Was 1972 harness racing’s greatest year?

by Bob Heyden

A lot was going on in the world in 1972. The Watergate break in happened on June 17, the Miami Dolphins enjoyed the only undefeated NFL season going 17-0, Atari debuted, and the New York Yankees — in their last non-Steinbrenner year — drew 966,328 fans, while 10 minutes down the road from the Bronx Bombers, Yonkers Raceway attracted 2,501,639.

Harness racing made plenty of headlines in 1972. Let’s take a look at a few:

• 9YO Fresh Yankee again won her divisional title (92-61) over Flower Child, two years after her HOY season.

• Stablemates Albatross and Super Bowl go 1-2 in the Horse of the Year (HOY) balloting which was not duplicated for 40 years. In 2012, stablemates Chapter Seven and Market Share followed suit.

• Secretariat stepped onto the track for the first time on July 4. Rambling Willie debuted the very same day on the INSS fair circuit and also finished off the board.

• Castleton Farm enjoyed their greatest year, with champion Bret Hanover at year’s end welcoming his son Strike Out to the stallion roster. Delmonica Hanover was second best to Super Bowl in the record setting (1:56.2) Hambletonian.

• Speedy Crown won the Roosevelt International and led all trotters in earnings at $354,128. He also had maybe the most unusual stakes victory of the year in the American Trotting Championship at Roosevelt Raceway on Long Island in New York. A crowd of 27,964 came that night to see the races, but a computer malfunction forced a cancellation of the entire wagering card. They did race the ATC in the near darkness however and out of the dark of night emerged Speedy Crown on top.

• Keith Waples wins the Jug with Strike Out and then doubles up in Canada’s first ever $100G race, the Prix d’Ete.

• Three-time HOY Nevele Pride’s first yearling crop sees 27 in the ring for a total of $740,400 averaging $27,422.

• OTB’s presence is now fully in effect in New York with both Yonkers and Roosevelt suffering on-track losses a year after the kickoff of Off Track wagering in the Empire State.

• Jim Grundy posted Monticello’s first 100 win driving season (104). Also, at Monti, with friends and family watching, 78-year-old Earle Avery (think Meadow Skipper) drove in his last race on Sept. 16.

• The single-shaft sulky debuts winning 115 of 180 starts at Monticello but was later barred for safety concerns.

• Tattersalls averages a yearling best $11,653.

• Herve Filion wins a record 605 races easily outdistancing No. 2 Joe Marsh, Jr. with 307.

• Glen Garnsey enjoys a breakout season with standouts like Gay Blossom, All Alert, Model Knight, and Colonial Charm.

• Wolverine Raceway posts their biggest year ever averaging 7,214 nightly who bet $607,127 per. Albatross helped those numbers when his visit resulted in an 18,273 night, good for a Michigan first, million-dollar handle ($1,024,101).

• Speaking of HOY Albatross, he set a new race record of 1:54 3 at Sportsman’s Park. Meaning he alone had all three sub-1:55 race miles, the two biggest single $$ seasons, and a pair of HOY titles.

• Hanover Shoe Farms ended the year hoping for some deja vu. Super Bowl and Albatross were heading to the Keystone State starting in 1973 for stud duty, exactly 20 years earlier another pair of notables, also a trotter and a pacer, headed to the same nursery together. Their names? Tar Heel and Stars Pride.

• Liberty Bell finishes up its 10th season with a combined $36 million bet and 255 two-minute miles.

• Super Bowl’s 1972 Triple Crown was the last of the 20th century for trotters.