Kabel is more than able
Veteran jockey has cleaned up his act
By ROB LONGLEY -- Toronto Sun
As Todd Kabel walked through the barn on a recent morning, his mount for Sunday's Queen's Plate caught him with a blind-sided hoof to the ribs.
The old Kabel might have fought back. The new Kabel laughed and continued on down the shed row.
"He's always biting at me and that day he just caught me when I wasn't looking," Kabel said of Mobil, one of the favourites for Sunday's 144th running of the opening jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown.
"He's that kind of a horse. That's what I like about him. He's a tough horse and he has attitude."
That was always the book on Kabel, too.
He rode his horses hard, played hard and tussled hard.
His head may have been throbbing the next morning, but Kabel would get up and do it all again.
The new Kabel is a self-admitted work in progress, but one with solid early returns.
One of the leading jockeys at Woodbine for the past decade, the native of McCreary, Man., is riding with renewed intensity in a blockbuster start to the 2003 season.
"I'm a little more focused and there's a lot more to come," Kabel said at yesterday's Queen's Plate barbecue. "You can't change everything overnight."
When Kabel hops aboard Mobil on Sunday, he'll try to boot home the third Plate winner of an already solid career.
At age 37 though, Kabel wants to replace solid with spectacular and it took the words of his dying father to trigger the attitude adjustment.
"My parents were here at Christmas and it was obvious my dad didn't have much time left," Kabel said. "He looked at me and said 'Todd, I enjoyed life to the fullest extent. I drank, I partied, I smoked but I'm dying too young.'
"He said 'I hope you learn from my mistakes and go out and achieve your goals and make me proud.' "
With a lump in his throat, Kabel made the promise he intends to keep.
The first step after his father succumbed to lung cancer this spring was to seek professional counselling.
The second was to ease up on the high life that at times brought out the worst in his personality and made it difficult to keep his weight down.
"I'm not going out as much, I'm keeping to myself," Kabel said. "With the counselling to help me get through my father's death, I also figured out a few other chips I have on my shoulder and it has me focused a little more.
"I'll still have a beer, but you don't have to go crazy. If you are out partying all the time, it's tough to get up in the mornings. And in this business, you have to be here in the mornings."
Kabel has been at Woodbine in the morning working horses but has saved his best work in the afternoons when they run for the money.
Through Sunday's action, he is the leading rider with 44 wins from 212 starts, one more than defending Sovereign Award winner Patrick Husbands.
Kabel has long been a must-have jock for stakes races, and this spring he has done a masterful job helping Mobil and Wando earn their status of Plate favourites.
Those around him have noticed, too, and like what they see.
"There is a difference," said Gus Schickedanz, the owner of both Wando and Mobil. "He has always been a good rider, but now he smiles more. He's not as tough."
Kabel doesn't mind that tough image, it's part of the reason he sees himself as a perfect fit for the rogue colt Mobil.
But he also believes he caught himself before that part of his character became too destructive.
"I figure I've got 10 years left and I'm not going to look back on any of it with regret," Kabel said. "I'm (ticked) off I didn't win the Sovereign Award last year ... I feel I was robbed.
"My attitude is I'm going to look to dominate whatever years I have left."
Starting, the message is clear, this Sunday.
