Dungannon's Nivins celebrates award wins, looks ahead to new challenges

BY SCOTT STEPHENSON

Earlier this month, Dungannon’s own Candace Nivins traded in her barn clothes for formal wear to attend Canada’s premier harness-racing awards. Heading into the 36th annual O’Brien Awards, Nivins had a feeling that Chantilly, the horse she grooms, was going to do well - Chantilly tends to win, and when she does, she wins big. Last year, the two-year-old pacer handily won first place in all nine of the races she entered, so it was no surprise that this wonder horse and her team walked away from the ceremony with some of the evening’s most coveted awards, including Canada’s Horse of the Year Award. 

 

The whole team was ecstatic - they’d been hoping Chantilly would win the award for Two-Year-Old Horse of the Year, which she did, but being named the overall Horse of the Year is a rare honour; Chantilly is only the fifth two-year-old and the third pacing filly to earn the award. Her breeder and owner, George Millar of Millar Farms, also won the Armstrong Breeder of the Year Award for the third time, trainer Nick Gallucci took home the title of Trainer of the Year, and driver James MacDonald earned himself the Keith Waples Award for Driver of the Year. “I kind of knew Chantilly was a win,” Nivins disclosed. “And we were hoping Nick would get Trainer, and we were really hoping George would get Breeder. Horse of the Year was a really big surprise.” 

 

Nivins knows she’s part of a team that has what it takes to produce horses that win races. ”There’s a lot of hard work and thinking put into it,” she explained. “I know Nick’s constantly thinking about the week ahead, the month ahead, the year ahead, trying to plan conditioning schedules for the horses. And we have good drivers, who get to know the horses they drive. Our caretaker team is always on their best, making sure that our horses are at their best. And we have a really good owner, that pretty much lets us do what we need to do. His fingers aren’t digging too much into the pie, so to speak.”

 

While Nivins herself was ineligible to win Groom of the Year, as she has only been working for Millar Farms for four years - one year shy of the five-year minimum requirement for the award - not being nominated didn’t bother Nivins one bit. She still had a great time at the black-tie gala, which was held in Mississauga this year. While she’s most comfortable working amongst the horses at Millar Farms, Nivins enjoyed the change of pace provided by the event. “I got dressed up for the first time in a very long time - I won’t be wearing something like that ever again, but it was fun. I mean, everyone wants to get gussied up once in a while and have a good time, and maybe surprise some people with how you look!”

 

The whole team was in high spirits after their big win. “The celebration continued until our ride was there to take us home,” Nivins recalled. “It was a lot of fun. Lots of fun, lots of laughter. There was a bunch of dancing. And lots of hugging, and lots of crying.” As a reward for doing so well, Chantilly received carrots, pats, and more than a few hugs.

 

While a technicality kept Nivins from being nominated for Groom of the Year this time around, she’s certainly going to have other chances - Millar Farms has already entrusted her with the well-being of some up-and-coming young talent: a two-year-old pacing colt named Johnny Angel, and a two-year-old trotting colt named Hot Country. She’s especially excited about working with Hot Country. “I’ve never had a trotting colt before, so I’m actually looking forward to learning with him.”

 

Chantilly is also showing no signs of slowing down as she heads into her sophomore season, and Nivins is feeling the weight of this fast filly’s reputation as a champion of the track. “For me, it’s more pressure on myself than anything… like, you want to meet expectations, but you also want to do what’s best for her, right? But even though there’s this pressure, I’m certainly looking forward to our sophomore year, and I know George and Nick are very much excited.”

 

After winning her final race of 2024, Chantilly avoided the onset of winter in Ontario by heading south to train. “After the Super Finals, she went down to Kentucky, so she was outside for like 12 hours a day. She was outside in Kentucky with nice weather down there, and then she came back, I think the first week in January, and then it was back to work - jogging, going outside first thing in the morning, jogging in the late morning… Chantilly just loves to work. She hates days off. She actually gets really grumpy on her days off. She’d rather be on the track than anything,” Nivins explained. “I think there’s going to be a lot more traveling this year - I think there’s some races in the States that they’ve entered… And then, of course she’s going to be racing at Mohawk, and side series, and some degree of circuit races.”

 

One of the races Chantilly might enter in 2025 is the Pepsi North America Cup - a prestigious race with a $1 million purse that is typically won by a three-year-old colt or gelding. “It’s one of the top races that everyone looks forward to,” Nivins explained. “But I don’t like looking too far ahead - I get a little too excited, and psyched out - I want to see how she does in the beginning of the year before we get there, just because she means a lot to me, and I don’t want to push her too hard.” 

 

Going into the 2025 harness racing season, Candace Nivins doesn’t know if Chantilly will become the first filly to win the $1 million purse at the Pepsi North America Cup, and, ultimately, time will tell. But in her world, the horses don’t need to be big winners - they just need to be happy. All the rest just seems to follow.