It all comes down to the Breeders Crown

Some 40 years ago, a concept to create a championship series in harness racing encompassing our entire sport reached the “marketing breeding shed” in the offices of the Hambletonian Society.

The concept was, first, conceived to create a program to promote and benefit every single sector of the sport. Shortly thereafter, the Breeders Crown was foaled with the inaugural events held featuring two- and three-year-olds only with eight tracks in North America hosting their inaugural events.

There have been countless memorable events from the winner of the very first event at the Red Mile, Workaholic in the two-year-old colt trot, to the grand filly and mare Peace Corps, who won the filly trotting events in 1988 and 1989 and the events for mares in 1990 and 1992.

A quartet of trotters have won a trio of Breeders Crown trotting events—Mack Lobell in consecutive years of beginning as a juvenile in 1986, Grades Singing in 1986, 1987 and 1989, Manchego, winning as a two-year-old in 2017 and then repeating and three-peating in 2019, and 2020 and, finally, Gimpanzee in three consecutive years beginning with his 2018 win as a two-year-old.

Three pacers have also accomplished three Breeders Crown wins, Jenna’s Beach Boy being the first with a win at

two in 1994 then followed with wins the next two years, Eternal Camnation  covering a bit of two centuries—the first as a two-year-old filly in 1999 and the next two in the races for mares in 2001 and 2003 and My Little Dragon capturing a pair of filly events in 2005 and 2006 before turning it into a trifecta of wins in 2008.

But back to the infancy of the Breeders Crown, they have never lost sight of their original concept of bringing the sport to fans all across North America, which they did in its inaugural season with the eight events—again, only two- and three-year-olds—with venues as far south as Pompano Park in Florida up to Edmonton Northlands in Alberta, Canada, almost 3.000 miles to the north and west.

Notable in that first year was an upset win from Dragon’s Lair over Broadway Express and the fabled Nihilator in the two-year-old colt/gelding pace at The Meadows and a “DQ” at Liberty Bell in the three-year-old filly pace that sent a probable $129 trifecta payoff over $5,600 —Naughty But Nice the outright winner.

Since then, the Breeders Crown has blessed 31 different tracks of, literally, all sizes with their events, showcasing our sport and industry and ranking it up with The World Series, The Super Bowl, The Indy 500, America’s Cup, Wimbledon and any other sport significant of interest to sports fans.

Since their inception, several tracks have perished, including Garden State Park, Maywood and Sportsman’s Park in the Chicago area, Roosevelt Raceway and Liberty Bell Park among them, but the Breeders Crown, with grand individuals like John Campbell, Tom Charters and Moira Fanning “handling the lines,” gets better and better every season.

Some of my most memorable events over the infancy years include Nihilator winning at Garden State Park at a dime to a dollar in 1985 for the Magic Man, Forrest Skipper traveling out west to Los Alamitos in 1986 to win the Open Pace in track record time with the aforementioned Broadway Express two lengths away, the great Mack Lobell setting a world record at The Pomp in 1987 for John Campbell, annihilating his foes by almost 13 lengths and a couple of other track records rewritten that night by Call For Rain and Pacific, as well.

The following year, two trotters—to become fabled in later years—Peace Corps and Valley Victory set world records in their respective classes for two-year-old trotters.

Peace Corps was driven by Campbell while Peace Corps was handled by O’Donnell, to fabled drivers in their own right.

And who can ever forget the performance of Artsplace in 1990, leaving scorch marks on the Pompano Park oval while setting an unheard-of world record for two-year-old pacers in 1:51.1 for John Campbell, in the bike for trainer Gene Riegle.

That performance is still fresh in everyone’s mind…and it’s just about a third of a century later!

Fast forward through Jenna’s Beach Boy’s 1:48.4 win in 1996 to Red Bow Tie in 1999 to Varenne and his memorable 1:51.1 world record ushering in a new millennium in 2001 to Kadealia’s 75 to 1 upset win on a chilly Meadowlands night in 2008 to the 1:47 mile by Won The West (at 15 to 1), pacing his last 3/4s in a shade better than 1:20 to get the job done to the Manchego, Gimpanzee, Perfect Sting, Bella Bellini and Test Of Faith era of the last two years and one can clearly see why the Breeders Crown has weathered the storms over the past decades.

Manchego, who won the two-year-old filly trot in 2017, got her second win in 2019 and went on to complete her trifecta in 2020.

Of course, Perfect Sting had to share the glory of his Breeders Crown win in 2020

with Summa Cum Laude as the two dead-heated in the juvenile pace for the colts, but he sure proved his case last year, scoring a 1:49.4 win in his class for the three-year-olds.

Last year at The New Meadowlands in the four two-year-old events, there were three photo finishes with Rebuff taking the colt/gelding trot by a head, Joviality S eking out a nostril decision in the filly trot and Monti Miki winning the colt/gelding pace by a whisker, as well.

The only clear-cut winner was Niki Hill in the filly pace, scoring by four lengths… in 1:51, by the way.

Five other photo finishes highlighted the remaining eight events for three-year-olds and up last year with Felicityshagwell, Perfect Sting, Jujubee, Rocknificent and Ocean Rock put to the supreme test in winning their respective events and only Test Of Faith (3fp), Bella Bellini (3ft) and Ecurie D (Open Trot) winning without the need of a camera.

All eyes just might be on Test Of Faith as this Art Major mare will seek to become the very first mare to win a Breeders Crown event at four after capturing the crown as a sophomore.

She, though, will have to get through an elimination on Saturday to earn her spot in the $650,000 (est.) final the week following.

While there is never a “sure thing” in racing, Test Of Faith does come in with startling credentials, including a four-race winning streak while bolstering a 10-5-0 scorecard in 16 starts.

While she garnered the coveted “Horse of the Year” award last year, her task of repeating is a tall one with the performances of Bulldog Hanover achieved throughout this season.

Of course, all eyes will be on the Open Pace this year which is loaded with so much talent featuring Bulldog Hanover, Alleyway Hanover and Tattoo Artist, just to name a trio.

Simply amazing that a 1:47 performer has to take a back seat going to the gate in the headlines…but that signifies the greatness of the Breeders Crown events…year after year.

The two-night extravaganza is October 28 and 29 at Woodbine Mohawk Park, presented by Libfeld/Katz Breeding Partnership.

Don’t forget to bring lots of paper and pens…a lot of records just might have to be rewritten!

by John Berry, for Harnesslink