Around the horn
by Bob Heyden
Let’s go around the horn with some standout stats on some horses and horsemen.
SAVOIR
Aug. 23 marked the 50th anniversary of the Roosevelt International won by Savoir which ultimately was the decider in a 52-49 HOY ballot over Silk Stockings. The year before, the 16th edition of the sport’s elite older trotting event for the world’s best, was also the key to Delmonica Hanover being named HOY as she won it for the second straight time despite a 5-17 overall slate. To date she’s the only HOY to check in under 50 per cent at year end.
ROLL WITH JOE
The sports #1 earner in 2011, Roll With Joe, ended his siring career with a huge bang. He’s the defending HOY sire with Twin B Joe Fresh as well as siring the dams of Miki And Minnie and Dan Patch winner Sabonis.
MIKI AND MINNIE
If Miki And Minnie can possibly run the table, and if she can be the 2025 HOY, it would be a first. Chris Ryder would then become the only trainer to roll out consecutive HOYs with different horses, both female. Jimmy Takter did it with Malabar Man in 1997 and then back-to-back with Moni Maker in 1998-99; and Bob McIntosh did so with a pair of world-record setting 4-year-olds Artsplace and Staying Together in 1992-93.
ESCORT
What a difference nine weeks can make. Escort won the first Meadowlands Pace in 1977 for a then all-time record $425,000 purse. But just nine weeks prior to that mid-July test, he was, well, hardly looking like a colt who could tangle with the division’s best, let alone defeat them. He was 0-18 with a 2:00.2 TT as a freshman and a 2:04.2 Q mark at 3 and $7,037 earned as of May 9, less than $500 a start.
JASON BARTLETT
Jason Bartlett was $2.3 million and change in front of the entire pack entering the last 10 days of August, the first to eclipse $9 million. He’s vying for his initial title, as are Dan Noble (#3), and Chris Page (#5).
SCOTT FROST
This is the 70th anniversary year of the very first Triple Crown winner Scott Frost. He lived to age 31 (1983) after living a life of idyllic seclusion in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains. Scott Frost was the sport’s first 2:00 freshman at The Red Mile in 1954. He repeated as HOY in 1956 at 4, the first back-to-backer in the sport. He had a brief stud career first in California and then at Almahurst Farm in Kentucky before going sterile. His greatest credit was the 1962 Kentucky Futurity winner Safe Mission. He made $310,685 lifetime.
CAM FELLA
We are coming up on yearling season and sales time. You never quite know what to expect or what you’re going to get. Well, the optimist says why not me? 2025 marks the 45th anniversary of Cam Fella (tattoo #5840X) selling in Kentucky (Hip #488); the first sold on the final day, Thursday, consigned by Walnut Hall Farms. Interesting to note on his engagements list at the bottom of his bio was Roosevelt. Just one word. Ironically, he would later supplement to the Roosevelt Messenger and capture his second Triple Crown jewel after emerging victorious in the Cane. No Triple Crown though. Back in 1982 there didn’t exist any supplemental path to the Jug.
DEXTER DUNN
Dexter Dunn turns 36 on Sept. 1. At 36, John Campbell won his first of six North America Cups with Precious Bunny, and Mike Lachance won his first Triple Crown event, the 1987 Cane Pace with Righteous Bucks.
REDSKIN
A rare, rare event. The winner of the Hoof Beats photo contest in 1984 was a snapshot of a just-foaled chestnut, or as the photo referred to him, “papoose” by the name of Redskin, at Castleton Farm in New York. How could anyone have imagined that friendly little hours-old fella would two years later win the $1,513,500 Governor’s Cup at Garden State Park in Cherry Hill, NJ, from post 10 no less as the even money favorite?
STEVE LOBELL
We’re coming up on the 49th anniversary of the Hambletonian that more or less forced the abolishment of four heats ever again: Steve Lobell in 1976.
DAVE MILLER
Dave Miller’s about $4.1 million from setting a new all-time earnings mark. Remember he’s heading back to Ohio four-to-five months from now. Is this destiny, karma, fate, fill-in-the-blank? Is he going to do so in his home state, somewhat reminiscent of his 2003 Jug Day when he won 10 races and the Jug with No Pan Intended?
SEPTEMBER
As we head to September, we’ll be looking at a barrel full of anniversaries, birthdays, etc.
Topping the list will be Sept. 8 which marks 20 years since Stanley Dancer’s passing.
Sept. 30 will be 60 years since the sport’s #1 money-winner and 1962 HOY Su Mac Lad retired, as well as Sept. 29 which just so happens to be Jimmy Takter’s 65th birthday!
