On Dec. 21, 2004, Sheryle Mitchell of Minnewaukan, N.D., was on her way to the hospital with her husband Gary. She looked over at her husband of 36 years from her side of the pickup truck, smiled, and died suddenly.
She was 58.
Trainer Mitchell King with Latter Day Ace at Assiniboia Downs. Ace has a storied history of winning on Mother's Day.
On Sunday, May 11, 2008 -- Mother's Day at Assiniboia Downs -- Sheryle's lone surviving son, Mitchell King, won his first race as a trainer at a recognized racetrack with 12-year-old Latter Day Ace, owned by himself and Loving Memory Stable.
"The race lasted one minute," said Mitchell, 29. "It sent chills down my spine. I gave 'Ace' a big kiss in the winner's circle for my Mom and my brother.
"I know they were both watching the race from heaven."
Mitchell and his brother Dustin had originally claimed Latter Day Ace, currently the oldest horse at the Downs, through trainer Carren Wedge on July 6, 2006.
"Dustin thought it would be great to get 20 wins with him," said Mitchell, 29. "But he never made it."
The brothers recorded their first win with Latter Day Ace on May 13, 2007, also on Mother's Day, at Assiniboia Downs, on the same day their broodmare had become a Mom, producing her first colt.
"Dustin was not a picture person," said Mitchell.
"So I thought it was a little odd when he called me that morning at 4:30 a.m. and said he wanted to take pictures of me and him and dad with the mare and foal. We took the photos, cleaned up and drove to Winnipeg for the race.
"It was an exciting win and Carren Wedge's first as a licensed trainer. It was a total team effort. Darlene Wedge groomed him and Rohan Singh rode him. The Wedge family was really good to us. We celebrated in the winner's circle, handed out win pictures in the barn...
"Driving back from the race on the Interstate, Dustin said another strange thing to me. He was never one to be emotional or talkative, but out of the blue he just turned to me and said 'That was a great day!'"
Nine days later on May 22, 2007, Mitchell got a call from the hospital. Dustin had been diagnosed with diabetes and had a blood-glucose level that was off the scale. His sugar levels were so high that three separate medical opinions were sought.
The doctors couldn't believe anyone with blood-glucose levels that high could still be alive.
Dustin said he felt OK, but the doctors knew his kidneys were beginning to fail. A decision was made to immediately transfer him to the hospital in Grand Forks.
"I was supposed to meet them there at 11 p.m.," said Mitchell. "To donate one of my kidneys for a transplant, but six miles out of Devil's Lake his kidneys failed. They lost him in the ambulance."
Survived by Mitchell, his sister Darcie and their father Gary, the King family remained a close-knit unit in their time of mourning.
Tragedy had also struck their father earlier in his life, when he had been hit by three drunken teenagers while driving a semi. Trapped under the burning cab, a passerby pulled him to safety.
He escaped with third degree burns on his arms and back.
Dad had also trained horses at the bush tracks in Fesseden and Rugby, N.D., while mom worked at the library and the bank. Mitchell quit a good job at BobCat to follow in his father's footsteps and work with racehorses at Adena Springs and Mountaineer Park in 2004.
"This is what I love," said Mitchell. "I don't drink or smoke. I have no girlfriends. I just work seven days a week with the horses and I love it. I have a lot of people to thank for the gifts I've been given.
"Marty Drexler, who I work for now, the Wedge family, Jack Robertson, Gordie Marsh, Chad Torevell, Gary Danelson, Clayton Gray, John Locke, Tony Cizik, Rohan Singh, my sister's boyfriend Phil, who groomed Latter Day Ace when he won at Fargo, and my parents, who I owe everything to for bringing me up right and teaching me manners and a good work ethic."
Mitchell's sister Darcie, whose nine-month-old son was named after their brother, Cole Dustin, couldn't be at Assiniboia Downs for this year's Mother's Day win, but dad was.
"I made sure he had the most important spot in the win picture, on the horse's hip," said Mitchell.
"He tried to shake my hand, but I just wouldn't have it. I was just too emotional. I gave him a big hug. "
It's been said that the outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man, that a genuine horse just has a way of soothing the soul. Latter Day Ace is that kind of horse.
He's won races every season since he began his career as a 2-year-old on Dec. 5, 1998 at Golden Gate in California.
He now sports a career record of 19-19-19 in 101 starts for earnings of $214,872. But he's won only a single race at Assiniboia Downs in each of his last three seasons.
In 2006, he also won at Assiniboia Downs.
On Mother's Day.
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