of them. They’re all different, and they’re all their own horse... pretty much, they all get along. Silver and Chantilly are getting pretty jealous of each other. Silver is another good mare that I look after. When she’s in a big race, I’m more focused on Silver, so Chantilly gets a little jealous. When Chantilly is in a big race, Silver gets a little jealous,” Nivins explained. “The groom’s job is to know your horse as well as you can, to help them be the best that they can be…. You know how professional athletes get massages and stuff? That’s usually what the groom does. Some horses need asthma medication, other horses, like Train, get a really sore back easily, so he needs a lot of liniments and stuff to try and soothe it. He gets a cold back really easily.” Nivins has been working longer with Power Train than any of the other Millar horses. “He’s my baby. I’ve had him since he was three... my favorite all-time horse, who was sadly sold for bigger and better things, was Better Buckle Me Up - he was my heart horse.”
Despite growing up on a steady diet of classic young adult literature like Black Beauty, Nivins didn’t start thinking about seriously pursuing an equine-oriented career until high school. “I did my co-op at a ranch, and I liked that avenue. I went to school through Ridgetown at the Clinton campus. I job shadowed for two weeks at a standard-bred racing farm, and that’s when I fell in love with racing.”
It wasn’t long before Nivins landed the job at Millar Farms, and the opportunity to groom Chantilly soon followed. “I was lucky enough that her previous groom moved on, and I was picked to look after her. That was before we knew she is what she is.”
Even when it isn’t race day, Nivins stays as close to Chantilly and the other horses as she can. “I live on the farm, so it’s really nice - it’s a 10-step walk to where my horses are. And when the work is done, it’s not really done. I go out for them a lot. If they’re sick, I go out for antibiotics for them in the afternoon. Sometimes, it’s hard to sleep, because my bedroom is right beside where they’re stalled. So if they’re making a racket, I can hear it… one of them really likes feed time, and they can start learning how to tell time - like ‘if the sun’s at this position, I get worked up, because I’m hungry, and I’m excited for food’. One of them is scared of grass cutters, so when the grass cutter is around, they’re a little anxious, a little rowdy. One of them really likes to jog, so if they’re not jogging first, they get a little anxious. A little ‘come on, let me go!’” During rare moments of horse-free downtime, Nivins likes to go to the gym and play Dungeons and Dragons.
But what is it about Chantilly that makes her such a once-in-a-lifetime racehorse? She’s obviously in top form, physically, but Nivins believes that there’s more to her than just good, old-fashioned horsepower - Chantilly is a horse with heart. “She has a really good attitude about racing. She loves racing. She doesn’t want anyone to pass her. I don’t know - she’s a professional.” From a groom’s perspective, the emotional temperament of an animal is just as important as physical fitness. “The one horse I had, who has moved on to be a brood mare, was Velvet Stinger. She was a lot of hands-on. You had to race her right, you had to keep her in shape, you had to groom on her a little extra hard. And then you have ‘Tilly - she has the talent, and she has more of an easy time. You can just go ‘okay, Chantilly, we’re racing. I’m going to point you in the right direction, you do all the rest. It’s more about keeping her happy than keeping her sound. Velvet was the other way around - she was always happy, but she needed a little more extra help.” Whenever possible, Nivins attends the races to ensure everything goes as well as possible. “I go with my horse. Some grooms don’t, but I like the one-on-one.”