There is no questioning what the home court for veteran trotter Cash Me Out is. Though he has moved between a couple different stables in his time here, Cash Me Out has been a Saratoga horse throughout his illustrious career. It is difficult for any horse to have a six-figure year in harness racing. You need to have a blend of skill, versatility, soundness and luck to even have an opportunity to accrue $100,000 or more in a year. Owners Mike and Frank Traylor were pretty new to the harness racing industry, as least as owners, and therefore could have never expected or even dreamt of having a six figure year with the trotter than they purchased at a sale for $11,500, an amount that deeming it to be a steal would be an understatement. They entrusted their young trotter Cash Me Out to trainers Cheryl and Mickey McGivern. The promising freshman started out his career as a New York Sire Stakes competitor, racing at first in the Excelsior division of the Sire Stakes. After he won each of his first three starts, Cash Me Out’s connections moved him up into the big time where he would square off against the state’s top two year olds for purses all upwards of $50,000 and in a few cases even six figures. Cash Me Out became a force among the state’s young horses and piled up more than $150,000 in just eight starts as a freshman.
In 2014, as a three year old, Cash Me Out proved that his breakout rookie campaign was no fluke as he came up just shy of having a $190,000 season while competing primarily in New York Sire Stakes races. As both a two and three year old, Cash Me Out participated in the $225,000 Night of Champions for the top stakes points earners in those years. At the conclusion of his stakes career, Mike Traylor, who had recently acquired his trainer’s license, took controls of his prized trotter and became his trainer. It was at that point when Cash Me Out participated in his first of what would be dozens and dozens of Opens in the years that followed.
Midway through his star trotter’s ‘15 campaign, Traylor turned over the training duties to Kyle Spagnola. Spagnola was the Peerless McGrath Award winner in 2013, an award that recognizes the track’s top up-and-coming or breakthrough trainer. Cash Me Out won his first ever local Open in October that year, a feature he would win a couple of times before heading to the Meadowlands that winter where he again recorded an Open victory. Despite those seasonal highlights, Cash Me Out endured his first career season in which he did not hit the six figure mark in earnings. Oh, but he did make better than $93,000- not bad!
What followed for Cash Me Out in the next couple of years wasn’t only impressive, it was uncanny. In his ’16 and ’17 campaigns, the local trotting star tallied earnings of $196,850 and $196,840, respectively. Ten dollars separated his two years, though the paths to get to those numbers were quite different. In what, technically, was his career year, Cash Me Out won eleven races, by far more than in any year before or after for the classy high-stepper. The Spagnola trainee had twelve second-place finishes to go with his career-high win total in 2016, a season in which he set his lifetime mark of 1:53.1 at the Meadowlands, a record that still stands. It was in ’17 when Cash Me Out trotted his fastest ever local mile, winning an Open in 1:54.
The consistency of Cash Me Out continued to shine in 2018 when he wound up as a nominee for Trotter of the Year at Saratoga for the second consecutive season. Though his win total of six was his lowest in a few years, Cash Me Out continued to display that consistency that has made him a local stalwart as he had thirteen second-place finishes and hit the board 27 times in his 39 starts en route to over $147,000 in ’18- yet another six-figure campaign for the Traylors’ trotting star.
This year started out with a stint at the Meadowlands for Cash Me Out who made his return “home” to the Spa on opening day of the ’19 meet. Driver Phil Fluet sat behind the eight year old as he went off as the public’s 1-5 betting favorite in the season’s first feature. Back to the Spa meant back to the winner’s circle for Cash Me Out who recorded his first victory of the year as he went wire-to-wire in 1:57.1. On Sunday afternoon, the classy vet was again the big-time favorite as he looked to go back-to-back. With a victory, Cash Me Out would become racing’s newest millionaire. Fluet again asked the Spagnola trainee to show early speed and, of course, the veteran obliged. Cash Me Out cruised out to the front end on Sunday and traveled pretty much unopposed throughout before 39-1 longshot Aberforth brushed up to challenge around the final turn. The longshot got the best of the favorite in what would be a career-best win in 1:57.2 for Aberforth. Cash Me Out had to settle for second in the season’s second installment of the Open Trot. The earnings from that finish boosted his career bankroll to $999,113, leaving the veteran trotter less than a thousand away from reaching millionaire status.
While adding his name to the list of harness racing millionaires did not occur on Sunday, Cash Me Out will likely only have to wait a week to do so. Though he does compete in stretches out of town, most commonly at Yonkers Raceway or the Meadowlands, there is no questioning that Cash Me Out is and has always been a Saratoga horse. Racing out of a few different trainer’s stables over his now six-plus year career, maybe more impressive than his high career win percentage is the consistency that Cash Me Out has exhibited throughout his 166 lifetime races. He has hit the board (finished in the top three) in nearly 70% of his starts. A true Saratoga horse, a veteran of the New York Sire Stakes and top flight Open-level competition throughout his career, Cash Me Out came just a few thousand dollars shy in one season of being a six-digit money earner in each of his six years on the track. And behind another strong kickoff to the Saratoga meet while competing in the Open Trot, the Traylor’s first and best racehorse acquisition may well have his sights set on another $100,000 campaign here in 2019. He may just wind up as a nominee for Trotter of the Year for the a third consecutive season as well. One thing we do know, Cash Me Out is one of the top money earners for any horse in Saratoga harness racing history and is sure to join the millionaires club in his next start.
The live racing schedule kicks into full gear starting this week with matinee racing taking place on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday afternoons starting at 12:00pm and on Saturday evening with first post set for 6:45pm. There is a guarantee in the pick 5 pool of $5,000 on Wednesdays and Thursdays as well as a $25,000 trifecta pool guarantee in race five on those matinee cards. Until next week, I’m Mike Sardella wishing you the best of luck and we’ll see YOU at the finish line!
