1995 Breeders Crown
Open Trot
Open Pace
Mare Trot
Mare Pace
3YO Colt Trot
3YO Colt Pace
3YO Filly Trot
3YO Filly Pace
2YO Colt Trot
2YO Colt Pace
2YO Filly Trot
Replays & Clips
In the 1988 Hambletonian, a son of Speedy Crown named Rule The Wind finished third to the star of the day, Armbro Goal. Those watching wisely archived in their memory the tremendous effort by Rule The Wind, a colt trainer Jerry Silverman had high hopes for despite some glaring confirmation flaws that included a missing shoulder muscle. Rule The Wind’s career was not particularly distinguished - he never actually won a race as a three-year-old and pocketed just close to $200,000 in earnings. However, he was royally bred and so on the strength of his brothers and sisters, was kept at stud in New Jersey by his owners. He attracted some attention from those regional breeders hoping to get a sire stake performer but could not compete in a state loaded with trotting stallion talent and eventually was exported to Holland.
In the $300,000 1995 Breeders Crown Trot, a gelded son of Rule The Wind would seize the spotlight his sire never enjoyed and vindicate the seven-year-old Hambletonian memory of a poor-gaited trotter with extraordinary heart.
David Wade’s homebred SJ’s Photo was to supposed to win the event, held for the first time at the Delaware County Fair. The richest Marylandbred ever had comported himself well on an extended European tour, and upon his return, SJ’s Photo won the Nat Ray on Hambletonian Day in a lifetime best 1:53, and finished second in the Yonkers International. He was understandably the favorite.
No less than 10 trotters entered the event, their lifetime purse earnings totaling more than $3.7 million. Impeccable Image, with an impeccable reputation for winning races, drew the rail and SJ’s Photo the two post, an advantage on the half-mile track that tipped post time odds in their favor.
Lurking in the midst of the field was a roan gelding named Panifesto. Originally named Colt’s Gait Vernal, Panifesto fetched a yearling price of $7,000 in 1992. Two years later he was back in the sale ring and brought just $4,700. Four months later he changed hands again, this time landing in the possession of R. Peter Heffering, whose six short years in the business has resulted in both exceptional performers and victories in many of the sport’s richest and most prestigious events. Despite barns chock full of stakes colts and fillies of both gaits, Heffering had never won a Breeders Crown title.
Like an undetected gold nugget in a pan of dross, Panifesto slipped from owner to owner, from trainer to trainer. Once in the Bill Robinson stable, under the auspices of trainer Monte Gelrod, Panifesto blossomed. His third place finish in the Yonkers International Trot behind SJ’s Photo validated his entry in the Breeders Crown, and post four with driver Luc Ouellette gave him an advantage to those familiar with the up and coming young driver. Ouellette’s red and white colors are similar to those of his uncle, Hall of Famer Mike Lachance. His training ground was the same too, with Ouellette dominating the driver standings at Yonkers Raceway as Lachance once did. Accordingly, Ouellette excels at the half-mile track strategy.
When Doug Brown sent Impeccable Image soaring through a :27.3 first quarter, Panifesto was snug on the rail third. SJ’s Photo had eliminated himself from the race by galloping at the quarter pole. The pride of Ohio, Golly Too, driven by Jeff Fout was left stranded on the outside, and when the pair started to fade past the half in :56.1, Ouellette slipped Panifesto free and took a bead on Impeccable Image. The two raced as a pair around the turn, and the short stretch intensified their duel. The opportunistic John Campbell, tried to squeeze Fax Machine through on the rail and the horse skipped offstride in the tight quarters, but the three trotters finished across the wire and needed a photo to declare Panifesto the winner by a head. Fax Machine was put back to fourth and owner Russell Bax saw his younger brother John’s horse, Goodtimes, placed in third instead.
Panifesto’s time of 1:56.1 was a half-mile track world record for trotting geldings, and gave Luc Ouellette his first Crown driver trophy. Heffering would take home the crystal owner’s trophy for the first time. Happiest may have been Howard Schoor, breeder of Panifesto and co-owner of Rule The Wind when he stood at Colt’s Gait Farm. His royal blood came through when needed.
Replays & Clips
Each of the six pacers entered in the $300,000 Breeders Crown Open Pace at Northfield Park was the particular pride and joy of their owner. Many were a testament to their trainers, as their longevity on the racetrack and earning power remained undiminished by age or the passing seasons.
One such horse was Pacific Rocket, a four-year-old son of Albert Albert, responsible for $2.2 million in earnings. Of that amount, $1.4 million was earned at three as, unbelievably, the third-best sophomore pacing colt in the Bill Robinson stable. At four Pacific Rocket shone. Peter Heffering, one of Pacific Rocket’s owners, applied baseball’s Cal Ripken’s nickname “Iron Horse” to “The Rocket” as testament to never missing a week in his racing career. Pacific Rocket was the runner-up in the 1994 sophomore Crown contest, so adding a Crown victory to his already impressive roster of wins was the main objective of his connections.
Majority owner and breeder Ed Lohmeyer was the real key to the success of Pacific Rocket. Lohmeyer laid the foundation for Pacific Rocket, and, early as a 2-year-old, the colt caught the eye of cattle baron Peter Heffering. Heffering quickly made an offer for the colt, and partners Lohmeyer and Johns Stoddard and Van Kirk agreed to sell him an interest. Lohmeyer also turned the colt over to Bill Robinson, Heffering's trainer, to campaign on the premise that the stable was best equipped to handle a freshman staked to mega-dollars. The decision was the right one, and Pacific Rocket continued to churn out wins week after week against the toughest competition.
Wellwood Stable’s Village Jiffy was a two-time Breeders Crown winner, who like Artsplace, won both his two-year-old and four-year-old event. No pacer had ever won three Crown titles, and Village Jiffy had designs on becoming the first to do so. He was considered the main threat to Pacific Rocket's certain lock on divisional honors.
Other contenders included: native son Bob Glazer’s Broadway Jate, Bob Grand's Historic and Ted Parker and his daughter Tonia’s Lusty Leader. The remaining contestant was That'll Be Me, a product of Keith Clark's stable from western Alberta. So proficient as a sophomore was Clark's protégé that he was named Horse of the Year in that province. The son of On The Road Again performed well for Robert Young at Mohawk, quickly moving up to the Free-For-All class. Still, That'll Be Me was considered a rank outsider, no matter how formful his last few starts and the fact that he was coming off a new lifetime mark, a seven-length 1:51.4 victory.
The one and only start OJC regular Roger Mayotte had had in the Breeders Crown program was a devastating defeat of Western Hanover, driving Kingsbridge over the very same racetrack in 1992. Mayotte piloted Fern Stable’s Kingsbridge through a text book example of heads-up driving to spark a win payoff of $72.40, lighting up a national Twin Trifecta payoff of $19,622.40 for three lucky people.
Mayotte accelerated That'll Be Me from the gate, arcing sharply across the track, and by the middle of the first turn was snugly in the three hole behind pace-setting Pacific Rocket and pocket-sitting Broadway Jate. Paul MacDonell, driving Village Jiffy, was left woefully out of position by Mayotte’s sudden move, and it would cost him. He was forced to yo-yo to the front, then drop back to try to secure a non-existent rail spot, then was forced to advance on the leaders again.
Jack Moiseyev, driving Pacific Rocket, felt safe in scripting a 1:24.4 three-quarters, confident that he could leave the field behind given his length advantage.
In shock, he saw That'll Be Me pace up beside him on the turn, acting like the move was no impediment at all. As they straightened for the short Northfield stretch, Mayotte said the word and That’ll Be Me did the deed. The king of upsets got by Pacific Rocket and was the winner in 1:52.4. It was 1992
Replays & Clips
Sometimes horse racing is more than a sport, more than a contest, more than just a way to make money. Sometimes it is the vehicle through which the very best in human and equine nature is displayed. In 1995, that was the case with a filly named CR Kay Suzie. The story of “Suzie” began in 1994, when the precocious youngster streaked across the racing horizon, setting records and winning races in a fashion that exhibited a talent far beyond her years. Bred, owned and raced by the Carl Allen family, “Suzie” was named for Carl’s granddaughter, Kaylee Suzanne. Any money the trotting filly made was earmarked for Kaylee’s college tuition, and by 1995, her father Rod often joked that Kaylee could purchase any entire wing of Florida State University in Tallahassee, where she was a sophomore. Named juvenile champion in 1994, “Suzie” had some support for Trotter of the Year honors, but that accolade instead went to the four-year-old Breeders Crown champion Pine Chip.
Hopes ran high throughout the winter of 1994-95. She won the Yonkers Trot and became the first filly to win the Beacon Course, the traditional prep for the Hambletonian. The Hambletonian colts and their connections cowered from the exceptional filly, and the middle jewel of the triple crown seemed hers for the taking. Except she didn’t win it. She didn’t even make the final, slipping into a gallop on the backstretch while engaging the leader in her Hambletonian elimination. The Allens took the heartbreak with equanimity and unusual grace and looked forward to piece together the remainder of the season.
“Suzie” was next entered in the Yonkers International Trot, and cannoned through the mile in 1:55.4, at one time opening up a seven-length lead. The only problem was that the race was a mile and a quarter, and three trotters, all older males, went by the tiring filly in the stretch. Her indomitable spirit, matched by that of the Allen family was not quashed. She was entered against the colts in the World Trotting Derby, and made a two-heat hash of them, tying Peace Corps speed standard for that age group.
Her reputation was restored, but needed an extra polish if she were to establish an edge in the race for Horse of the Year honors. The only option the Allen family recognized was to supplement her to the $300,000 Breeders Crown Mare Trot at the Delaware County fairgrounds.
Supplements have not fared well in the series, in fact none had ever won. The check for $34,000 was small compared to her $700,000 in earnings, but the win was necessary. Her presence did not frighten away the seven other mares who wished to race in what would be the final Crown Trot just for mares. The next year the mares would have to race against males, albeit for a greatly increased purse. Contestants included the freshman Crown champ, Gleam, the world’s fastest trotting race mare Beat The Wheel, and another supplement, Super Tammy, as well as her stablemate, Giant Mermaid.
CR Kay Suzie’s ability confines her to a specific style of racing. Rod Allen sends her to the front, and the rest of the field attempts to keep up. Allen did not alter this strategy, but was pressed immediately out of the gate by Bill Fahy and Casurina, before Fahy saw obtaining the front was futile, and backed in third behind Beat the Wheel. By the :27.1 first quarter, “Suzie” had two lengths on Beat The Wheel. She widened it to three at the half and four lengths by the 1:26.1 three-quarter pole. Gleam and Super Tammy had both made breaks, but John Campbell and Giant Mermaid had no intention of conceding the race to CR Kay Suzie and were closing ground as fast as equinely possible. Suzie was tiring and Giant Mermaid was gaining, but the laws of physics prevailed. Rod Allen had put enough real estate between him and the field that he could allow Suzie to trot in :32 for the final quarter but still win the race. The end result was what counted.
CR Kay Suzie, a homebred daughter of the Allen’s Breeders Crown champion Royal Troubador, closed the year with ten wins in 13 tries and $910,535 in earnings and was named divisional champion as well as Horse of the Year.
Replays & Clips
It's rare these days for any horse to compete for four years, reach $1 million in earnings, and never start in the Breeders Crown series. Yet Ellamony, a homebred daughter of Cam Fella, owned and raced by flamboyant Flamboro Downs Racetrack owner Charles Juravinski, did just that. In 1995 that would change.
By September, Ellamony had stacked up 16 wins in 20 starts and more than $320,000, and the Breeders Crown at Northfield was hers for the asking. A Crown win was needed to slam the door on divisional honors for Ellamony, who like wine, cheese and wisdom, was improving with age.
The five mares that assembled to challenge Ellamony were highly credentialed. Leading the field was two-time Breeders Crown champ Shady Daisy. The popular mare, owned by Ohioans Ron Jackson and his daughter Tamela, as well as trainer Lou Bauslaugh, was facing a partisan crowd for what was touted to be her last year of racing.
Like Ellamony, Camourous was a daughter of Cam Fella, and held the deep respect of all the trainers, drivers and owners who had the fortune of having her in their stable during the five-year span of her racing career. She was so valued as a race horse that during the winter of 1994 at The Meadowlands she was claimed five times (for $62,000-$70,000). That year she went to post an astonishing 48 times. Gray and hard as the steel her coat resembled, Camourous had more starts than any of the veteran campaigners in the field. The "Old Gray Mare" was making her 135th lifetime start, having hit the board a remarkable 90 times, always making a minimum of $100,000 in each year she raced. Her current owners, the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvaniabased concern of JBC Howard LoCastro & Reale, had high hopes that with national leading reinsman Dave Palone in the bike Camourous would give them the much coveted Breeders Crown crystal.
The three remaining entrants included 1993 freshman Crown champion Electric Slide. Owned by Lou Guida, whose "race ‘em if you got ‘em” philosophy has resulted in 20 Breeders Crown champions and close to $7 million in purse money. No horse trained by Bob McIntosh can ever be ignored, and the presence of red-hot Luc Ouellette in the bike, hot off his first Crown win at Delaware, Ohio the day before, was a also a factor. However Electric Slide had just seven starts coming into the race and none were impressive against a juggernaut like Ellamony.
The family partnership of Bittle, Bittle and Keller, who had sent out Crown champion Yankee Cashmere in 1994, were represented in this event was Lovin Yankee, who'd been stabled at Northfield for several weeks, prepping for the event. Bob Glazer, a native of Cleveland whose Peter Pan Stable enterprise was managed just miles from Northfield Park, had entered Panhattan. A daughter of 1987 Breeders Crown champion Kentucky Spur, Panhattan displayed early season form and consistent effort, though Glazer was just hoping for a decent piece of the $250,000 pie.
The race was merely a practice session. Even Camouorus, perfectly positioned by Dave Palone, could not get closer to Ellamony than her sulky wheel. The valiant Shady Daisy, with fill-in driver Jack Moiseyev subbing for Mike Lachance, injured in a Jug day spill, closed stoutly for third. The Crown, and subsequent year-end honors finally belonged to Ellamony. Juravinksi, who'd enjoyed the Crown winner circle before as part of the many partnered Goalie Jeff syndicate could now bask solo in the achievement of the daughter of his unraced mare Ceremony. Driver Mike Saftic was enjoying his first Crown win, as was trainer Steve Doyle.
Replays & Clips
Winning the Hambletonian in August and the Breeders Crown in the late fall is so tough that in the past 12 years of the Breeders Crown series, only eight trotters have tried it. Just three have succeeded: Prakas, Mack Lobell and Giant Victory.
The 1995 Hambletonian winner, Tagliabue, suffered a season-ending injury a few weeks before the Breeders Crown and was not entered in the championship series. The colts were an uninspiring but competitive group, and they trotted steadfastly throughout the Grand Circuit while conceding big money races like the Yonkers Trot and World Trotting Derby to the phenomenal filly CR Kay Suzie.
The Breeders Crown entry box was crowded with a dozen entries. A single 12 horse elimination was held the week before, and the winner was Jacqueline & Theodore Gewertz and the Robins Racing Stable’s Giant Hit, over the Ducharme brother’s Abundance. Giant Hit was easily accorded the role of favorite. He had shown hints of true ability, but those promises had not been fulfilled. The same ownership had raced prior Crown champs Giant Chill and Giant Victory. The team of trainer Per Eriksson and driver John Patterson could usually accomplish what they set out to do. Yet Giant Hit was a strange case. So convinced of his ability were well funded owners Tony Chiaravalle and Lou Guida that they purchased Giant Hit for $600,000. The pair would assume ownership after the Breeders Crown, with the intention of racing on the Italian circuit. Though Giant Hit had only missed one check in 19 starts, it was in the final of the Canadian Trotting Classic, over the same track at Woodbine. He won an elimination of the Yonkers Trot but not the final. He was second in an elimination of the Cadillac Hambletonian, and third in the final. Once again he teetered on the brink, having won a Breeders Crown elimination and embarking as the favorite for the final.
Giant Hit was foiled once again, by a homebred son of Armbro Goal, Abundance. His owner, John Ducharme, is an attorney and former counsel for the United States Trotting Association. He was once a presiding judge at Brandywine, and always kept a few trotters to breed, train, and hopefully, race. This method resulted in such names as Quick Work, Crowntron and Ritchie Prospect, all peppered throughout the record books of the 70s and 80s.
Abundance was second in the Hambletonian, runner-up only because Tagliabue was pulling up so quickly near the wire that the onrushing Giant Hit and Abundance were forced to peel off around him to avoid running over driver John Campbell. He was overdue for his share of the glory.
The ten trotters gathered for the last big money purse of the year. Giant Hit and John Patterson trotted smartly from the gate in a fashion befitting a 3-5 favorite. Abundance, driven by Bill O'Donnell, opted to sit behind Giant Hit and see what developed. Doug Brown, driving Canadian favorite son Dell Ridge Image, meant to take control of the race, but was parked throughout most of the first half mile in his attempt to do so. Patterson and Giant Hit yielded to Dell Ridge Image before the mild half-time of :57, probably more out of curiosity as to what the 20-1 shot had in mind. Brown was, after all, the leading OJC driver and didn't make a move like that unless he had the horse to back it up.
Unfortunately Dell Ridge Image chose that moment to gallop, and Bill O'Donnell had seen all he needed to see.
He steered Abundance into a clear lane and trotted powerfully past Giant Hit. Determined to just settle the issue once and for all, O'Donnell turned the whip up and asked Abundance to give all he could around the final turn. Abundance responded. Though leg weary at the end, he was the Breeders Crown winner by a solid length. King Pine, another trotter who could not quite maintain the level expected of him put in a solid effort to be second. Even John Campbell, driving Super Hoot, hurried past Giant Hit in the stretch.
As he has throughout most of his life, Ducharme stood proudly but alone in the winners circle, with his son running to join him. His brother, Richard lived in Seattle, Washington and could not make the trip.
O'Donnell scored his twelfth Crown win. He and John Campbell are the only two drivers to win over $5 million in the Crown series.
The decisive backstretch move paid off, and O'Donnell and the dependable homebred delivered on a lifetime of dreams that Ducharme had harbored.
Replays & Clips
Jenna's Beach Boy, the Lee and Linda DeVisser’s homebred son of 1990 Horse of the Year and Breeders Crown champ Beach Towel, had been lightly raced through 1994, but evolved into a powerhouse in the latter half of the stakes season. His astounding effort in taking his freshman Crown championship made him a shoo-in for divisional honors. Jenna's Beach Boy came back strong in 1995 winning the Miller Memorial, the New Jersey Classic and a division of the Burlington, the traditional prep for the North America Cup. The DeVissers, at the behest of trainer Joe Holloway, had also purchased another sophomore pacer, No Standing Around, over the winter for $175,000. The colt immediately earned back his purchase price and the DeVissers settled in for an exciting year of racing. In late June, on the evening of the North America Cup eliminations, they listened in shock as the announcer at Woodbine announced that first Jenna's Beach Boy and then No Standing Around would be scratched from the race minutes before post time.
An old and minor injury that could be troublesome had flared up on "Jenna". After an unsatisfactory warm up, Holloway bit the bullet and scratched him rather than exacerbate the injury. Hard on the heels of that decision came another very tough call -- the groom of No Standing Around reported the colt was streaming mucous from the nose, and Holloway was immediately forced to scratched him as well. The news got worse. No Standing Around became so sick that he was humanely destroyed. “Jenna” would miss not just the North America Cup but also the only other $1 million race for that division, the Meadowlands Pace.
They bided their time for the return of Jenna’s Beach Boy, and, with careful rest and training, he came back strong in the fall. Though ineligible to the Little Brown Jug, Jenna's Beach Boy spun a fabulous 1:52.1 mile on Jug day, and came into the Crown with the buzz surrounding a divisional hopeful and dominant horse.
An enforced vacation in the middle of the season was just what the doctor ordered for Jenna’s Beach Boy. He put an exclamation point on his return to the races with a 1:49.4 effort at Lexington's Red Mile, becoming the fastest racing three-year-old of all time.
Nick's Fantasy, the Little Brown Jug winner, became the first three-year-old pacer to supplement to the Breeders Crown, for the sum of $45,000. Trainer Caroline Lyon and even his optimistic owners thought he may not be quite as sharp as he was in Delaware, Ohio, but deserved the chance to go in the Crown.
That left Wellwood Stable’s Village Connection and Paul MacDonell with upset credentials. But the wide open space of Woodbine's seven-eighths mile track was perfectly suited to Jenna's style of racing.
Bill Fahy let Jenna's Beach Boy's enormous stride carry him through an authoritative first quarter timed in :26. He then seemed to taunt the other 10 colts with a :29.4 breather, as if to say, “catch me if you can”. Stand Forever, driven by Jack Moiseyev, was pacing all he could just to maintain second place. Nick's Fantasy, outbrushed by Jenna from the start, sought a hole but found none, and was given no respite throughout the remainder of the mile. Despite all the help driver John Campbell could give him, he was not the same horse who easily won the Little Brown Jug. As Jenna rounded the final turn, spectators dismissed the notion of another contestant even getting close to him, and images of Beach Towel played through the minds of those who watched that great horse assume the Crown.
Village Connection paced well down the lane for second, but there would be no upset from Paul MacDonell tonight. Tim Rooney’s Lisryan, driven to every advantage by top reinsman Steve Condren, picked up third.
The moment belonged to Lee and Linda DeVisser as tragedy gave way to triumph.
Joe Holloway became the second trainer to condition book-end Crown winners. Only two pacers, Jenna’s Beach Boy and Camtastic, have recorded two and three-year-old Crown wins. On the strength of his season coupled with his Crown title, made “Jenna” a landslide winner of divisional and Pacer of the Year honors.
Replays & Clips
There is nothing about any of the connections of the filly trotter Lookout Victory that demand attention. Nothing except that they all keep ending up in the winners circle time after time. As defending Breeders Crown champion, Lookout Victory never enjoyed any of the ancillary honors that ordinarily come with winning a Crown event, even though her six-length cruise-control freshman effort over the identical Woodbine surface was as impressive a performance as any in the Crown. Closing the year with a tidy $300,000 bankroll and a Crown was sufficient for owner Olle Leven, who in his 15 years of racing horses had never experienced the kind of thrills provided by a racehorse the caliber of Lookout Victory.
Trainer Per Eriksson had picked Lookout Victory from the yearling sales for $40,000, making her one of the cheapest Valley Victorys of that crop. She was overshadowed by CR Kay Suzie, and that circumstance did not change in 1995. Since “Suzie” opted to take on the colts for most of the season, Lookout Victory annexed the Hambletonian Oaks, the World Trotting Derby Filly Division and the Buckette. As the Crown neared, two other daughters of Valley Victory flexed their muscles and diverted what small attention Lookout Victory had garnered towards their own sparkling efforts.
First Back To Victory won the filly division of the Kentucky Futurity over Lookout Victory. Then Lifelong Victory, who came with a Hall of Fame trainer, Stanley Dancer, a Hall of Fame driver, John Campbell, and an owner, Bob Suslow, whose stable has won no shortage of $1 million races, scared even Per Eriksson into doubting his filly.
“I want to avoid her,” he said. “And go where she doesn’t.”
Why? Beside those weighty connections, Lifelong Victory’s slate shone with 15 wins in 17 starts, her only two losses coming at the hooves of the aforementioned CR Kay Suzie. After getting off to a slow start in 1995, Lifelong Victory was six for six.
One of Lookout Victory’s connections, perhaps the most vital, has not been mentioned yet. John Patterson Jr. is known for his skill on the racetrack, but is loath to discuss the experience of a race before or even after the fact. Some of his biggest victories have been celebrated with a faint grin and a shrug of the shoulders. Luckily, being in touch with you
The suspense mounted through the post parade, and as the gate sped away, John Campbell, behind Lifelong Victory, drove as if his mount was best, post eight notwithstanding. When Ms. Kitty B stubbornly took the lead early, Campbell rolled Lifelong Victory up on the outside, using Brylin Glory as cover, and when that one stalled, made a determined three-wide move to get the front away from those in possession. In her wake eased John Patterson, weaving Lookout Victory into position behind the favorite. Using that sixth sense that makes him an exceptional driver, Patterson hooked up with the leader. Onlookers, anticipating a battle for supremacy, instead watched in astonishment as Lookout Victory trotted right by the feared favorite and opened up a confident seven-length lead.
Lookout Victory, whose sire and grandsire both won Breeders Crowns, did them both one better and won two. She is the tenth trotter to do so. The double victory and more than $600,000 in earnings assuaged what pain Olle Leven may have felt at once again being ignored in the divisional balloting for CR Kay Suzie.
Performances like hers boosted the average Valley Victory yearling to close to $100,000 at the sales that fall, and Brittany Farms picked up their fourth Breeders Crown credit. Per Eriksson breathed a sigh of relief that he’d made the trip to Canada and it turned out well.
Replays & Clips
The trainer puts all of his time and effort into seeing that the owner gets what he wants -- to stand proudly in the winners circle next to a champion. Since horse training is not an exact science, a long-lasting partnership between an owner and trainer is becoming increasingly rare. An exemplary one exists between Bob Grand and Stew Firlotte. Part of the reason it has flourished, though, is because of the Ontario Jockey Club’s all-time leading driver Doug Brown.
Grand has been in the business close to 20 years and first visited the Crown winner circle as part-owner of the great Town Pro. Firlotte was the first to condition a pacing filly to repeat Crown wins with Town Pro, and claims the distinction of training the last pacing Triple Crown winner, Ralph Hanover.
Firlotte scored an upset Crown victory for Grand in 1991 with Digger Almahurst and Doug Brown. His biggest surprise was to come in 1995 when a lightly raced filly named Headline Hanover took on the divisional favorite and aptly-named She’s A Great Lady in the three-year-old filly Crown event at their home track of Woodbine.
So confident of She’s A Great Lady’s ability over her peers were Lee and Linda DeVisser that a supplement of $45,000 did not deter them. They watched their filly make easy work of an elimination heat held the week prior to the Crown. A foot injury bothered her, but trainer Joe Holloway was sure that in a week’s time it would be forgotten. The DeVissers were hoping for a Breeders Crown double when combined with their sophomore star Jenna’s Beach Boy, racing later that same evening.
She’s A Great Lady racked up wins in the Nadia Lobell final, Fan Hanover and Mistletoe Shalee. Headline Hanover had the fewest starts in the assembled field, with nine. A virus in early July necessitated a long vacation, and upon her return to the races in late September she got sharper each week, though she could not close a three-length gap separating her and She’s A Great Lady in their Crown elimination.
Driver Doug Brown treats the Ontario Jockey Club circuit as a private fiefdom. Since 1981 he has led the drivers standings, and he was about to give another example of his particular brand of driving expertise. Despite She’s A Great Lady paying 15 cents on the dollar, Brown cannon-balled Headline Hanover to the lead from the middle of the pack almost before the starting gate had pulled away. Strong headwinds doubled the effort “Headline” put into the :27.3 first quarter, and once ensconced on the front end Brown faced an immediate challenge from Paul MacDonell with You’re Killing Me. Armbro Nest and Teen Talk were then in good position against the rail as the two fillies battled for the front, but all eyes were searching for John Campbell, driving She’s A Great Lady, who still had not emerged from the nine slot to within striking position.
At the three-quarter pole in a decent 1:25, Brown smartly put a two-length cushion between Headline Hanover and the rest of the field. A worn-out You’re Killing Me had begun to retreat, and the threat now came from the pocketsitters, Armbro Nest and Teen Talk. Finally Campbell launched a three-wide assault with She’s A Great Lady, but the race was essentially over. The big filly did not motor by her competitors in her normal fashion.
Brown had a comfortable two-length margin at the wire, the 1:55 mile respectable given the 35 degree temperature. Headline Hanover validated the Firlotte-Grand partnership again, giving them a fourth Breeders Crown credit.
Replays & Clips
2YO Colt Pace · Friday, Oct. 20John Street NorthGrade 1 · $500,000 · 1:53.3Replays & Clips
The 1995 freshman pace program pages featured the offspring of first crop sires Precious Bunny and Die Laughing, reminders of the thrilling year 1991, when those two performers, (along with Artsplace) slugged it out race after race. Also represented in the 19 entrants were sons of 1990 Breeders Crown champ Beach Towel, 1989 Crown champion Matt’s Scooter, and the most volatile entrant of all -- JFK -- a product of 1984 Breeders Crown champion Dragon’s Lair and double Crown winner Miss Easy.
Bob McIntosh first drew real attention to his ability with stakes colts at Garden State Park in 1986, when his lightly-regarded Sunset Warrior stole the richest Crown colt pace of all time, an event worth $819,600. He has won eight subsequent titles, winning at least one in every pacing division the Crown series offered. Now he was back at that same racetrack with Live Or Die, fresh from a world record effort in Lexington. The son of Die Laughing was manhandled throughout his elimination mile but still hung on to best John Street North by a neck.
Oye Vay, a mere $10,000 yearling served up notice by winning the other elimination, by a head over the $190,000 yearling purchase, Arizona Jack. Missing form the race all together was A Studnamed Sue, an astonishing two-year-old who swept the Woodrow Wilson and The Metro Final, racking up more than $800,000 in 12 starts. A Studnamed Sue had come down with a virus, and his trainer felt there was not enough time for him to recover completely if the colt had to race in Breeders Crown eliminations.
A torrential downpour accompanied the colts to post, and the track condition had deteriorated considerably, as strong winds ripped across the expanse of the mile oval. Hunch bettors were pounding away on Cloudburst Hanover (and entry with Sports Town), while the hedge bettors loaded up on Live Or Die and the Robinson stable entry of Oye Vay and John Street North.
Surprisingly, when the gate sprung open, Beach Ray, driven by Doug Brown seized the lead immediately and was not challenged. JFK made a break, and was no factor. Beach Ray cut a panel in 28:4 through the slop and reached the half in an unhurried :57.4.
Arizona Jack had dropped in behind Beach Ray but was not keeping in contact with him, forcing Live Or Die to blaze his own path to the lead in an attempt to take it from Beach Ray at the half mile. Beach Ray caved in at the threat from Live Or Die, but behind teamster Steve Condren and Live Or Die lurked John Street North, with plenty of fresh pace and driver Jack Moiseyev asking him repeatedly to use it now. John Street North paced smartly by a tiring Live Or Die, using the momentum to notch a two and a half length sweep, in 1:53.3. Sports Town surged by Live Or Die in the last steps to be second.
Instead, R. Peter Heffering, a former cattle magnate turned standardbred owner and breeder, enjoyed his second Crown trophy of the season. After finishing second four times in the five years he’d put entrants in the series, an overlooked roan gelding named Panifesto gave him his first win at Delaware, Ohio in September. Now one of Heffering’s first purchases, Precious Bunny, was repeating the pleasure for him. Precious Bunny had been named Horse of the Year in 1991 and recorded $2.2 million in earnings along the way. Ineligible to the Crown series, Precious Bunny atoned by having a son of his do the honors for him. Driver Jack Moiseyev upped his Crown total to two trophies, both with two-year-old colt pacers trained by Bill Robinson, both at his home tracks of Freehold and Garden State Park. The mighty Robinson Stable would end the year with $1.5 million in earnings from the Crown series.
A Studnamed Sue took divisional honors, but John Street North turned a dark and stormy night into a joyous celebration. Breeders Crown
The 1995 Breeders Crown Final for 2 Year Old Colt Pacers from Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, ON won by John Street North
2YO Filly Trot · Friday, Oct. 20ContinentalvictoryGrade 1 · $300,000 · 1:55.3Replays & Clips
Valley Victory surprised the racing world at the end of his two-year-old season with his speed and grace and command. Struck down by illness just as he was about to make the leap into greatness, he was forced instead to prove his superiority in the stallion barn. His get seemed cast from a newer, more efficient mold of trotter, and one in particular was eye-catching and breathtaking. Continentalvictory, a black daughter of Valley Victory and the Chiola Hanover mare Intercontinental, came from a family of trotting champions and by her birthright should have excelled. Still she seemed a breed apart. Though imperfect, as her break in the Merrie Annabelle final proved, she came into the Breeders Crown in as solid a form as any seasoned race horse. She'd won seven straight races by a total of 36 1/4 lengths, trotted in 1:55.4 at Lexington, made a break just once in her pari-mutuel career and exhibited a poise beyond her tender years.
Despite her obvious superiority, 18 other fillies were willing to give her a try in Crown competition. The eliminations only enforced Continentalvictory's reputation, after driver Mike Lachance had to restrain her to a six length triumph in 1:56. If she had to choose a nemesis, it would be Act Of Grace, trained by Hall of Famer Stanley Dancer, who had never won a Breeders Crown despite a lifetime of achievements, paired with driver John Campbell, who has won more Crown races than anyone. Act Of Grace was also a daughter of Valley Victory and she had actually defeated Continentalvictory in July, though the pair had not met for the past two months.
There was a cast of supporting characters that included Merrie Annabelle winner Missy Will Do It and New York Sires Stake dominatrix Armbro Monet. But those who were willing to believe their eyes only saw Continentalvictory, and thought Act Of Grace might at least be an interesting warm-up for the long striding black filly.
The weather turned abysmal on Breeders Crown night, with rain and wind offering excuses for breaking stride and misbehavior. From the start, it was clear the weather meant nothing to Continentalvictory, and she bullied Monet Blue Chip into the pocket when Wally Hennessey made a tentative move for the front out of the gate. Lachance just enjoyed the big filly from that point on, letting her slowly out a notch as they cruised past the three-quarter pole in an unbelievable 1:26.2. Her eight-length victory could have just as easily been 18 lengths, but Lachance saw no reason to unwrap the entire package. The challenge from Act Of Grace never came. A miscue near the five-eighths pole meant she was out of the race, and the battle would be fought another day. Southwind Rise held her nose out to be second over Broadway Diamond, but they both had lost sight of Continentalvictory. By the time they crossed the wire, she'd gone by well ahead of them.
Ron Gurfein has produced many trotters, Hambletonian winners and even two Breeders Crown champions in one night. Those who saw Continentalvictory’s performance whispered "superstar" under their breath, not quite sure of what they had seen. Mike Lachance beamed with pride in describing her and the pleasure of being aboard -- the fact that he'd picked up his twelfth Breeders Crown trophy seemed incidental. The group of owners that agreed to split the cost of the $100,000 yearling filly in 1994 were Eugene & Deena Frost, Dave Offenberg, Jerry & Rosalie Silva, Harvey Gold, Ken Orr and David Hauck. It was the first Crown credit for all of them, and the perfect ending to an absolute fairy tale of a year that was capped with divisional honors.
Brittany Farms picked up yet another Breeders Crown breeder credit, and Valley Victory offspring hit an all-time high at the yearlings sales.
