Freaky Feet Pete foals doing outstanding

Freaky Feet Pete (Rockin Image), the wildly-named, wildly popular Indiana-bred who took the harness racing industry by storm from 2014 through 2019, looks to be just as successful a sire as he was racehorse—as his first crop of 2-year-olds are starting to hit the raceways this year.

A winner of $1,617,056 lifetime, with a record of p, 4, 1:47.1f, Freaky Feet Pete is out of the Pilgrims Punch p, 6, 1:52.1 ($303,311) mare Skyway Lori p, 3, 1:54.1s ($56,663). Foaled on May 3, 2012, in LaGrange, IN, Freaky Feet Pete was bred and has been owned throughout his career by Larry and Mary Jo Rheinheimer.

He is the eighth of 11 foals out of Skyway Lori, and has full siblings in Lori’s Rock Star p, 7, 1:52.2f ($121,694); and Lori’s Legacy p, 2, 1:57.2s ($17,602); and half-brothers and sisters in Virgil (by Always A Virgin) p, 5, 1:51.4s ($226,153); Dongetinskyway (by Dongetinmyway) p, 6, 1:51.2 ($288,458); Just Fred (by Dongetinmyway) p, 4, 1:51.3 ($212,572); Lightninginthesky (by Electric Yankee) p, 5, 1:52.1s ($172,568); Dontlookatthesky (by Dontgetinmyway) p, 4, 1:51.3f ($170,396); Loretta (by Dontgetinmyway) p, 5, 1:52s ($145,112); and Good Gum Gertie (by Palone Ranger) p, 3, 1:53.1s ($43,993), etc.

During his racing career Freaky Feet Pete won nine of ten races as a 2-year-old, including a number of Indiana Sires Stakes (ISS) and the $220,000 ISS Super Final.  The following season, as a 3-year-old, the venerable pacer won another 15 (of 17) races, including the $530,000 Breeders Crown of 2015, before setting a world record of 1:47.1 at age 4 in the $500,000 Ben Franklin Final at Pocono Downs. All in all, Freaky Feet Pete retired in 2019 after winning 37 of 76 starts, with seven seconds and five thirds to his credit.

In 2020, Freaky Feet Pete was moved to Ivy League Farm in Goshen, where Dr. Paul Webb and wife Cathy operate a full-scale breeding operation. Freaky Feet Pete bred 86 mares in 2020, 28 of which were sold at public auction; in 2021 he bred 46; and in 2022, he bred 30. From his first crop, who sold as yearlings in 2022, his top seller was Feet First Pete—out of the American Ideal mare Sweetnsinful—who sold at the Hoosier Classic Sale for $92,000. The average, from that first crop sold, tallied in at $11,466 for a total of $321,050, with most selling at Hoosier auction.

As of this writing, Freaky Feet Pet has 12 starters, four winners, with three pacing in 2:05 or faster, and two pacing in 2:00 or better, with total foal earnings of $17,980.  Feets on Fire, out of Delaware Heat (Western Ideal) p, 4, 1:53.2f ($105,262), qualified at Hoosier on June 7, clocked in a winning time of p, 2, Q1:58s, while Where’s Drogon, out of the  Camluck p, 5, T1:48.4f ($1,003,260) mare Nationalize p, 3, 1:52.3s ($47,689) earned his second purse check at the Conover, Indiana fair on that same afternoon, pacing in 1:59h.

Designated Freak, a son of the IF I Can Dream p, 3, 1:49.4f ($1,990,276) mare Designated Drinker p, 2, 1:55.2 ($93,155) scored a 2:01.3 triumph for trainer-driver Verlin Yoder at Lebanon, KY on May 27; and Petredame, out of the Art Major p, 4, 1:48.4 ($901,756) mare Wondering Heart p, 2, 1:55.3h ($83,136) captured her lone triumph on June 1 at that same Indiana fair in Conover, clocked in 2:08h.

In total, Freaky Feet Pete has 12 freshman who have already hit the raceways, and based on that fact, it’s almost certain that harness fans in the Hoosier State and elsewhere will soon be seeing a lot more of them.

by Kimberly Rinker, for Harnesslink