Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Bye Bye Byrd

By Poplar Byrd--Evalina Hanover--Billy Direct
p,2, 2:01; 3, 1:57.4; T1:56.1 ($554,272)
Bred & owned by Rex and Ethel Larkin

ByeByeByrd

Bye Bye Byrd in action

Bye Bye Byrd was one of the nation's top free for allers from the late 1950s through the early 1960s. The son of Poplar Byrd was trained throughout most of his career by Indiana conditioner Don Taylor. He had modest two and three-yer-old campaigns, earning $26,967 and $65,334 respectively, but it was at four, five and six that his star really shown brightly.

For his four-year-old season Bye Bye Byrd (known to many on the New York circuit as "Triple B") was given to trainer-driver Clint Hodgins, after Hodgins had piloted the colt to a second place finish in the Cane Pace the year before. Bye Bye Byrd began a rivalry with Adios Butler that year, and was one of the few horses to best "The Butler." In fact, it was Bye Bye Byrd that defeated Adios Butler the following year (1960) in three of his four starts. At four Bye Bye Byrd captured the National Pacing Derby, the Good Time Pace, an American National and the New England Pacing Derby, recording a world record mark of 1:57.4h and earning $212,433. He was also named Horse of the Year for 1959 as well.

The following year (1960) Bye Bye Byrd would win 11 of 25 starts and $187,612 in purses, pacing in 1:56.1 during a time trial effort. He retired in 1961 with 50 wins, 24 seconds and nine thirds from 101 career starts, with $554,257 in his lifetime bankroll. The Larkins initially stood Bye Bye Byrd at their Poplar Hill Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, where he was folaed, but when the couple perished in a plane crash in 1965, the stallion was sold to Hempt Farms in Pennsylvania, where he remained until his death at age 25 in 1980.

Bye Bye Byrd proved to be a very prolific sire in his intial first four crops, producing pacing stars Nardin's Byrd (p,3,1:59.h $507,391) and Batman (p,3,1:58 $378,649), among others. Later on he would produce 1976 Horse of the Year and Little Brown Jug winner Keystone Ore (p,3, 1:55.2 $563,072) and Eastern Skipper (p,3, 1:56.2h $563,072). The stout bay stallion had a reputation as a "colt" sire, meaning that his top progeny were, for the most part, colts.

Overall, Bye Bye Byrd sired 95 $100,000+ winners, with 636 pacers that started. A full 405 of those pacers were timed in 2:05 or faster, while 157 paced in 2:00 or better, and six were timed in 1:55 or faster. His progeny earned in excess of $31.4 million and his richest performer was Armbro Nesbit p, 3, 1:56 ($625,964), while his speediest get was Spare Hand p, 5, 1:53.4 ($199,746).

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