Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Noble Victory's sire was harness racing’s first Horse of the Year. His mother won the Hambletonian and trotted the first sub-2:00 mile in that event’s history. He was trained by a legend, and lived up to the expectations for him on the track with the exception of his shocking upset in the 1965 Hambletonian. When he retired, however, he was the fastest trotting stallion in history with a mark of 4, 1:55.3M and earnings of $522,391.

Noble Victory was foaled in 1962, just months before his sire Victory Song died of complications from cancer at age 19. Victory Song himself had suffered a narrow loss in the 1946 Hambletonian, but later won the Kentucky Futurity.

In 1947 Victory Song won 12 of his 20 starts and took a mark of 1:57.3 and was named Horse of the Year with earnings of $17,172. The following year the 5-year-old Victory Song engaged in many duels with the 4-year-old Rodney, but couldn’t handle him. Rodney was voted Horse of the Year.

Victory Song went to stud at Castleton Farm and was a success from the start, but his offspring weren’t always known for their mental stability.

Victory Song died in 1962, and Rodney died a year later, and that allowed Star’s Pride to dominate trotting races for more than a decade. By then Star’s Pride had already sired a pair of Hambletonian winners—Emily’s Pride in 1958 and Diller Hanover the following year. Emily’s Pride was owned jointly by Walnut Hall Farm and Castleton Farm and Noble Victory was her first living foal (a sister died as a 2-year-old), and he went through the sale ring for $33,000 as a yearling. By contrast, the average 1963 yearling sold for $3,637.

As a freshman, Noble Victory captured 18 of 19 starts, with his only loss coming at Du Quoin when he hit his sulky and broke stride. He came back in a third-heat race-off and won easily. That year he trotted in 2:00, matching the speed standard for juvenile trotters in a race, established by Scott Frost in 1954.

Noble Victory was a heavy favorite for the 1965 Hambletonian, and in the first Hambo heat, he made a break and finished ninth as Short Stop won in a shocker. In the second heat, Noble Victory was seventh after another break, as his stablemate Egyptian Candor won. In the third heat, the filly Armbro Flight got to the wire first, with Noble Victory third. Noble Victory went back to the barn without a trophy for the first time in his life.

One week later, Noble Victory took his sophomore mark of 1:57.2 at Indianapolis. (At that time Ayres and Speedy Scot shared the world record for sophomore trotters at 1:56.4.) But Armbro Flight whipped him in two of the three heats in the end.

Since Noble Victory had lost races at Du Quoin both as a 2-year-old and 3-year-old, Dancer took him back to southern Illinois for a race called the Hambletonian Maturity as a 4-year-old. In that race he ran off and hid from his rivals, trotting in 1:55.3. That was the fastest trotting effort ever by a stallion, second only to Greyhound’s epic 1:55-1/4 speed standard.

Noble Victory retired to stud at Lana Lobell Farms in Pennsylvania, and his first crop consisted of just 41 foals. From his first group came the world champions Noble Gesture 2, 1:59.1 and Noble Gal 3, 1:58.2. Then came Noble Jade, Noble Florie, and Noble Tryst. In 1976, Noble Victory’s son ABC Freight set a new world record for juvenile trotters when he trotted in a 1:57.1 time trial. The following year ABC Freight dropped his mark to 1:56.3 and another son, Reprise, upset the Grand Circuit stars on the eve of the Hambo.