Three Triple Crown winners, thoroughbred and harness, had just 17 career starts:

Gallant Fox 17 11-3-2 $328,164
Seattle Slew 17 14-2-0 $1,208,726
Windsongs Legacy 17 10-2-4 $1,744,644

Indiana rising

The year after Indiana-sired horses finished 1-2-3 in the 2016 Horse of the Year balloting — Always B Miki, Wiggle It Jiggleit and Hannelore Hanover — the state will play host to the Breeders Crown. Hoosier Park will be the 31st site to play host to the Crown.
$100,000+ per start

The first Horse of the Year to earn $100,000 per start was 1994 winner Cams Card Shark.
The first trotting HOY to average six figures per start was Malabar Man in 1997.
Today, nine Horse of the Year have earned more than $100,000 per start.
Muscle Hill, at some $200,000 per start in 2009, was the all-time best.

In 2017, Racing Hill led all performers in earnings per start ($99,651), but didn’t win his division.

HOY lineage

Jimmy Takter and his daughter, Nancy Johansson, have won two of the last three Horse of the Year titles.
Brothers Don and Clint Galbraith both drove Niatross in 1979.
Brothers Andy and Luke McCarthy both drove the outstanding Muscle Hill in his career.
Paula Wellwood was the winner of the 1994 Dick Baker Second Trainer of the Year award. Father Bill Wellwood was the 1997 Glen Garnsey Trainer Of The Year.
Johnny Takter drove Moni Maker at times in 1999 for brother Jimmy en route to her second straight HOY title.

Quiz

Q. David Miller is now just the second driver to have driven a pacer to HOY honors both before and after going into the Hall Of Fame. Who is the other driver?
A. Bill O’Donnell. He had Nihilator in 1985, went into the Hall of Fame in 1990 and had Staying Together in 1993.

Did You Know?

That the Triple Crown began the same year that John Campbell was born? 1955

Youth is served

2014 — The only two-year-old pacing filly to win the HOY was J K She’salady.
2015 — The only 24-year-old driver to pilot a HOY was Montrell Teague
2016 — The only 27-year-old driver to have a Triple Crown winner, in either gait, was Scott Zeron, driver of Marion Marauder.

Another photo…

…goes the way of Marion Marauder
The Hambletonian, Kentucky Futurity and the Yonkers Trot winner by less than a half-length combined, now he’s voted Trotter Of The Year 73-72 over Marion Marauder.

A dozen cuzzin

That was how many wins the first two Horses of the Year had.
In 1947, Victory Song won 12 of 20 starts.
In 1948, Rodney was 12-for-13
That’s also how many wins Always B Miki had in 2016 when he went 12-for-18.
The dozen wins is the most common number for victories for any of the 70 Horse of the Year. It has happened eight times.

Three times a lady

For the first time, three different women sent out divisional winners:
Linda Toscano trained Walner. Paula Wellwood conditions Marion Marauder and Casie Coleman is the trainer of Betting Line.