1998 Breeders Crown

If it’s true that all things come to those who wait, the 1998 Breeders Crown Trot proved an exemplary lesson in patience and reward. Trotters are funny animals, and their gait and balance requires those who train them to be combination horseman, engineer and psychic. Some trot naturally, and then the temptation to extract too much too early comes into play. The Breeders Crown Trot brings together the established superstars and the carefully nurtured, the reclamation projects and the veterans who practically trot in their sleep.

In the first year of the Crown Trot, CR Kay Suzie astounded spectators by winning in a sizzling 1:52.3 with just one pari-mutuel start on her card, in which she made a break. The following year, Wesgate Crown, a 1993 freshman Crown and divisional winner who went winless at three returned to take another Crown title as a six-year-old. The third edition would be a coronation of a head that had not worn a Crown, despite three tries.

Westgate Crown was back for another attempt at a title, after campaigning successfully in Europe and breeding a few mares in his leisure time. He is the first Breeders Crown stallion to race in an event the same year as one of his offspring also raced in the Crown program. Glory’s Comet, practically a member of the Peters family from Ontario, had started his year in January by winning the Horsemen’s Series final and was trotting strong in June to annex the Titan Cup. Goodtimes, another Canadian veteran, had taken his Nat Ray elim in a lifetime best 1:54, showing spry foot for a seven-year-old.

Georgia Limited had raced in the Elitlopp and finished a game second, and won the American- National upon his return. Bred by the sport’s greatest ambassador, Delvin Miller, Georgia Limited led a two-horse entry from the Joe Stutzman stable, his stablemate the expensive and richly bred Pietro Pan who faced obstacle after obstacle in returning to the racetrack. Though five, he’d made just a handful of starts, but managed to record a 1:54 mark earlier in the month.

Two sons of Supergill, Supertoy and Super High Test, were promising youngsters who went awry of the lofty plans laid out for them early on and returned to the racetrack for a trainer who had the time and the patience to coax their best from them. T Cody, a son Ohio stallion Armbro Iliad, was nearing the $400,000 mark from his modest beginnings. B Cor Pete, driven by the famous Olle Goop who steered the legendary Grades Singing to many wins in Europe and a dramatic Crown victory in her home town of Montreal, was not in top form but could be counted on to give his best effort.

Lastly, there was the product of patience, foresight and providence, Moni Maker. The daughter of Speedy Crown, one of the greatest trotters and most prolific sires in the history of harness racing, was rising through the trotting ranks at the same moment the stallion was retiring from the breeding shed. As progeny of one of his last crops, she would be one of the most brilliant performers in a group of more than 2,200 foals, whose earnings exceeded $104 million. With $2.3 million on her card, Moni Maker was the richest, and most would agree, the best.

Moni Maker’s dam, Nan’s Catch, but was brought back home from the yearling sale by breeders David and Rikki Caldwell, because they saw in her a much greater value than the bidders were willing to give. Nan’s Catch won the Breeders Crown as a two-year-old and the Hambletonian Oaks as a threeyear- old for the Caldwells, proving their vision to be well-founded.

An $87,000 yearling purchase for her first owners, Moni Maker turned in a solid freshman year. But her sophomore year was the attention-getter. Among her peers were the sensational Continentalvictory, who overshadowed Moni Makers phenomenal accomplishment of 19 straight wins, including the Hambletonian Oaks. Her head loss in the Breeders Crown that year to Personal Banner was gutwrenching, but time was on her side in a big way.

In the midst of that three-year-old season, her owners, Edmund and David Smith and Alan Foster, were approached by those in the current partnership. An agreement was struck where they would share 50/50 partnership through the close of the year, with Bill Andrews remaining in charge of her conditioning. The Moni Maker Stable would then take over. The partners in the Moni Maker Stable are people who have had been associated with some of the finest trotters of the slat two decades, but they were about to become part of something special.

Among the members are Frank Antonacci, KR Leasing, Paul and Antoinette Nigito, Harvey Gold, Geoffrey Stein and David Reid. KR Leasing is the family of Hambletonian Society director Frank Antonacci, as well as his brother Gerry and their father, Guy. Their Lindy Racing Stable name was derived from their first Hambletonian winner, Lindy's Pride, who swept the 1969 Triple Crown. The family got involved in harness racing in 1966, with an emphasis on owning, breeding and racing trotters. Guy “Sonny” Antonacci has been in partnerships responsible for no fewer than four Hambletonian winners.

Paul Nigito, a realtor, and his wife Antoinette have been partners with the Antonaccis on many of their top performers, including Mr. Chin, Uconn Don and Lindy Lane and was co-owner of Joie De Vie, the favorite in the 1981 Hambletonian. They have bred and owned many champions, but none of the caliber or Moni Maker. David Reid credits Sonny Antonacci as the man with the vision, who persisted in trying to obtain Moni Maker, because she represented one of the last racing Speedy Crown mares.

The partners had a grand time in 1997. At the end of the three-year-old season Moni Maker had gone to Europe and raced well in the Lotteria and the Elitlopp. Her fifth-place finish in the final of the Elitlopp in May of 1997, was the last time she would be worse than third.

Her return to the U.S. in the summer of ‘97 saw Wesgate Crown beat her by a head in their Breeders Crown contest, but already the superlatives were being heaped upon her. She turned the tables on Wesgate Crown in the Nat Ray (and remains the only mare to ever win the Nat Ray) at the Meadowlands in a time of 1:52.2, the fastest trotting mile of 1997. She was the overwhelming choice in the 1997 USHWA/USTA voting as the top older trotting mare in the sport.

At five, Moni Maker grew even taller and stronger. She returned to Europe, as the pickings are notoriously slim for older trotters in this country. The team of caretaker Roman Kogalin, trainer Jimmy Takter and assistant trainer and blacksmith Conny Svensson, and driver Wally Hennessey had a very tough task ahead of them.

Moni Maker raced in the Prix de France and the Grand Criterium Vitesse in Cagnes-sur-Mer, France, and won in Italy in the Premio Costa Azzurra. She was being prepped for an event that was very close to Jimmy Takter’s heart, another try in one of the grand trotting spectacles of Europe, the Elitlopp.

On the last day in May, she became the first American trotter to win the Elitlopp since Mack Lobell. Her win was hard fought, a demonstration of speed and stamina that merged to produce what all of Europe called “the best trotting mare in the world.”

The partners, who rarely miss a Moni Maker race no matter on which continent it occurs, were treated to one of the greatest thrills in the racing game, and the search was on for those adjectives to describe Moni Maker and her ability. Her race time in the Elitlopp was 1:53.3, the fastest in the history. Her time also smashed Mack Lobell’s long-held world and Breeders Crown record of 1:54.1, set on the five-eight mile of Pompano Park in 1987.

Her remarkable, double-heat triumph was only the latest effort in along line of memorable victories for this splendid mare. She then added another European Grand Circuit victory to her list when she won the Copenhagen Cup in a new world record time of 2:26 over one and one quarter miles. She also won at Torino in Italy. Then it was time to pack her tack and come home.

In her first North American start of 1998, Moni Maker was upset by Goodtimes in the Nat Ray eliminations, the victim of John Campbell’s smart drive with the veteran Goodtimes, and traffic problems. Once Wally Hennessey got her to the outside, she charged quickly from third to finish just a neck back. Her last quarter of 26.2 served notice that she was fit and ready to race in the $500,000 Breeders Crown the following week.

Moni Maker had been in three Breeders Crown events to date, and lost her last two by less than a quarter of a length. Campbell sent Glory’s Comet to the front in a vain attempt to control the race. When Moni Maker swept by him, the lone mare in the field, driver Wally Hennessey was just riding. The outcome was not in doubt after the first quarter, and Moni Maker cruised to a three length win in a remarkable 1:52.3 effort, tying the stake record a set by CR Kay Suzie, the fastest trotting mile in Crown history. The Nat Ray was more of the same, as she idled around the Meadowlands mile track in 1:52.4. She had now proved her supremacy on two continents, and could have stopped there. Instead she took Horse of the Year honors and became the first American trotter-owned to win the Prix d’Amerique since Delmonica Hanover in 1975.

The open pacing division of the Breeders Crown has yielded eight divisional championships in 14 years of classic pacing battles. Others have been tremendous upsets that still retain historical significance. The 1998 edition attracted ten pacers with conglomerate earnings of $8.2 million from the most powerful stables in the sport, and the air in the Meadowlands front paddock awaiting post time was alive with tension borne on the humidity of a summer night.

Bob Glazer of the Peter Pan Stable has topped the owner standings in the sport for three straight years, culminating 1998 with a record $4.5 million in purse money. He hates to see a race go the gate without one of his horses, and on this night he had two outstanding representatives – Noble Ability and Bad Bert. Both were top class performers at The Meadowlands, with nearly $1 million earned between them.

Western Dreamer made harness racing history in 1997 by winning the Cane, Messenger and Little Brown Jug, to become the first pacing Triple Crown winner in 14 years. He was also the first Triple Crown winner to return to the racetrack since Rum Customer in 1969. However, his peers showed him little respect, and Western Dreamer had to work to record five wins this season. His victories did include the Battle of Lake Erie and a free-for-all in Canada that lowered his mark to 1:49.4.

Dream Away, a son of two-time Crown winner Artsplace, had taken the 1997 Meadowlands Pace, won the Adios but been disqualified to fifth, and taken eliminations of the Messenger and Little Brown Jug. He closed with year just shy of $1 million in earnings, but astonishingly was winless on the year in 1998. He was runner-up in six of his seven starts and was looking to break through in the Breeders Crown. The second-place finisher in the Meadowlands Pace, At Point Blank, also could not get any numbers in the win column in his sophomore year but came back at four with renewed vigor for the Monte Gelrod stable. At Point Blank entered the Breeders Crown with a four-race win streak.

Armbro Emerson showed his heels to a celebrated field of superstars in the 1987 Crown pace at Roosevelt Raceway, and ten years later was comfortably ensconced in an Ontario stallion barn. One of his richest sons, Master Barney, had banked more than $600,00 and was attempting to duplicate the feats of his pop.

Up against the big stables with the stranglehold on the leading trainers standings were the one-horse operations like Andy Kovath and Milan Smith. Kovath’s Tune Town was a six-year-old son of Big Towner, a stallion with a reputation for siring long-lived hard-knocking pacers. In Tune Town he’d outdone himself, as the defending divisional champion was regarded as the Energizer Bunny of the racing world.

Hi Ho Silverheels was $1,800 yearling purchase whose bankbook had swelled to more than $1.1 million in his five years of racing. Owned and trained by former Hollywood stuntman Milan Smith (who’d renamed the colt after his good buddy actor Jay Silverheels, who was Tonto to Clayton Smith’s Lone Ranger. “Hi Ho” had started in the 1996 Crown event at the Meadowlands, and finished a flying third to Jenna’s Beach Boy. The seasoned veteran had slowed a step in his vintage years, but entered the Crown with a 1:50.1 invitational win at Hoosier Park fresh under his belt, where he’d equaled the track record of 1:49.4 earlier in the month.

Unbelievably, the aforementioned pacers were the supporting players. The real ammunition came in the form of Red Bow Tie and Pacific Fella. Red Bow Tie was top-drawer three-year-old of 1997 who went through the Harrisburg Sale ring and brought the good but not eye-popping price of $147,000, allegedly due to his fragile hooves.

A partnership of Cliff Siegel, David Scharf and the d’Elegance and TLP Stables went in together on the purchase and he was turned over to Monte Gelrod. Red Bow Tie came out on opening night of this year’s Meadowlands meet (Dec. 26) and blasted through a 1:53 mile. The flimsy-footed gelding had earned his owners back more than $250,000 and they were willing to gamble one-fifth of it, $50,000 to supplement Red Bow Tie to the Crown. Only one supplement had ever won a Crown race and very few even made back their supplement fee.

Red Bow Tie had clashed repeatedly throughout the season with Pacific Fella, a tall, big-boned son of Cam Fella driven by Cat Manzi and trained by his cousin Ed Lohmeyer.

Pacific Fella led the group in earnings on the year with close to $600,000, and had easily handled most of the field at his leisure. His slate of wins included the Freehold Cup, legs of the Classic and Graduate series, Dan Patch invitational and Pacing Classic final. Red Bow Tie had turned the tables on him in a leg of the Classic series, but the Crown would truly decide the division. Pacific Fella was named the public’s choice at 7-5. On the Meadowlands website where the most discerning of harness racing cognoscenti dwelt, he also garnered 22% of the vote in a Breeders Crown cyber-poll.

Their final confrontation was to occur two weeks before the Breeders Crown in the Pacing Classic Final. But at the eleventh hour, Red Bow Tie was scratched sick from the $275,000 Pacing Classic, with a bout of colic. He was taken to the University Of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Clinic in the early morning hours for treatment. He did require surgery, but remained at the clinic for a few days for monitoring.

The supplement amount of $50,000 came due while Red Bow Tie was at the horse hospital. The owners had to make a tough decision, but left the entry in. Their horse would have to race the biggest race of the season off a 29-day lay-off.

If driver Luc Ouellette, in the midst of a sensational year, had any doubts about the fitness of his mount he never let them show. He stepped on the gas immediately and barreled Red Bow Tie through a quarter in 26.2. From that point he practically lolled on the front end, daring the field to challenge through a relatively easy middle half of :57.1. The move came surprisingly from Dream Away and John Campbell, who rolled up on the outside hoping to pick up cover as they moved forward. None came, and Manzi elected to keep Pacific Fella tucked on the rail third.

From the three-quarters the end result was predictable. A horse as versatile, speedy, and determined as Red Bow Tie was not going to let anyone by after such a nice breather. Ouellette tapped him with the whip and he dug down and held off Dream Away in 1:50.1, relegating that one to yet another second place finish. Oddly, Dream Away would end his year with 11 starts and no wins but seven seconds.

Pacific Fella raced up for third but was clearly not himself and was retired soon after the race. Red Bow Tie returned to win the US Pacing championship the following week, the Des Smith Classic and the Prix d’Autoumne as well as his divisional honors, Pacer of the Year, HTA Pacer of the Year, and the hearts of all who watched the courageous horse bounce back from adversity.

There are two kinds of talent that can make the difference between a successful racehorse and one that can make millions on the track and be worth millions when the racing days are done. The first is trotting talent and the second is training talent. The record books are full of promising two-year-olds who do not fulfill that promise at three. The trotter who shows off his early form and improves it as he matures is a rarity indeed.

Chuck Sylvester is the definition of training talent. With horses like Mack Lobell and Pine Chip, Britelite Lobell and Winky’s Goal, and scores of others to his credit, his induction to the Harness Racing Hall of Fame could not have come in a more providential year. Muscles Yankee had been a solid twoyear- old, who won about $160,000 and six races. Yet he faltered at the end of the year, breaking stride in the finals of Breeders Crown and Valley Victory. Sylvester took him home to Florida and started again from the drawing board. When Sylvester shipped north, he didn’t make the trip in one fell swoop, but instead stopped off at Colonial Downs, a track built for trotters, to let his stock ramble over the new surface. Muscles Yankee qualified there in June with Chuck’s son and assistant trainer Troy Sylvester in the bike, his first start of the new year, and he would end his career over the very same surface.

From Virginia it was off to the Meadowlands to prepare for the biggest event of the year, the Hambletonian. After a smart effort in an open event, Muscles Yankee was beaten in late June in the Historic by a nose by Arden Homestead Stable’s Kick Tail, who was coming into his own after a year of setbacks at two.

Muscles Yankee was an easy winner of the Beacon Course in 1:54.3. Most of the challenges Muscles Yankee had to stave off came from his own stablemates, Armbro Rotary, David Raymond and Silver Pine. In an ironic confluence Sylvester already had three valuable trotters in his barn, with Muscles Yankee topping off an embarrassment of riches to make four. After a 1:52.2 Hambletonian win over David Raymond, Muscles Yankee leapfrogged straight to the Yonkers Trot, which he won in 1:57.3.

Muscles Yankee now had dead aim on the Trotting Triple Crown title, but the toughest and final leg of the trio of prestigious events, the Kentucky Futurity at The Red Mile, was to elude him. Sylvester and Campbell had been in this spot in 1987 with Mack Lobell, and were denied in the final strides by Napoletano. There had been no Triple Crown sweep since Stanley Dancer had won it with Super Bowl 26 years previously.

Muscles Yankees inadvertently choked down in the first heat, and finished out of the money for first and only time all season. He struggled the second heat, but his game heart still managed to push him to a third-place finish behind Conway Hall and Trade Balance. Trade Balanced, a son of Balanced Image of the pacing-bred mare Lexi Tree, was the image of perfection in winning the Kentucky Futurity for his trainer/driver David Wade. Wade, also a trotting specialist operated on a far more modest scale than Sylvester, but has had great success with the square-gaiters. His owners made the decision to supplement to the Crown at $45,000.

"Trade Balance has been climbing the ladder all season long," David Wade said. "We feel like he's finally gotten to the top rungs. In his last eight starts he's just gotten extremely sharp, and the money he's earned has given him the right to get into this race.

Also joining the rush to supplement (the events at Colonial attracted a record six supplemental entries) was defending divisional champion Conway Hall. Much like Red Bow Tie who was paid in for $50,000 while under veterinary observation for colic, Conway Hall’s check was due while he was still in Italy, where he’d been shipped to race in the Orsi Mangelli. Considering his Kentucky Futurity showing -- defeating Muscles Yankee in his heat and a second-place finish to Trade Balance in the final, trainer Bob Stewart and the owners (of which his wife, Lynda, was one) just had to figure out if they could go to the Mangelli and the Crown.

Conway Hall won his elimination handily and faced the local favorite, Italian Derby winner Varenne in the $345,000 Mangelli Final. Conway Hall won the final by a nose, but with the six-hour time difference, Stewart went ahead and committed to the non-refundable supplement without knowing the result of the race. Since his charge had been the model of consistency with $686,384 on his card and from his 15 starts it was a calculated gamble.

With two supplements and nine other entries, eliminations were needed. That meant Conway Hall had to get out of Italy, back through quarantine and to Colonial Downs by Friday, Nov. 6. After flying home and going through mandatory quarantine, Conway Hall arrived at Colonial Downs on Wednesday, in time to race in his Sunday elim and have a few days to acclimate.

In the first elimination Muscles Yankee breezed to a 1:55.4 victory, followed by Kick Tail and Indurain. Conway Hall, showing no ill effects from his Italian sojourn, was a wire-to-wire victor in 1:54.2. Trade Balance was locked in until deep stretch, and beaten just a length by the hard-driving Conway Hall, who won in a wire-to-wire effort in 1:54.2. But Wade wasn’t happy the effort, as the big stallion had carried on his stall all night and also didn’t seem to be grabbing the Colonial Downs surface very well.

The three-year-old colt trot was the final race on the card that night at Colonial. A win for Muscles Yankee meant divisional honors were assured and his chances were increased at giving Moni Maker a run for Horse of the Year honors.

Trade Balance was unsettled almost immediately and went on a gallop, as did Stormont Bronze. Kick Tail trotted to the quarter in :27.1 and Conway Hall was quick to step around him and settle on the rail for position. Muscles Yankee was already powering up on the outside, and cleared his stablemate, Silver Pine who broke stride a few seconds prior. From that point, Muscles Yankee displayed the peak form that Sylvester’s conditioning talent had nurtured in him, winning in 1:53 by a leisurely two lengths. Conway Hall turned in a remarkable effort but was second best to Muscles Yankee on this night.

A model of consistency, the son of Valley Victory was the fifth offspring of the 1988 Breeders Crown freshman champ to in turn take a trophy. His earnings of $1,258,611 were a season’s best for his age group. Happiest in the winner’s circle was Irving Liverman, a horse owner for close to 40 years, acknowledging the best horse he’d ever owned.

Co-owners David French, who also owned 1996 Crown champ Running Sea, and Bill Perretti of Perretti Farms had no more plans for their champion. The three top trotters of 1998, Muscles Yankee , Conway Hall and Trade Balance, went to stud, while Kick Tail returned to racing the following year.

The team of John Campbell and Chuck Sylvester will go down in the record books on some of the greatest classic wins of all time. Sylvester leads all trainers in the series with an even dozen champions, while Campbell book-ended the series, winning the first and last events. His 33 trophies and $11.4 million are more than double the earnings of the next closest driver.

As 1997 faded away and the racing world geared up for the new year, the bar was already set quite high for Artiscape. The blue-blooded son of Breeders Crown champions Artsplace and Delinquent Account, Artiscape had already done more in his freshman year than most. A winner of six of eight races as a freshman, Artiscape made history when he won the Breeders Crown at Mohawk - the first contestant to win a Breeders Crown whose sire and dam were also Breeders Crown winners.

Trainer Bob McIntosh is capable of turning a deaf ear to the siren song of rich but early-season purse money, and brought his colt along slowly as a two-year-old. It was September before Artiscape made his pari-mutuel debut, which probably cost him divisional honors against the more polished slate of Sealed N Delivered. But McIntosh felt the strategy that had served him so well in 1997 would do in 1998 as well. He purposely avoided the early big money races, including the two worth a cool million -- the North America Cup and Meadowlands Pace -- believing a horse that is sharp for the North America Cup will not be a fresh horse in the fall. Convinced that because of some nagging injuries Artiscape was better pointed for the end of the season, McIntosh watched as Straight Path annexed the North America Cup and Day In A Life took the Meadowlands Pace.

It was July 4th to be exact, before Artiscape even qualified, a 1:57.1, 12-length stroll around Mohawk’s oval. From there, McIntosh sent his prize pupil down the road less traveled, avoiding the east coast and picking up wins at Woodbine and Chicago, where Artiscape won the American National final by more than nine lengths in 1:50. Among the rivals he trounced that night were Day In A Life, the Meadowlands Pace winner. Then came post position 12 in a 12-horse field in the Oliver Wendell Holmes at the Meadowlands on August 8th. Despite being carried extremely wide around the last turn, Artiscape emerged from the crowded field to finish second. It was in the Holmes that Artiscape was reunited with Mike Lachance, the man who had guided him to victory in four of six starts together the previous year.

From there, it was west to Indiana for the Hoosier Cup. Sailing through the elimination in 1:51.2 for a comfortable one-and-a-quarter length win, Artiscape was the public's choice in the $500,000 final, but a :26.2 opening quarter found Lachance and his colt ninth in the outer tier. More than eight lengths out of it at the half in :55.2, Artiscape devoured ground with every stride, unleashing a final quarter of :26.4, but finished third.

Three consecutive wins in the Provincial Cup elimination, Final and Simcoe Stakes did much to restore the luster to Artiscape's reputation as the multi-heat test of the Little Brown Jug loomed large on his horizon. In the interim, Shady Character had come to the fore as the dominant pacer of the division, with wins in the Jersey Classic, Art Rooney and Cane Pace. His regular driver was Mike Lachance.

Other than trainer McIntosh, the one person most able to accurately assess the ability of Artiscape was obviously Lachance. On Jug day, his faith in the colt was put to the test. Lachance drove Shady Character, on his quest for the second leg of pacing’s Triple Crown, to a 1:53.1 victory in the first elimination.

In the next elimination, Artiscape, also piloted by Lachance, finished second to Cam's Knows Best in 1:52.3. For the final, Lachance was forced to choose. Stick with Shady Character - a horse whose proclivity for the half-mile track was well known - or go with Artiscape.

Before the post positions for the final were drawn, with no hesitation, Lachance chose Artiscape. Howls of protest and indignation rose from the Delaware County Fairgrounds - all coming from the connections of Shady Character. It seemed everyone questioned Lachance's judgment that day: owners, trainers, drovers analysts and fans. Two years earlier, Lachance had opted to drive Firm Belief over eventual Jug winner Armbro Operative. When Shady Character won the Little Brown Jug with catch driver Ron Pierce, Lachance's critics felt vindicated. Lachance himself never wavered, answering all questions politely, until finally stating emphatically some days after the Jug. "I stuck with him because I think he's the better horse. And you know what, I still think he's a better horse."

Wins in the Bluegrass and Tattersalls and pacing in 1:50.2 over Kentucky's Red Mile bolstered Lachance's confidence in Artiscape and sent him into the October 16th Messenger Final as the betting choice, where he again met Shady Character, just one win away from becoming a Triple Crown winner. The two horses dueled to the half in :55.2, with Shady Character refusing to yield the lead and Artiscape taking the long way around the Meadows' oval. The torrid pace took its toll on both horses; Artiscape finished third and Shady Character sixth.

Shady Character had won the New Jersey Classic, Art Rooney and Cane Pace, Day In A Life was the winner of the Meadowlands Pace, Fit For Life had won the Messenger, Dragon Again had won the Hoosier Cup.

Artiscape had won the American National, Provincial Cup, Simcoe Stakes, Bluegrass and Tattersalls. The stage was truly set for the November 14th Breeders Crown showdown at Colonial Downs in Virginia. For Artiscape, the November 8th elimination was a pocket-sitting walk in the park to beat Shady Character. In what turned out to be their final meeting, Artiscape drew off to win two-and-half lengths in 1:54. For Shady Character, the season was over. Pelling sensed he would not offer his best effort and decided to let his pupil, who'd earned a million dollars and won 10 races be retired. Instead he sent Browning Blue Chip, another pacer from his seemingly endless supply, after Artiscape.

Artiscape drew post eight in the $440,000 Three-Year-Old Colt Pace, the outside post a potential problem over Colonial Downs' sweeping one-turn mile with its initial long straightaway. Lachance sought to negate the outside post by controlling as much of the pace as he could and sent Artiscape rocketing away from the gate and after the lead. Tony Morgan and Sealed N Delivered had other ideas though, and the quartet blew through the first two panels in :26.2 and :53. Artiscape prevailed by the three-quarters in 1:21.1, opened up one-and-half lengths in the stretch, then doggedly fought off the late rush of Browning Blue Chip to win by a nose in 1:49.3.

"This horse is like a bulldog,"' Lachance said after his 17th career Crown victory. `"He just keeps on grinding out the mile. I have never had to work so hard as I did in this race with this horse. It paid off.'"

For Bob McIntosh, it was Breeders Crown trophy number 11, which tied him for the moment with Chuck Sylvester as leading Crown trainer. Muscles Yankee’s performance in the next race put Sylvester ahead to an even dozen. For George Segal (who also won the two-year-old filly trot with Musical Victory earlier in the evening) and Brian Monieson, who bred and own Artiscape it was their fourth Breeders Crown trophy as partners. Monieson, seriously ill, insisted on coming to Colonial Downs to watch his dream colt perform "To win this race for Brian Monieson was the proudest moment of my life," said McIntosh. "Artiscape is as good as it gets."

With his second consecutive Breeders Crown win, Artiscape became the fastest and richest son of the leading pacing sire Artsplace and the only son of dual Breeders Crown winners to win not just one, but two Breeders Crowns. When casting votes to award Artiscape divisional honors as three-year-old
pacing colt of the year, many voters cited Artiscape's stirring Breeders Crown win as the deciding factor. As has been true so often in the past and will be in the future, "In harness racing it all comes down to the Breeders Crown “

Two-year-old colt trotters are the apples of every breeder’s eye, as their potential seems unlimited from the first early races of the season through the serious contests of fall. With 14 freshman entered in the Breeders Crown Colt Trot, divisional honors were at stake along with bragging rights between two first-crop sires, Victory Dream and Pine Chip.

Victory Dream had two sons, Raffaello Ambrosio and Self Possessed, both handled by trainer Ron Gurfein who had guided the stallion to a 1994 Hambletonian victory. Winner of the Valley Victory at Garden State Park, and tops in money in the division was Starchip Entrprise who along with Peter Haughton winner Enjoy Lavec represented the sire Pine Chip, a double Breeders Crown winner.

Add Canadian champion Armbro Scorpion from the Bob McIntosh barn (which had taken this same event in 1995 with Armbro Officer), Angus Hall, GV’s Whiteface and San Pellegrino (a son of Valley Victory, Breeders Crown champion of 1988) and it was truly a ‘breeders’ Crown.

CR Commando had scored a convincing 1:57.1 victory in his Breeders Crown elimination one week prior. The robust bay colt ticked off quick fractions with a 27.4 final quarter. Self Possessed, with Mike Lachance at the lines for trainer Ron Gurfein, stalked the winner at every call, but could come no closer than one length at the wire.

Angus Hall placed a new world record on the books in his Crown elimination heat, winning in 1:54.4 for driver John Campbell and owners Lynda Stewart (wife of trainer Bob Stewart), Mimi Lenenberg, Jerry Semer and Allister Stables. Angus Hall flew home from fourth at the top of the stretch to edge out the tempo-setting Starchip Entrprise and Jim Doherty by onehalf length. That time of that elimination surpassed the previous mark of 1:55.3 that was set by the great Mack Lobell in 1986 at Lexington’s Red Mile.

Bob Stewart had sent sophomore trotter Conway Hall (and full brother to Angus Hall) to Italy for the Orsi Mangelli, but he himself stayed behind, knowing Angus Hall needed work schooling behind the starting gate. The time spent with the youngster at Colonial Downs obviously paid off.

The match-up seemed set, the landing strip of Colonial Downs the perfect setting.

Called by Allen, who is also the colt’s owner, breeder and driver as, “the best in 31 years that I’ve ever had,” CR Commando collected his Breeders Crown victory on November 14 in near wire-to-wire fashion. Allen was confident prior to the Crown Final that his colt had the edge in both soundness and speed, with the rail post position as an added advantage.

The Royal Troubador youngster followed Jim Doherty and Starchip Entrprise, who had bolted to the top from the seven-hole in the first furlong, but then Allen took “command” and tripped the timer in :27.1, eased to a :56.3 half, followed by a :27 third quarter (1:24.1) with a steady drive to the wire. He was never challenged by rivals San Pellegrino, who finished second or the hard-trying Breeders Crown elimination winner Angus Hall, who ended up third, both some three and a half lengths back.

Self Possessed got away fourth from the gate and then was parked from the half on, and managed to finish a respectable fourth. Starchip Entrprise made a couple of breaks late in the stretch and ended up fifth.

CR Commando epitomized a Breeders Crown champion, winning the final test of his twoyear- old campaign in a world-record clocking of 1:53.2 at Colonial Downs. The apple of trainer Carl Allen’s eye, the freshman standout won six of 12 races in 1998, displaying blistering speed that led to him win division honors as Two-Year-Old Colt Of The Year by a landslide.

The time of 1:53.2 was more than a second faster than any freshman had trotted before, and the new world champion was remarkably fresh, wringing his neck and tossing his head about after his impressive performance on a cold, damp night at one of North America’s newest trotting venues.

CR Commando acquired the third Breeders Crown trophy captured by the Allen’s Golden Cross Farm in Ocala, Florida (two from 1995 Horse of the Year CR Kay Susie, and almost ten years ago, with Royal Troubador in 1989) and also is the fourth freshman divisional champion to be conditioned by the Allens, along with pacing filly CR Daniella, Royal Troubador, and CR Kay Susie. It also gave Carl Allen his second Breeders Crown victory as a driver. Interestingly, CR Commando and San Pellegrino produced an exacta price of $99.60.

CR Commando’s could not match his sire, Royal Troubador, who had paid a hefty exacta price when, coupled with secondplace finisher Meadowbranch Eddy in 1989 at Pompano Park, the pair paid $272.80, the highest exacta price ever in the history of the Breeders Crown two-year-old colt and gelding trot. CR Commando also set new records for each of the fractions in this division, thanks to Colonial’s one-turn configuration. The former record for a three-quarter time, set by King Conch, was 1:27.1 in the 1991 Breeders Crown at Pompano Park) and was shattered by CR Commando, who reached the three-quarters in 1:24.1.

CR Commando gave Carl Allen his second win in this division, tying him with trainer Per Eriksson, who won the event in 1991 with King Conch and in 1992 with Giant Chill.

Fifteen freshman pacing colts entered the Breeders Crown at Colonial Downs, including three who had never tasted defeat in their young lives.

In the first elimination, Grinfromeartoear, the Woodrow Wilson and Metro Pace winner, had a slate reading six for six. The son of Artsplace had also earned $730,175, under the services of red-hot Luc Ouellette, and was taking dead aim on divisional honors. He was matched against an unbeaten The Panderosa, with five wins in five starts, who had taken the road less traveled. Trainer Brett Pelling didn’t even qualify The Panderosa till August and planned to race him about eight times. His plan was to have The Panderosa in peak form for the Breeders Crown and Governors Cup.

The extremely fast Falcon’s Icon headed up the other elimination. An early starter, he’d won 10 races in 10 starts and more than $300,000 for the team of trainer Kelvin Harrison and owner Joe Alflen. The pair had been in a similar situation with Direct Flight in 1991; that colt galloped in the final as the favorite. Falcon’s Icon counted the Smullin, Babic and New Jersey Futurity among his wins.

Things did not go his way however, and driver George Brennan encountered traffic problems with his headstrong colt and finished out of the money, a shocking development that was about to be repeated. Instead, Island Fantasy recorded his eighth win in 14 starts for owner Bob Waxman and trainer Bob MacIntosh.

Grinfromeartoear was clearly off his form, as he was able to manage an easy trip but faded to finish sixth behind Badlands Hanover, who streaked past The Panderosa to score in 1 :52. Both Grinfromeartoear and Falcon’s Icon were out of the rich final and The Panderosa had experienced his first loss.

Badlands Hanover drew post two for the final, contested on a wet and dreary Virginia night. Paul McDonell sent Ft. Apache Hanover rushing to the front from post six and Pierce quickly settled Badlands Hanover into second. Shortly past the :27 first quarter, Badlands Hanover was tipped to the outside, and with a quick rush, seized the lead. Moving through a half in :54.1 and three-quarters in 1:22, Badlands Hanover opened up a two-length gap over the field.

Lachance, behind Island Fantasy, moved up into position on the outside, but as the field headed into the stretch, he ducked in behind the pacesetter. From there all Lachance could do was to chase Badlands Hanover to the wire, missing by two and a half-lengths. Ft. Apache Hanover gave a good account of himself, coming back on a bit to just miss catching Island Fantasy for third.

The Crown championship for Badlands Hanover meant he’d tied the record as the fastest freshman performer in the sport with his 1:50 mile. Owner John Celii and trainer Joe Holloway watched in awe as their charge sent his earnings past the $500,000 mark.

Holloway earned his fifth Breeders Crown trophy thanks to Badlands Hanover, who was a $105,000 yearling purchase at Harrisburg for Celii. From the Hanover Shoe Farms consignment, Badlands Hanover gives the farm its 11th Breeders Crown championship, and maintians its position atop the earnings board with more than $5.5 million in Crown dollars.

Most of the top freshman contenders went on to race in the Governors Cup, where Island Fantasy emerged victorious after an inquiry involving The Panderosa and Badlands Hanover. The ivisional champion selected from this stellar group of youngsters was Island Fantasy, who displayed a marvelous consistency and closed out the season on a winning note.