Where have all the Seatrains gone?

Harness racing’s Hall of Fame owner-breeder Bill Weaver and I were very great friends.

We shared an office in Freehold, New Jersey and had countless conversations about the sport and its future.

Weaver, of course, became one of the most influential breeders in harness racing and became very well-known and respected, especially after his two-year-old trotting colt, Valley Victory, won the Breeders Crown on 1988.

I was fortunate to meet him in 1979 and. over a short time, we shared many-a-horse-tale along the way, beginning with his foray into the sport in the mid-1960’s with a partnership with Sonny Dancer in purchasing “The Prophet,” who earned second money after finishing second and third in respective heats in the 1969 Hambletonian.

One thing Weaver had was a foresight to reach out to trainers he considered beyond reproach, and he found that trainer to be Vernon Dancer.

Valley Victory had an enormous impact in subsequent Hambletonian races and Hambletonian Oaks events, as well…and we can’t forget the impact on Breeders Crown races.

But this Mane Attraction Is about his foresight—his EARLY foresight—into harness racing’s future.

One day at our weekly “Pac-Man” lunch outings with Dave Bulk of Blue Eagle “fame” and Jim Carney of Moore’s Inn “fame,” the subject of The Little Brown Jug arose and the name Seatrain—1975 Little Brown Jug winner—came up with the comment that he was still in action in 1980 as an eight-year-old!

“Weave” said, “he has no other choice being a gelding and you won’t see many ‘Jug’ winners racing much after winning the Jug.

“I see the sport changing a bit in the future as the breed gets stronger and faster,” he predicted.

Seatrain’s (Meadow Skipper) best year was the year he won the Jug ($153,325) and he ended his career as a 13-year-old and won over $100,000 one other season—as a five-year-old—retiring in 1985 with 64 wins in 315 starts, good for $825,006.

(By the way, driver Ben Webster said two things helped him win the Jug—drawing the rail and, as he said, “getting away with ‘murder’ in the second quarter…:32 and a piece!.”)

Bill Weaver’s insight, over the years, has slowly—but surely—become reality as “aged” horses become a shrinking commodity due to breeding for speed, instead of durability, and great campaigners like, for example, Rambling Willie, Lady Netty N, Frosty Affair, Foiled Again, Admiral’s Express, Oldfriendskentucky, Atta Boy Dan, Rozewood, Rock To Glory, Mariner Seelster and, finally, Southwind Amazon, to name a handful or two.

Some of the above named were outright champions…others, not so much.

But all are champions in these eyes.

This all started a century-and-a-half ago when the 20-year-old Goldsmith Maid set her indelible record for trotting at that age—that would still be on the books if history hadn’t erased it.

It continued as late as the early 1950’s as Abax raced a couple of times at age 26, Baldwin went to post at age 24 and Ada Symbol strutted her stuff as a 23-year-old, again, just to name a few.

Of course, durability comes in many forms and, proof of that is the nine-year-old gelding Whirlaway, who, in 1953, started 123 times—yes 123—and had a 23-23-29 scorecard for earnings of…$406.68…an average of THREE DOLLARS AND 30 CENTS per start.

Harness racing’s Whirlaway took a mark of 2:15.2h that year and, to me, he was as great a champion as the thoroughbred Whirlaway, the triple crown champion in the 1941 and Horse of the Year in 1941 and 1942.

Yes, a champion is in the eyes of the beholder and the ones mentioned all have the credentials of a champion, again, in these eyes.

Rambling Willie (Rambling Fury), the “Horse That God Loved,” started his career as a two-year-old in 1972 and won $349 in his four starts. He wound up his career edging over $2,000,000 with 128 wins in 305 starts—this despite having more bows than any Christmas gift box could fit.

Bob and Viv Farrington—and Paul Siebert, too—made sure others in need were taken care of, as well, as their tithings proved helpful to so many.

Lady Netty N, (No Fission) won 100 races lifetime, 99 of them in the U.S.A. and one in her homeland of New Zealand and raced right to the very end of her 14-year-old year. She was $11.00 short of $250,000. If I had known, I would’ve written out a check to get her there—375 starts!

Frosty Affair (Face To Face) won 58 times in “only” 248 starts but won three races as a 15-year-old and another at the age of 16…handily, I might as a witness to that event.

Foiled Again (Dragon Again) needs no accolades—$7,635,588 in earnings—with a list of accomplishments that would take an entire Mane Attraction…and, maybe, two or three. He won all over North America 109 times in a grueling career of 331 starts. He raced right to then, too.

The Grey Gladiator, Admiral’s Express (Admiral’s Gallery), who took a p,2:01.2 mark with $16,108 in earnings, would up winning over $1.7 million and took his mark at age nine—1:48.2—way back in 2005 (when 1:48.2 was REALLY something. He had 86 wins in 353 trips back of the gate and his striking looks brought fans out of the “woodwork!”

Oldfriendskentucky (Whosurboy) didn’t get press during his career…but he was a racing secretary’s dream, filling 467 races during his career where he won only $25,000 in two seasons.on the track. Oldfriendskentucky stayed up north of the border at some of the smaller in size venues and took a 1:52.4 mark at three at Georgian Downs…one of 39 career wins.

Atta Boy Dan (Western Terror) Is still going at age 14 and has amassed 92 wins while approaching 300 lifetime starts—he’s three away as of this writing. Winner of over $1.1 million, his best days are in the rear view mirror but, here at age 15, he’s still hitting the board at The Meadowlands…”atta boy, Dan!”

Rock To Glory (Rocknroll Hanover) took every length of his 381 career starts stretching to age 15 to reach $1,000,000 in earnings…but he did it! With 69 career wins and q 1:49.2 mark achieved 11 years before, this gelding did most of his damage between ages two and seven and kept on “truckin’” —he even had a 1:51.4 win at age 14—and won a couple of races at age 15 before reaching his million dollar goal. He finished his career with $1,000,381.

Rozewood (Whosurboy) did most of his racing in upstate New York and, beginning at age three, complied an amazing 459 career starts with seven of his seasons going to the gate 40 or more times. A warrior from the get-go, the gelding achieved 42 successes in his career with a 1:51.4 mark achieved at the larger Tioga Downs five-eighths oval as a 10-year-old. He competed his career with bounty of $251,469.

Southwind Amazon (Camluck) is one of the most amazing standardbred specimens in history. With 368 career starts, the now 14-year-old has achieved 131 wins and $1,471,886 in bounty to go along with a 10-year-old mark of 1:48.2 over the HALF-MILE track at Northfield. He has 14 sub-150 miles and two more right at a 1:50.

Finally, Mariner Seelster (Camluck) has made 440 journeys back of the starting gate stretching back to his 2011 two-year-old season to his current season at age 15…with, currently, four wins in five starts and 2024 mark of 1:52.3 at The Big M. With 74 career wins, the gelding has just gone over the million dollar mark in earnings…and looking for more. His career began most humbly in 2011 where he was winless in four starts, basing just over $5,000. His best years, earnings-wise—have come during the past three seasons at ages 12, 13 and 14.

These are just a few examples of the warriors and heroes that have made our sport the great sport in recent years that have graced our racetracks.

We have to enjoy them while we can.

Horses with this vast amount of durability will soon be extinct as the breed for speed continues.

For now, “MAY THE HORSE BE WITH YOU!”

by John Berry, for Harnesslink