Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

According to Hall of Fame driver John Campbell the 2-year-old trotting filly Snow White is "the greatest 2-year-old I've ever sat behind. She’s head and shoulders the best 2-year-old I have ever been associated with.”

This comment, after Snow White won the $650,000 Breeders Crown final by nearly 13 lengths in her final start of 2007 with John at the lines.

"No discredit to any horse in her Breeders Crown race,” said trainer Kevin Lare, “But over the year she’s never been pressured, and as long as she minded her manners, her competition was never an issue. I’m always very confident about her. I’m not going to say that Snow White had no real competition, but she wins in 1:52.4 (in her world record performance on October 2 at The Red Mile) and the other two fillies who finished behind her for second and third trotted in 1:54.4 -- that’s two fifths of a second off the (previous) world record. She’s just one of a kind that’s all.

“She won’t go unrecognized by no means, but she has proven to be the best trotter in the history of harness racing as a 2-year-old. She’s the fastest 2-year-old trotter, male or female to ever race," Lare added. "So it’s hard for her to go unrecognized if she’s Horse of the Year or not -- and maybe she’ll come back next year and get Horse of the Year, but then you never know what’s going to happen or who’s going to show up next year.”

Snow White Breeders Crown

Lare and his partners bought Snow White for $43,000 as a yearling--a price that now in retrospect--seems a whopping bargin. A lot of seasoned horsemen were afraid to purchase the filly--Lare found out later--since both her dam and sire were hotheads. But that was not the case with Snow White.

"She was very big and growthy as a youngster, but has been world class from day one," added Lare. "She can get moody, but John (Campbell) has done an excellent job of keeping her calm."

Snow White won the Oct. 27 C$652,950 Goldsmith Maid, after becoming the fastest freshman trotter in harness racing history when she won her $81,250 division of the International Stallion Stake in 1:52.4 on Oct. 2 at The Red Mile.

"A world record at Lexington was in the back of our minds, but John and I never talked about it," Lare said.

On Sept. 16, she had taken the C$575,400 Oakville Stakes Final for 2-year-old filly trotters at Mohawk in a world-record equaling 1:54.2. The clocking equaled the world mark, which was set by another daughter of Self Possessed, Possess The Magic, in 2006 in Lexington, Ky.

"I made her trot home once she made the lead," driver John Campbell said. "It was her best race of the year. She was easy to handle and she was very strong at the head of the stretch. I had a lot of confidence in what she could do, but there were a lot of other good fillies in there. You always have to have respect for your opponents."

After a costly miscue in the $458,000 Merrie Annabelle on August 2, Snow White regained her winning form with a dominant 1:56.2 tally in the fastest of September 3rd's four Champlain Stakes divisions for 2-year-old filly trotters at Mohawk Racetrack.

After winning the Acorn Stakes, Snow White swept the three-race New Jersey Sires Stakes, including the $175,000 final on July 19 in 1:55.4, plus her Merrie Annabelle elimination on July 27.

“She’s been pretty phenomenal,” said Curtis Larrimore of Dover, Delaware, who runs the North State Street Stable with Joe Petrosky and Mark Stonesifer. “She knows how to do her job; she’s very professional. She’s a very talented filly. John said he can race her from behind, from the front; he likes her. When he talks, I listen to it very well.”

Larrimore selected Snow White, who sold for $43,000 at the Lexington Selected Sale, based on her breeding. He liked that the Self Possessed daughter was out of a Pine Chip mare, Mom’s Millionaire, who won a Champlain Stakes division in 2002 and posted a 1:54.4 time trial as a 3-year-old at the Red Mile in 2003.

“That’s what drew me to her on the page, and then Kevin went over her conformation,” said Larrimore, who is a real estate developer. “She was perfect. She’s really laid back and real quiet in the stall. This one is special. I spoiled my partners.”

This top filly will spend the winter at a Deleware farm for some well-deserved rest and relaxation.

Snow White's Career Totals as of December 1, 2007
Year Starts/Wins/2nds/3rds Earnings Record Track/Date of Record
2007 13 11 0 1 $1,252,646 2, 1:52.4M Lex 10/02/2007