32-year-old Crisp Sahbra is loving his retirement

Now 32 years young, the pacer Crisp Sahbra (Towner’s Big Guy) p, 6, 1:51.1 ($879,937) is enjoying life and resting on his laurels after a stellar career as a harness racing standout.

Adopted by horsewoman Debra Walker, who has five-acre farm nine miles south of Bloomville, Ohio, Crisp Sahbra still has the attitude that served him well on the racetrack.

“He doesn’t hesitate to tell you that he doesn’t want you in his personal space,” Walker revealed. “And he can get especially grumpy if he isn’t the first one to be fed in the morning.”

Walker initially trekked to New Vocations in Laura, Ohio, with the intention of adopted a young filly, but then, on the advice of Dot Morgan, who was at the helm of New Vocations in 2007, decided in favor of Crisp Sahbra.

“Dot was having a tough time placing him, and I’ve always liked having Standardbreds around, so I agreed to take him,” Walker said. “He’s not the type of horse that likes to be petted and loved on, but for all his opinions, he has manners. He fits right in here.”

Crisp Sahbra was the Buckeye State Horse of the Year at ages 2 and 3 and was a three-time Ohio Sires Stakes Champion for owner Jack Shearer, of Shearer’s Snack Food s of Brewster, Ohio. The venerable pacer, who raced from 1995 through 2007, was the second of 13 foals out of the prolific Falcon Almahurst p, 3, T1:52.2 ($400,776) mare Cool Sahbra p, 3, 2:03h ($750).

Bred by Marvin J. Gross and foaled on Feb. 19, 1993 at Sahbra Farms of Streetsboro, Ohio, the bay gelding is the richest of his siblings, who include: Honey’s Bud Lite (by Park Place) p, 6, 1:52s ($320,262); Sammy’s Cool Win (by Nobleland Sam) p, 8, 1:50s ($177,819); Cannonball Sahbra (by Towner’s Big Guy) p, 3, 1:53 ($109,203) and Mantaculator (by Mantacular) p, 8, 1:53.4 ($73,781), etc.

Shearer had purchased the gelding on Sept. 20, 1994, for $13,200 at the Ohio Select Jug Sale, and as he told this writer in 2007, “I thought at the time he had the potential to be a very nice horse.”

As a freshman, Crisp Sahbra was indeed perfection—winning 11 of 11 starts and earning $107,643—culminating with him being named Ohio Horse of the Year. The following season, he earned $243,063 from 11 wins in 18 starts, setting a national season’s mark of 1:52.3 for a 3-year-old gelding on a half mile track when he captured the Ohio Breeders Championship at Delaware.  He also won the $100,000 North America Cup consolation in 1:54.4 at Woodbine that season and was awarded another Ohio Horse of the Year crown.

Crisp Sahbra did not venture far from the Midwest at ages 4 and 5, earning $96,489 with a 4-year-old mark of 1:53f and $74,110 and a 1:52f record during his 5-year-old campaign. Shearer sold Crisp Sahbra to East Coast interests in January 1999, when the gelding was 6, but never lost track of the horse. When he saw him racing in $3-$4,000 claimers at Buffalo Raceway at age 14, Shearer knew it was time to bring the big pacer back to Ohio and provide him with the kind of retirement situation he deserved.  “I wanted him to have a good life after he retired from racing,” he said.

On April 21, 2007, the pacer was given the proper going-away ceremony, with trainer Scott Cox harnessing him for driver David Miller in his final effort at Northfield Park, followed by a winner’s circle presentation for one of Ohio’s most beloved pacers. At the time of his retirement from racing at age 14, Crisp Sahbra was the fourth-richest Ohio-bred Standardbred in history.

 A few months later, Walker entered the big gelding’s life, and the rest, as they say, is history.

“We’ve done a little riding and a little driving, whatever suits my fancy on any given day,” she said. “I’ve really enjoyed driving him up and down these back roads all these years. I have a 4-wheeled buggy but mostly we just use a jog cart.  The last couple of years, he’s started to show some of the wear and tear from all those years of racing. He’s still fat and happy but not particularly interested in doing anything. He’s happy just to stand out in the field and eat grass.”

by Kimberly Rinker, for Harnesslink