Global domination

On Hambletonian Day this year, Rocknroll Runa A (Rock N Roll Heaven) surged late to win the $220,000 Sam McKee Memorial Pace in 1:47.3 and post a major upset at 65-1.

That time was not only a new lifetime mark, but it also tied him for the third-fastest mile of the year among older harness racing pacers in North America. This sparked an immediate phone conversation with a friend who is a prominent trainer in Australia, speculating that we may have just witnessed one of the fastest miles ever by a Southern Hemisphere import.

As a numbers guy, I couldn’t let that go without further investigation, so I contacted the information department at the USTA for a couple of spreadsheets so I could derive a more definitive answer based on historical fact. After going over this information, I discovered—and with no surprise—that Shartin N (Tintin In America) is the fastest Australasian import to date with her 1:46.4 mark, taken at the Meadowlands in the Lady Liberty in 2019.

The second fastest mile belongs to Jack’s Legend N, who went 1:47.2 at the Meadowlands in 2022 in an upper-level conditioned pace. Rocknroll Runa A’s 1:47.3 falls in third, tied with Our Majordan A’s effort at the Meadowlands in the 2020 William Haughton Memorial Consolation.

If we drill it down a little bit further, those two fastest miles were set by horses bred in New Zealand. Among Australian-breds, Rocknroll Runa A and Our Majordan A are the fastest ever by virtue of their matching 1:47.3 miles, so our earlier suspicion that history was made was actually correct. After separating the two countries and viewing the statistics side by side, my next instinct was to find out which country had been responsible for sending more speed over to North America. Here’s what I found:

From the overall “1:50 list” of 257 horses from New Zealand and Australia, 66 have gone in 1:50 flat while another 191 have taken sub-1:50 marks.

New Zealand accounted for 183 of those 257 times while the other 74 came from Australia.

Let’s look at New Zealand first and how the individual performers broke down.

Of the 183, 141 were geldings, 23 were mares and 19 were horses. A total of 52 went 1:50 flat while 131 took sub-1:50 marks. From the 74 that came from Australia, 14 went in 1:50 flat while 60 went 1:49.4 or better. By gender, those marks were taken by 66 geldings, five mares, two horses and one ridgling. From those eight millionaires, only three are still racing: Leonidas A, None Bettor A and Funatthebeach N.

Then, from the remaining 22 listed on the top 30 money earners list, there are six horses still racing with the possibility of breaking $1 million: Micky Gee N (11, $807,746), Soho Lennon A (14, $732,075), Jack’s Legend N (10, $723,108), Rock Diamonds N (11, $719,174), Nandolo N (10, $717,115) and Let It Ride N (11, $708,120).

However, all being late in their careers, it would seem unlikely that it would happen.

It should be noted that one other New Zealand import became a millionaire in the United States back in 1968: the great Cardigan Bay.

Although a racing legend in his own country, having won most every major stakes race there, “Cardy” came stateside at the age of 8 with earnings of only $137,000 (U.S.) for his efforts.

But much like Shartin N, Cardigan Bay dominated for three years after landing in the States and quickly added another $863,837 ($8.1 million in today’s dollars) to become the first Standardbred in history to surpass $1 million in lifetime earnings.

And, for the record, Cardigan Bay’s fastest career win was 1:57.2, in 1965 at Hollywood Park.

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by Tim Bojarski, for Hoofbeats