Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Bob's Bits

By Bob "Hollywood" Heyden

For Monday, December 20, 2004
As far as I can tell-this is the closest balloting for Horse of the Year ever held before. Note that a Trotter beat the Pacer, a boy beat the girl-and she was a three-year-old filly, and HE was the leading money winning trotter of the year and SHE the leading money-winning pacer of the year-JUST LIKE 2004!!

1975 Horse Of The Year vote:
52 votes-Savoir
49 votes-Silk Stockings
29 votes-Nero
21 votes-Bonefish (Hambo winner-incidentally-the very LAST Hambo winner to NEVER race again)
11 votes-Nevele Thunder
9 votes-Rambling Willie (Unofficially-Rambling Willie holds the record for MOST YEARS getting at least one Horse of the Year vote--with Six)
8 votes-Meadow Bright
5 votes-Armbro Ranger
4 votes-Young Quinn
2 votes-Sir Dalrae (1973 Horse of the Year)
4 tied at 1 vote

For Saturday, December 11, 2004
The "Ultimate Field".......The "Dream Team"........ The "1:48 Or Better Club"

Here's a closer look at the 10-the ONLY 10-who've won a race in 1:48 of better in harness racing history. (CHRONOLOGICALLY)
1) Jennas Beach Boy 1:47.3     6/22/96   Meadowlands   Bill Fahy-Joe Holloway
2) Ultimate Falcon 1:47.4         5/10/98   Colonial Ross   Croghan (trainer & driver)
3) Color Me Best 1:48             5/3/99     Meadowlands   Mike Lachance-Joe Anderson
4) Space Shuttle 1:47.4           8/3/99     Meadowlands   Ron Pierce-Ed Hart
5) Western Ideal 1:48             7/29/00    Meadowlands   Mike Lachance-Brett Pelling
6) P B Bullville 1:48                9/30/00    Lexington        John Campbell-Carl Conte, Jr.
7) Four Starzzz Shark 1:47.4   7/3/04     Meadowlands   Mike Lachance-Dave Sabatelli
8) Life Source 1:48                 7/3/04     Meadowlands   Cat Manzi-Richard Banca
9) Eaton Road Kill 1:48            7/3/04     Meadowlands Dan Dube-Mark Harder
10) Quik Pulse Mindale 1:48     9/25/04   Balmoral         Tony Morgan-Mike Arnold

Mike Lachance is the ONLY repeat driver on the list with three, while Ross Croghan is the only TRAINER-driver on the list. Mike Lachance and Cat Manzi are the only two over 50 to do this: Mike did it BEFORE and AFTER 50.

The Meadowlands is the home of seven of the 10 miles of 1:48 or better. Note, in 2001, 2002 and 2003 there were no such miles.

Father-son on the list? One-Jennas Beach Boy-Quik Pulse Mindale.

In 2004, four miles of 1:48 or better, an all-time most for one year.

Geldings? Three: Life Source, Eaton Road Kill & Color Me Best.

The 1:48 by Western Ideal is the fastest EVER Breeders Crown race.

Color Me Best is the ONLY horse to win a race under 1:50 four STRAIGHT YEARS!!!!

10 DIFFERENT Trainers on this list.......July 3, 2004: Three miles on the SAME NIGHT!!

Life Source-racing TONITE (12/11/04) is the only pacer on the track record list at the Meadowlands who's done it four YEARS apart: three-year-old gelding--8/5/00 1:48.4 and
seven-year-old gelding--7/3/04 1:48 flat.

Cambest-the all-time TIME TRIAL record holder at 1:46.1, has two on this list-Color Me Best and Eaton Road Kill. (Four of the 10 on this list are grandsons of Cam Fella)

For Thursday, December 10, 2004
Which horse has won the MOST $$ in Meadowlands history-But NEVER won a race here??
Pegasus Spur (2001 Hambo runnerup) $442,225

Only two drivers were in the top 25 in the drivers standings both 25 years ago-1979-AND 2004. Who are these two drivers? John Campbell-1979 #1 (2004 #6) and Chicago's own
Dave Magee-1979-#22 (2004 #25)

Did You Know???? That only three drivers in the sports history have led at years end in BOTH wins and earnings-at least TWICE in each. Billy Haughton, Herve Filion and Mike Lachance

History Making Father-Son
Patrick Lachance and Mike Lachance made history this year as the ONLY father son duo to EACH win a race valued at 700g or more in the SAME YEAR!! Mike-54 $700,000 William Haughton-Four Starzzz Shark, Patrick $708,300 Canadian Pacing Derby-Casimir Camotion

Some More Mike And Patrick History
Father-Son-FASTEST In Two DIFFERENT Countries....This is another first-and a good one. The fastest mile of the year in the United States was recorded by Mike Lachance driving Four Starzzz Shark-1:47.4-in the Haughton elim. The fastest mile of the year recorded in Canada was recorded by Patrick-driving Casimir Camotion-in the Canadian Pacing Derby-1:48.3. For an added bonus, the SAME night Patrick won with Casimir Camotion-September 4-Mohawk-Mike set the all-time world record for a Pacing filly-2-with a 1:51 effort from Cabrini Hanover.

Mike-Pat-at 29
Here's a comparison of the driving seasons for Mike and Patrick Lachance at age 29 each. (Patrick was 29 on September 30-Mike was 29 in 1979)
1979-Mike Lachance 1090 179-169-132 $659g
2004-Patrick Lachance 952 97 103 118 $2,423,738

One more note on Mike and Patrick Lalchance. If Four Starzzz Shark wins the Older Pacer of the Year category and Casimir Camotion is second to him, it'll be the first time in 24 YEARS!!! that a father and son were 1-2 in the end of the year categories with their horses. The last time this happened?? 1980 When Billy Haughtons' Hambo winner Burgomeister was runnerup to Tommy Haughtons Final Score in the year end balloting (Note-they were the reverse finish in balloting that they were in the Hambo).

Pierce-16 each way....Ron Pierce has 16 MORE wins than any other year of his career-384-and is 16 away from his first ever 400 win season. (2121 384-303 265 $12,145,320)

John Campbell-25th time???
John Campbell is currently 6th in North Ameria in earnings at $7,123,132. If he can catch #5 George Brennan-$7,339,402-it'll be the 25th time John will finish in the top 5 in North America in year end earnings. He already holds the record for the most times in the top 5 at 24, with Herve Filion-20 and Mike Lachance-19 next up.

NOTE: The 1:49.1 mile for John Campbell and Georgia Pacific in the Matron on Monday was Johns first this year with a 3 YO under the 1:50 barrier. It was the 6th for Georgia Pacific, the most ever by ANY 3 YO in a single season, It also marked the 4th DIFFERENT driver to win this year in under 1:50 with Georgia Pacific-Campbell-Andy Miller-Sears and Richard Stillings. When Richard Stillings did it, he became the first 60 YEAR OLD driver to post a sub 1:50 race mile.

Bob's Bits....by Bob "Hollywood" Heyden, For Monday, December 6, 2004
Chuck Sylvester won the Valley Victory for the third time with Diesel Don-and he is the only one to ever win BOTH the Valley Victory and the Hambletonian with the SAME horse-Chip Chip Hooray (2001-2002). Diesel Don finished 5-8 on the year. He didn't start his career until August 13 of this year. That makes the 1967 HOY season of freshman Nevele Pride all the more amazing. He was 26 of 29 as a TWO YEAR OLD!!!!

John Campbell won his 16th Final Four event of all time. All the others were first time winners: Andy Miller-Restive Hanover; Jacqueline Ingrassia-Aeronautess; Patrick Lachance-Syncros Z Tam.

Deja Vu?? Last year-in her final start at age two Kikikatie was second in the Breeders Crown to Pans Culottes. This year, in her final start at two, her full sister, Just Wait Kate, was second in the Three Diamonds to Restive Hanover.

Motivational suffered her first loss since July 22 (5th in NJSS) in the Goldsmith Maid.

Erv Miller was first and second with Restive Hanover (the favorite) and (longshot) Classic Photo in the Valley Victory. Erv is the 5th leading trainer in all of North America.

Jacqueline Ingrassia won the Goldsmith Maid for the first time, the first time she was ever in it. The LAST time she appeared in a six-figure event at the Big M? 1989 Woodrow Wilson ($907,000). She got money there too: fourth with Southern Raider. She won the 2000 Yonkers Trot as the biggest pot of her career, and remains the only female driver to win any Triple Crown event. Jacqueline also broke a tie with Joanne Lonney at 19 for the most wins EVER by a female driver in Meadowlands history. And, for the first time in the new millenium, two DIFFERENT female drivers have won at the Meadowlands in the same calendar year-Leah Vandevort the other.

More from Bob for Friday, December 3, 2004....George Brennan is about $350,000 short of his best money season ever--he can still do it if he wins the Matron (Holborn Hanover)and the Goldsmith Maid (Motivational). Ron Pierce and Brian Sears are at $21.3 million combined--the third highest total ever for the 1-2 money-winning drivers in North America. Ron Pierce--with a good weekend--can eclipse the $12 million plateau joining John Campbell as the only other driver to reach this number. Brian Sears is $533,000 ($9,467,614 starting Thursday) away from $10 million--looking to record the 18th $10 million season in the sports history--and the eighth different driver to do so. NEVER has there been a year when TWO drivers hit $10 million, EACH for the very FIRST TIME!!

Harder & Pelling...Does it get much better than this? Not only do they have the two favorites in the Matron next week, but they began Thursday night just $10,000 apart!!
Harder: $6,598,336   verses Pelling: $6,588,157

There's $22 million+ among the top four trainers in all of North America this year, and none of them were born in North America!!! Read on....
$6,598,336 Mark Harder NEW ZEALAND #1
$6,588,157 Brett Pelling NEW ZEALAND #2
$5,287,910 Trond Smedshammer NORWAY #3
$3,736,399 Jimmy Takter SWEDEN #4

Gallo Blue Chip returns to the Meadowlands Saturday night. When he steps on the track in January, he'll become the first horse EVER to campaign FIVE YEARS after being named Horse Of The Year (2000).

for December 1, 2004
Stat Of The Day
For the 5th STRAIGHT year, the winning trainer of the Horse Of The Year (Trond Smedshammer or George Teague, Jr.) will be winning the award despite NEVER having previously won a division title in any category!!
2000-Mark Ford Gallo Blue Chip
2001-John Stark, Jr. Bunny Lake
2002-Blair Burgess Real Desire (Note-Real Desire was twice runnerup-at 2 & 3-to Bettors Delight in the divisional balloting)
2003-Ivan Sugg-No Pan Intended
2004-Either George Teague, Jr or Trond Smedshammer
NOTE-EACH of the prior 7 years-1993-1999-the winning HOY trained HAD previously trained a divisional winner.

Takter Time-Again?
Jimmy Takter is likely to win both divisional titles this year with his freshman trotters-Solveig and Ken Warkentin. This is NOT the first time he will sweep the 2 YO balloting-In 1996, he won both with Malabar Man and Armbro Prowess. The LAST trainer to win both freshman year end titles was Bob Stewart-who turned that trick three years ago with Cameron Hall and Andover Hall. Jimmy, "Solveig is a little tired-she's had a long year. But I think she's done enough to win the divisional award. Flirtin Miss might be second to her-she came on strong and then won the Breeders Crown. I raced Solveig easy in the elimination. She's fine going into the final."

Eric Goodell To Try It At The Meadowlands
31 Year Old Eric Goodell is giving it a go at the Meadowlands. In case you don't know the name-try this-he's a TWELVE-TIME driving titleist in Michigan and is approaching 2,000 wins lifetime.

"I won the last four Hazel Park meets, and also titles at Saginaw, Northville and Sports Creek. I always wanted to give it a try here. This is the bigtime. I know some of the guys here-and they are quite personable. Driving against the best-that's what I want to do. This is the place to do that."

Eric is currently staying at the local Red Roof Inn, and his wife Jamie and their 18 months old son Ty just left after visiting last week. The native of Howell, Michigan knows it is a tough road to go here in New Jersey.

Eric, "I know I have to be patient. Rob Harmon has brought a few out here and I'll get those drives. Mark Ford talked to me about driving some of his horses. I've driven at Balmoral which is about my only mile track experience prior to this. I know quite a few of the drivers that are here as regulars. In 1991, I worked for Keith Crawford when I was 17 and spent some time at the Meadowlands then. But this past couple weeks is the first time that I've driven here. I'll just have to wait and see how it works out. This is always something that I wanted to do."

10,000 Wins Club
Dave Palone joined the 10,000 win club this past Saturday, the 4th member into this elite group. At age 42, he is the second youngest to do this-and the fewest amount of his 10,000 were recorded at the Meadowlands. Consider:
Dave Palone age 42; Walter Case-age 40; Herve Filion age 47; Cat Manzi age 53
Dave Palone Meadowlands wins-36 .36% (LESS than 1 of every 200 wins here!!)
Cat Manzi Meadowlands wins 2982-28%
Walter Case-Meadowlands wins-645-6%
Herve Filion-Meadowlands wins-945-6%
COMBINED-the four members of the 10,000 win club have 46,833 wins and only 9.8% of those-4,606, have come in East Rutherford.

Larry Rathbone-Lately-He Likes His 'Stakes"
He was off the radar for a while there-we didn't see the name of Larry Rathbone among those conditioning top stakes horses. But the last 18 months have proved to be 'stake' time for Larry. He won the single richest race in all of North America this year-The North America Cup with Mantacular. Last year he won the Merrie Annabelle with Ladylind, and now he sends out Ladymatic in the Goldsmith Maid Saturday night at the Meadowlands. That daughter of North America's #1 trotting sire (Muscles Yankee) will start from post 10 in the $211,800 Goldsmith Maid.

Larry, "Mantacular is now retired and he will stand at Glengate Farm for $5,000. Ladylind was sold to Jeff Gural. Ladymatic-I had to baby her some the past few months. I reluctantly put trotting hobbles on her and they sure helped. Generally speaking, I'm against trotting hobbles, but you got to use what's out there if it will help. She's a lot like Ladylind was last year, and of course they are both Muscles (Yankee's daughters)."

NUMBERS
Rainbow Blue is the first female-IF she is voted HOY-to have 20 wins in her award winning season in 34 YEARS!!! Fresh Yankee was 31 20-11-0 in 1970. Rainbow Blue is 20 of 21. Cat Manzi (54)-in addition to being the ONLY driver in North America among the top 5 in both wins AND $$-is about to become the OLDEST driver EVER to record 600 wins, AND the oldest driver to ever have 3,000 drives in one year. The last time Cat had over 3,000 drives in a single season-1997-3195-and the last time he had over 600 wins in a single season-1990-641.

Nat Varty On Royal Mattjesty
He is still in training-and he's coming off a bruising season. Royal Mattjesty is going to go postward and aim towards the Presidential, and then get some much deserved rest. Nat Varty trains, "I want to race him 1-2 times before the Presidential. Then race him in that series, and then give him off until April when the big races start up again. I haven't done much with him since the American National (November 6-second to Peruvian Hanover in a 1:49.4 mile)"

December Is Here-The "Redman" Remembers
It was late in 1976, the first year of operation at the Meadowlands. The coldest winter anyone could remember was about to set in. Carmine Abbatiello, the "REDMAN" and a Hall Of Famer-finished 5th that first year in the standings here in East Rutherford. 263 55-33-31 $403,891. Carmine remembers all too well how the weather was back then.

"We'd sometimes wear out colors over what we had on. The mile track was colder than the half milers because it was more wide open. And the wind was always bad here then. I remember that it got so bad at times, they would let you scratch your horse if you had post 8-9-10 because of the ice over on that part of the track."

Ballot Time-This years HOY ballot figures to be the tightest in a long time. Windsongs Legacy or Rainbow Blue?? You might forget that last year, a BOY was pitted against the GIRL also, but won by a comfortable margin. No Pan Intended 159-Eternal Camnation 18 (Year before it was 93-44 Real Desire over Kadabra)

Campbell-And All The Rest
John Campbell is trying to add to his total of Final Four wins. He is the all-time leader with 15 wins in these four races, although he is still searching for his first ever in the Goldsmith Maid. Remember 15 is the number-the total-for every other driver this year driving all the other horses in the 2004 Final Four is 14!! 14 Combined wins, or one less than John BY HIMSELF!!!
George Brennan-1995 Three Diamonds-Chippies Ruler, 2003 Three Diamonds with Glowing Report
Jim Morrill, Jr. -1997 Valley Victory with Buzzin Brian and the 1989 Three Diamonds with Choice Yankee.
Jim Doherty-1998 Valley Victory with Starchip Entrprise and 1996 Goldsmith Maid with No Nonsense Woman
Cat Manzi-1993 Goldsmith Maid with Candy Victory, 2000 Goldsmith Maid with Syrinx Hanover, 1997 Three Diamonds with Mybrowneyedgirl, and 1999 Valley Victory with Fast Photo. Cat and John Campbell are the only two drivers to win THREE of the Final FOUR races.
Ron Pierce-1997 Governors Cup-Sealed N Delivered, 2003 Governors Cup-I Am A Fool, 2000 Three Diamonds with Electrical Art.
Dave Miller-2002 Goldsmith Maid with Pizza Dolce

Back To Back To Back
Brett Pelling is trying to do something this year-with Speed Demon in the Governors Cup-and that is win this race consecutively. He captured it last year with another son of Life Sign, I Am A Fool who later won divisional honors. The ONLY two trainers to win a Final Four event-back to back-are Gene Riegle and Chuck Sylvester.
Gene Riegle-1990-1991-1992 Governors Cup with Artsplace, Western Hanover and Life Sign....Chuck Sylvester 2000-2001 Valley Victory-with Chasing Tail and Chip Chip Hooray. The latter is the ONLY one to win BOTH the Valley Victory AND the Hambletonian.
-John Campbell has won the Governors Cup 6 times-three times BACK TO BACK!!

Dave Palone reached 10,000 wins at the Meadows on Saturday, November 27 in the 15th and final race, his 7th score on the card. Here are some of the all-time records he now holds:
-Most wins at one track-one driver or jockey-Over 9450 at the Meadows alone.
-Most years 400 or more wins consecutively-15
-Most years 500 or more wins consecutively-13
-Most consecutive years in the top 4 in wins-13
Dave is also going to come near $5 million at seasons end, his all-time personal best.

Triple Crown Notes:
We now have 17 Triple Crown winners in the sports history, 10 pacers and 7 trotters. Seven of the 16 prior winners of the Triple Crown also were
Horse of the Year.
For Windsongs Legacy-he will be looking for a long and prosperous life AFTER his racing career-look at the incredible longevity of the previous six Trotting Triple Crown winners:
1955 winner-Scott Frost-died in 1983 at age 31
1963 winner-Speedy Scot-died in 1990 at age 30
1964 winner-Ayres-
died in 1990 at age 29
1967 winner-Nevele Pride died in 1993 at age 28
1969 winner-Lindys Pride died in 1997 at age 31
1972 winner-Super Bowl died in 1999 at age 30

Scott Frost was the first Triple Crown winner in 1955-he showed he was no fluke by winning the HOY vote in both 1955 and 1956.

Niatross-in 1980, when he won the Triple Crown. BOTH his losses came inside the Triple Crown series.

EVERY trotting trainer of a Triple Crown winner has made it to the Hall Of Fame.
-From 1963-1970, 7 of those 8 seasons had at least one Triple Crown winner. From 1984-1996-there were NO Triple Crown winners on the trot or pace.

In 1968, BOTH Stanley Dancer and Billy Haughton recorded their very first Triple Crown. Stanley with Nevele Pride and Billy with Rum Customer. This was and is the ONLY year in the sports history where there were TWO Triple Crown winners in the same year.
Nevele Pride, Niatross and Bret Hanover were the three Triple Crown winners who had ALREADY been named HOY the season before at age 2.
15 DIFFERENT trainers have had a Triple Crown winner, with Stanley Dancer the only repeater with three.

Etcetera...
Royal Mattjesty, one of the contenders for the Older Pacer Of The Year, is still in training. Nat Varty, "I've gone light with him since the American National (Nov 6) when he was second. I'd like to get 1-2 races for him before the Presidenital. Then, after that, I'll give him some time and come back in April for the bigger races."

Cat Manzi, already past $7 million for the very first time in his career, is about to become the oldest driver EVER to have either 600 wins or 3,000 drives in one year. Cat is 54, and is the ONLY driver in North America in the top five in BOTH wins and earnings for 2004.

Ron Pierce will lead for the first time in his career in year end earnings. This is the 15th time in the sports history that the runnerup from the year prior graduated to the top spot the following year. Ron is just the 7th driver in the last quarter century to lead in the all-important $$ category. (Campbell, Lachance, Moiseyev, Miller, Ouellette and O'Donnell are the other half dozen).

Is it possible-that the fastest trotter ever-in the sports history-will NOT GET A VOTE-in the sophomore trotting category for 2004? Tom Ridge-who uncorked a 1:50.2 mile in the World Trotting Derby-has to deal with the first Triple Crown winner in 32 years.
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