USA
Canada
Australia
New Zealand
Europe
UK / IRE
Fifty-two years ago this month, there was no better harness racing horse in the sport than Albatross. The aptly named pacer towered above all others that year, with one of his best performances coming in a world-record effort at Chicago’s Sportsman’s Park racetrack on July 2, 1972.
With his trainer Stanley Dancer at the lines, the 4-year-old Albatross (Meadow Skipper) paced to a winning 1:54.3, breaking the record of 1:56.1 for the five-eighths mile set by Romeo Hanover in 1966. That clocking also bested Albatross’ own career mark of 1:54.4, which he had set by winning consecutive heats of the $52,865 Tattersalls Pace at Lexington’s Red Mile in the fall of 1971.
The Sportsman’s Park event that humid summer evening was the $25,000 Governor’s Cup, and Dancer wasted no time hustling Albatross away from the gate and straight into the lead, passing the quarter mile marker in :27.3. He breezed by the half in :57.3, and then stopped the three-quarter timer in 1:25.4—a time unheard of back then. His last quarter was in :28.4—modest by today’s standards, as was his last half of :57—but it didn’t matter to the crowd in attendance that night, who knew they had witnessed something special in Dancer’s top charge.
Albatross finished 1½ lengths in front of the hard-trying Kentucky, with Nansemond 1¾ lengths back in third. The triumph for Albatross was his second of the year at the Cicero, IL raceway, as he had captured the $80,425 American National Maturity Pace for 4-year-olds on April 12. In between those two starts he had won five stakes and upped his career earnings to $960,822.
The win gave Albatross his 28th two-minute mile, putting him in second place at the time behind Bret Hanover and Dan Patch, who both had 31 two-minute miles to their credit.
Later that season, in early December at Hollywood Park, Albatross won the $100,000 American Pacing Classic as the 1-9 favorite in his 59th career victory from 71 starts. He retired with $1,201,470 in earnings to stand stud at Hanover Shoe Farms after being syndicated for $2.5 million.
by Kimberly Rinker, for Harnesslink
