Hugh Robertson

Two Emmys connections celebrate after winning the Mister D Stakes at Arlington Park

Was  it coincidence or karma? Two Emmys’ trainer/co-owner Hugh Robertson didn’t care. He was just thrilled to be standing in the winner’s circle after Two Emmys—a five-year-old gelding purchased with his partner Randy Wolfe for $4,500 as a yearling at Keeneland—delivered Hugh’s first Gr. 1 victory in his 50th year of training Thoroughbreds.

That it came on August 14th in the $600,000 Mr. D Stakes—the renamed Arlington Million—in Arlington Park’s Gr. 1 stakes was serendipitous. So was his meeting with Wolfe, thanks to a kind stranger sitting behind Wolfe at Arlington Park for the 2002 Breeders’ Cup.

Hell, Hugh was hoping to become an attorney as an underclassman at the University of Nebraska. Then he switched his law book for a condition book and never looked back. “I took a semester off and never went back,” he said.

He’s never been disappointed in that decision. Though he may not be well-known nationally, he topped $1 million in earnings 14 times, amassing 1,542 wins and more than $31.5 million in earnings, thanks to consistent success. From 1998 through 2020, his win percentage has been higher than 15 every year but one, when he checked in with 13% in 2008.

His 47-year-old son Mac has already won 1,428 races and earned more than $37.5 million, working in concert with his father. “We have 125 to 150 horses between us,” Mac said. “We’ve had a good run. It’s nice to be able to send your horse to your dad or your horse to your son.”

He was thrilled when Two Emmys won the Mister D. “I’m happy for my dad and my mom,” he said. “Everyone wants to win a Gr. 1. My mom and dad struggled to make ends meet. We’re been fortunate to have a lot of good clients. Nobody does it on his own.”

Hugh started at Penn National, spent eight years there and moved on to Chicago, going on his own in 1971. Twenty-two years later, Polar Expedition, an incredibly quick speedster, took Hugh on a great seven-year run, winning 20 of 49 starts and earning just under $1.5 million.

“Once I got Polar Expedition, things took off,” he said. “He was a little, tiny  horse. He was 15 hands and weighed maybe 900 as a two-year-old—a horse who wouldn’t have brought $1,000 at a sale. He was freak. He did everything right, right from the start. I told his owner, John Cody—I told him before he ever ran, `He’s the best horse you’ve ever had, and I’ll try not to screw it up.’ A lot of horses get ruined. He was a nice horse.”

He didn’t take long to show it, emerging as one of the top two-year-olds in the country by winning five of his six starts by daylight, including scores in a pair of Gr. 2 stakes: the Arlington Washington Futurity by 4 ½ lengths at one mile and the Gr. 2 Breeders Futurity at Keeneland by 5 lengths.

When he won his three-year-old debut, the Mountain Valley at Oaklawn Park by three lengths, the sky was the limit. Polar Expedition finished third in the Southwest Stakes, then captured the Gr. 2 Jim Beam Stakes by a neck in his first start at a mile-and-an-eighth. Polar Edition went off the 1-2 favorite in the Gr. 2 Illinois Derby, only to finish a distant seventh on a sloppy track. Regardless, Polar Expedition went on to the Preakness Stakes, leading early before fading badly to 10th.

Polar Expedition maintained his class throughout his career, taking two mile-and-an-eighth Gr. 2 stakes: the Washington Park Handicap at Arlington and the Gr. 2 National Jockey Club Handicap at Hawthorne in his next-to-last start in 1998 as a seven-year-old.

In 2002, Hugh hooked up with Randy Wolfe, a retired worker from an electric co-op in Madison, Wisconsin. At the Breeders’ Cup at Arlington Park, Wolfe mentioned that his father and his father-in-law had owned horses and that he was thinking about buying one. “I got talking to the guy behind me, and he asked me who I was going to hire to train the horse,” Wolfe said. “He said he knew someone, and called Hugh. He came down 15 minutes later, and we talked.”

Randy liked what he heard. “We were both from Nebraska,” Wolfe said. “I knew I could trust somebody from Nebraska.”

Hugh suggested they claim a horse. They did, and then more. “We’ve had 18 horses with Hugh,” Randy said.

The best one cost $4,500 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. “I was a little upset,” Randy said. “I said, `I don’t need another $4,500 horse.’ He kept telling me to have patience with this horse. He’s an English Channel, and they don’t get good until they’re four or five. He doesn’t push a horse. He has the best interest of the horse all the time. He’s not going to run a horse if he’s not ready to run.”

Two Emmys did okay as a four-year-old, then improved quickly at five. He finished second in the Gr. 2 Muniz Memorial at the Fair Grounds, then second in an allowance race at Arlington Park from off the pace and second by a neck on the lead in the Gr. 3 Arlington Stakes.

Hugh had nominated Two Emmys for the renamed Arlington Million. “I was sure he’d run at a mile and a quarter,” Hugh said. “Other than Domestic Spending and the horse from Europe, it came up a little light. I thought he was competitive in there. I stuck him in there. Take a chance.”

With a new pilot, James Graham, Two Emmys struck the lead and walked the field to a :52.43 half-mile. “When he ran :52 to the half, I knew we’d get a part of it,” Hugh said. “And then the 1:16 (for three-quarters). I was sure we’d hit the board.”

Flying at him late was Domestic Spending, the 2-5 favorite ridden by Flavien Prat who was six-for-seven lifetime.

Two Emmys dug in. “He’s pretty game,” Hugh said. “He ran the last quarter in :22 3/5. You’re not going to catch a front-runner coming home in :22 3/5. At the 16th pole, I was pretty sure he was going to win.” He did, by a diminishing neck.

Two Emmys and Jockey James Graham hold off Domestic Spending to win the Mister D Stakes at Arlington Park

Hugh joked with TVG’s Scott Hazelton, ”I never thought I’d have a horse in the Million, and then when I do, it’s not a million.” Hugh added, “It’s nice, but I wish they’d keep running.”

He’ll have quite the memento from Arlington Park, and a horse who may just win other stakes, too. “If you get a hold of a good one, you try not to mess him up,” Hugh said.

“Good horses will run for everybody. A good horse is dangerous in anyone’s hands.” But only at racetracks still running. “It’s a shame,” Hugh said. “It’s a beautiful racetrack.”