by Bob Heyden

Ramblin Storm, a son of Storm Damage from the stallion’s first crop, had an interesting career that started the same night — June 13, 1984 — at the Meadowlands where Nihilator also made his career debut.

Ramblin Storm was a nice younger horse, but never a star until later. Consider his year-by-year record:

At two: 11 4-2-1 $76,576

At three: 25 8-5-3 $122,193

At four: 34 9-7-7 $147,320

At five, six and seven, he became a very tough weekly regular, and the first horse in harness history to twice be claimed for $100,000.

At five: 28 8-6-5 $156,200

At six: 32 15-5-2 $296,950 1:50.1 (the sport’s fastest mile at night)

At seven: 23 8-4-1 $150,760

At eight, nine and 10 he made nine starts per year. What would you say the odds were at that point that he we would still be looking at his two busiest seasons?

At eight: 9 2-1-1 $42,450

At nine: 9 2-0-1 $14,251

At 10: 9 4-1-2 $5,691

At 11: 46 10-6-8 $37,450

At 12: 39 1-7-8 $18,222

For his career, Rambling Storm sported a record of: 265 71-44-39 $1,068,063 1:50.1

Ervin’s influence

Was Frank Ervin the most influential horseman from 1940-1965?

He sold Proximity for $1,000, he raced two-time Horse Of The Year Good Time (1949 and 1952), he raced Adios in the mid 1940s — and his mark of 1:57.1 was the fastest of anyone for a four-year period from 1942-1945; and he capped it off with a three-time HOY a 62-for-68 performer by the name of Bret Hanover.

Ad ripped from the history pages

A 1944 wartime ad in The Horseman and Fair World For Roosevelt Raceway read “Save Tires And Gasoline — Race For OUR Purses.”

Dynamite Volomite

How dominant was Volomite? By 1948, he had sired 15 of the top 24 priced yearlings of all time.

SI covers

Four times harness racing has graced the cover of Sports Illustrated.

On July 23, 1956 Adios Harry with Luther Lyons the caption reading “Worlds Fastest Pacer”

On Aug. 19, 1957 John Simpson, Sr. with Hickory Smoke

On Aug. 3, 1959 First International Race “Golden Night Of Trotting” as the Roosevelt International was initiated.

On Aug. 5, 1968 Stanley Dancer and Nevele Pride “Trotting’s Wonder Horse Trains For The Hambletonian”

70th anniversary

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the very first Horse of the Year — Victory Song in 1947.

That year, he was a four-year-old trotter with a record of 20 12-3-0 $17,172.

In 1944, he sold for $37,000 as a yearling, the highest ever spent at that time. Castleton Farm reached in.

Ralph Baldwin’s progression

In 1948, Ralph Baldwin was the leading money-winning driver with $153,222. Fifteen years later, he won the Hambletonian with Speedy Scot. Ten years after that, he won the Hambletonian with Flirth.