says. "That horse almost got me. Everybody that was there was
laughing. That's my great Cigar story. He was wild on the farm
for about six weeks, full of energy."
It was in 1999 at a Standardbred sale in Canada that Hertrich
first met Fielding, a one-time professional hockey player who
had become a successful businessman and ventured into buy-
ing Standardbred yearlings in hopes of producing racehorses.
Hertrich and Fielding enjoyed some Canadian beers sitting
on a hay bale in the barn of trainer John Burns. From that day
forward, the two became the best of friends and started com-
municating daily. They would also become future partners in
the Thoroughbred industry.
"Everybody who is anybody in the Thoroughbred and Stan-
dardbred breeds knows him very well," Fielding says of Her-
trich. "He's incredibly, incredibly smart. He's incredibly de-
tailed, but what makes him so well-rounded and what makes
him so special as his partner is he's the most honest, moral guy
