Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Harness Happenings for the week of June 1-5, 2004
By Kimberly A. Rinker
Saturday, June 5, 2004

Odds On Charmaine is back and ready for action! The speedy Western Hanover mare, now four, qualified at Balmoral on June 2, winning in 1:54.1 with a :27.2 final brush.

"She really qualified well and I couldn't be more pleased with her performance," Odds On Racing's conditioner Robin Schadt said. "We're targeting her for the Fairy Godmother at Balmoral, which is on July 3. However, in the meantime, we might race her in the Open at either Balmoral or Hoosier Park."

Odds On Charmaine has career earnings of $202,547, with a top mark of 1:52, and was a $50,000 yearling purchase by Schadt for the Odds On team in the fall of 2001 at the Tattersalls.

The first official Baby Race of 2004 will take place on Sunday, June 6 at Balmoral Park in Crete, Illinois. A field of six laterally-gaited youngsters will go behind the gate in the $6,000 Jimmy Sunshine Stake, which is for Illinois-bred freshman colts and geldings.

Slated as the 13th race on the evening's card (which has a post of 6:30 p.m.), the field includes: Northern Apache from the rail with Mike Oosting, TJ's First in post two with Andy Miller up, Elijah Criag in the three spot with Pat Berry aboard, Blue Apache with Dave Magee from the four-hole, Bangkok Cruiser with post five and driver Dale Hiteman, and Officer Joe with the six-slot for trainer Homer Hochstetler in the bike.

Triple Crowns….with Smarty Jones on the verge of becoming the 12th Triple Crown winner in thoroughbred history and the first in 26 years, it is high time to look at BOTH sports' Triple Crowns.

Harness first (of course!): Trotters (none since 1972) and nine pacers (last one was No Pan Intended) have done it. In his career-Rum Customer made 141 starts, the most of any Triple Crown winner.

Triple Crown winners have been named Horse of the Year 13 times. Adios Butler is the only horse to be named Horse of the Year Twice, after winning the Triple Crown in 1959, he was crowned in 1960, and 1961.

Bret Hanover is the only Triple Crown winner who was NEVER off the board in his career, 68 times in 68 career starts. Also, this 1965 Triple Crown winner had the most career wins with 62. Nevele Pride and Bret Hanover won six straight Horse of the Year awards between them, from 1964 to 1969. None of the richest 25 pacers of all time today won a Triple Crown: Niatross is the only double-millionaire who did. Ayres, the 1964 Triple Crown winner, won the least money lifetime, earning only $254,027.

The Thoroughbred: Smarty Jones, if he pulls off winning the Belmont on Saturday, June 5, becomes the horse with the latest start to his career that culminated in a Triple Crown, on November 9, 2003. Prior to "Smarty," Seattle Slew's September 20 start was it.

Six of the 11 Triple Crown winners were chestnuts, like Smarty Jones. The term "Triple Crown" didn't officially go into use until 1950. Gallant Fox was the 1930 Triple Crown winner and his son Omaha from his first crop also (1935) won the title. That is the only father-son Triple Crown duo. Smarty Jones' great great grandpa is Secretariat.

Assault is the only one of eleven Triple Crown winners not to be favored in the Belmont. Count Fleet (1943) is the only Triple Crown winner, of the 26 in both harness and thoroughbred entering 2004, who never raced again.

Who is the only horse in history to defeat two Triple Crown winners in the same race? Exceller accomplished that feat in the 1978 Jockey Gold Cup, when Seattle Slew finished second and Affirmed was fifth.

It is less than elven months since Smarty Jones was in the New Jersey Equine Clinic for multiple facial fractures and almost an eye lost. It was July of last year when the colt, just three weeks into his reign in the Servis' barn, smashed his head on a starting gate and had to be rushed for immediate medical supervision. That time away, and his eventual full recovery, delayed his freshman debut until November 2003. Good luck Smarty!!!

The Cat Man, Cat Manzi, who is nearing his 54th birthday (6/27/50), was the leading dash-winning driver in all of North America for the month of May 2004. In 1990, Herve Filion led all of North America in wins at age 50-the oldest of ANY year-end leading driver ever!

Cat Manzi is the only driver this year to hit the board in both the New Jersey Classic (2nd-Dr No) and the Miss New Jersey (Apple Krisp-3rd). Cat also just wrapped up his 16th Freehold driving title. He's made a career out of picking up the pieces, showing up, racing day and night and becoming the iron man of the business.

Who else has won $4 million 15 straight years, with 350 wins minimum and 2,400 drives in that time period? Cat is the leading driver not only in the history of the New Jersey Sire Stakes, but in the history of New Jersey! No driver has won more races in New Jersey-over 8,000-than Cat Manzi. He's behind only Herve Filion in career drives, and is the only driver ever to have 30,000 drives in a decade (1990s).

Riding the "Silva" Streak…In the now 28-year history of the Meadowlands, until May 2004, no trainer had ever won 24 races in a single month. Noel Daley had 23 in February of this year, and that was the record, until Mark Silva smashed it this May with a 44% win clip on one of the greatest rolls ever by a Meadowlands conditioner.

"It was one of those things where everything kind of comes together at once," Silva said. "A lot of hard work. People forget that I was in the barn until nine or ten at night from January, February, and March and wasn't winning a lot of races. It could get frustrating at times. But this past month things just seemed to come together. Landmark Hall got on a big roll after he took a lot of work and patience, but it eventually paid off."

Mark started the month of May with 24 wins for the meet in sixth place in the trainer's standings at the Big M. He then doubled that and ended up the month in third place for the year overall. His Landmark Hall-from April 30 to May 29-won five straight races, all in 1:51 or better (1:50.4, 1:51, 1:49, 1:50.1 and 1:49).

Amateur driver Mal Burroughs and his friend world-renowned photographer George Kalinsky have convinced basketball Hall Of Famer Walt "Clyde" Frazier to try his hand at harness racing the week of the Hambletonian. The former leader of the New Jersey Knicks wants to get in the bike for the very first time under the supervision of Mal Burroughs. Walt is a fan of the sport and regularly follows the results of the stakes races around North America.

Elittlopp winning Gidde Palema, a nine-year-old trotter, is from the second crop of 1992 Hambletonian winner Alf Palema. Nine seems to be the operative number this year as Magician is the all-time money leader at the Meadowlands at age nine. Fools Goal-also a nine-year-old is hot on the heels of Magician in money earnings at the Meadowlands and only about $165,000 away from wresting that title away from him.

Remembering Carl…Carl Allen's passing hit many in the Standardbred industry like a thunderbolt, and was certainly another great loss for the sport of harness racing. Here's what some of his peers had to say about Carl:

Ron Gurfein: "A great horseman. He bred his own, he rigged his own, he shod his own, he raised his own, and he trained and drove his own. You're not supposed to be doing that in this business. You don't replace a guy like that."

David Scharf: "The only direct contact I had with him was during the year of Self Possessed (1999). He was in the barn next to Gurfeins' at the Meadowlands. He was always gracious and complimentary whenever we did well. He was racing C R Commando and C R Renegade against us and was sincerely happy for me and a true gentleman. I also remember him giving me assurances when I was stall walking getting ready to drive in the Billings races."

Mal Burroughs: "The first thing I thought of was that Carl is more stubborn than I am. He was doing what he wanted to do when he wanted to do it. He was hell-bent on coming back and driving and training again. He could be his own worst enemy. But what a guy! I remember at Lexington a few years ago, he and I were coming down the stretch nose to nose. He wound up beating me on the wire (C R Excalibur over Malabar Maple in 1:56.1) After the race, he comes over to me and puts his arm around me and says, 'You know, age before beauty'."

Walter Case, Jr: "He never sugar-coated anything. He would pull me aside and try to help me, and he would never do it in front of anyone and embarrass you. He gave me a lot of good advice, on family and values and avoiding certain crowds. I wish I had listened to him more. He was right on it. He took a back seat to nobody. Helped everybody. I will never forget his handshake. He was a deeply religious man, and always a gentleman. In many ways he treated me like one of his sons."

Carl put up some numbers in the past quarter century that won't easily be forgotten. For instance, the two longest standing track records at the Meadowlands are both now nearly a decade old. They came on back-to-back nights in August 1994, on the second and third of that month with two-year-old trotters. Donerail, Stanley Dancer's colt, set the mark of 1:55.4 for the colts and C R Kay Suzie, Carl & Rod Allen's filly set the world record of 1:55.1 for fillies. Both still stand.

Carl is the ONLY driver to win a Meadowlands race in his 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's. His first win at the Big M came in 1979, with an Albatross colt named Shank Hanover. Carl was 49 at the time. Below are other "Carl-sims:"

He won the $249,000 Campbellville in 2002 with Vrahos at age 72
He and Rod are the only father-son tandem to each drive a winner in a Million dollar race: Carl, in 1983, won the $1.7 million Wilson with Carls Bird, and Rod, in 1992 won the $1 million Meadowlands Pace with Carlsbad Cam.
He went into the Florida Hall Of Fame in 1993.
He was the 1994 Glen Garnsey winner as Trainer of the Year.
He was the 1998 Owner of the Year on the Grand Circuit.
He was 100-1 when he won the 1988 Beacon Course with Stable Gait.
He was 103-1 when he was second in the 1993 New Jersey Classic with No Way.
He and Rod developed such standouts as Somollison, Royal Troubador, C R Renegade, C R Kinetic, No Smoking, Jeannes Somolli and Country Gambler.