The standardbred is anything but standard these days
by John Berry
As you probably know, I love the history of our grand sport.
I still cringe every time a race is re-named, as if we do not have room for another stakes race, another headline, another potential big event.
Over the years, it’s bad enough that we have lost so many classic events — many from tracks now buried from our luscious history like Hollywood Park, Santa Anita Park, Sportsman’s Park, Roosevelt Raceway, and Liberty Bell Park, to name just a handful.
Michigan and New Jersey, themselves, could fill the other hand.
Along with the stakes that have disappeared like the American Classics, The Californian, even the Motor City Pace at D.R.C., we have let these grand events — and 100 more — disappear into thin air, along with the great horses that dotted our history books in ink, that, now, has turned into disappearing ink.
When the Nat Ray, honoring the first driver to win The Hambletonian in 1926 was “re-maned” — make that “re-named” — well, that was the crowning touch of idiosyncrasy on behalf of our sport.
The closures in just our lifetime are too many to mention.
But, now that I think of it, here some are, and maybe it will wake some up:
Freehold, The Pomp, Cal-Expo, Balmoral, Maywood, Bay Meadows, Jackson, Saginaw Valley, Garden State Park, Brandywine, The Rock, Sports Creek, and Washington Park.
Add to that Great Lakes Downs, Woodlands, Northampton Fair, Brockton, Playfair Race Course, Solano, and the aforementioned ones up top in this Mane Attraction and we’ve got a disaster on our sport’s hands and hooves.
Yes, the standardbred has transformed over the years and we are about to embark on a new season of raw speed — so fast that records are now made to be broken by 1/100ths or 1/1000ths of a second — not a quarter second, as was the case in our sport’s infancy.
First, the standardbred got its name well after the thoroughbred Messenger came across the ocean in 1788 and Yankee became the first horse to accomplish a trotting mile under 3:00 in 1806 — that record being 2:59 in Harlem, NY.
In the 1830s, two pacers made the 2:30 list among the fastest performers during the decade — the Chestnut gelding Oneida Chief and the bay gelding Drover, clocked in 2:28 in 1839.
As time wore on, in the 1840s, the legendary Lady Suffolk was first to eclipse the 2:30 mark, she having achieved a record of 2:29 1/2 in 1843.
By the end of that decade, the chestnut gelding James K. Polk had whittled almost three second off the mark of Lady Suffolk with a mark of 2:27 in 1845.
In the 1850s the grand chestnut pacing mare Pocahontas (2:17 1/2 to wagon) and the roan pacing gelding Pet (2:18 1/2) were on the books, along with the legendary Flora Temple, who had eclipsed the 2:20 mark — 2:19 3/4 in 1859 at the age of 14.
This may have ushered in the Currier and Ives era, as well, as George M Patchen, Highland Maid, Tacony, Ethan Allen, and the pacer Pet all reached the record books.
In the 1850s and 1860s, the Currier and Ives historical collection blossomed further with the mares Goldsmith Maid and American Girl, along with the gelding Dexter and several others — all clocked in the “two-teens.”
This ushered in the era of the standardbred.
In the 1870s, the National Association of Trotting Horse Breeders was formed and, to qualify for the registry, horses were required to meet a specific standard of speed — that being two minutes and 30 seconds (2:30).
This helped in defining the breed and the transition from the carriage horse to “elite” standardbred.
Just about every standardbred traced its lineage back to one horse, Hambletonian 10, foaled in 1849, a descendant of the aforementioned thoroughbred Messenger.
The standardbred has come a long, long way since then.
They are anything but standard these days.
A century-and-a-length ago, there were only a handful of standardbreds on the 2-year-old list that were able to penetrate the 2:10 list.
Since records were kept from the 2-year-old colt Doble’s record of 2:40 3/4 in 1872 down to the colt Arion’s being less than a “photo” away from 2:10 fame in 1891, the grind down was a quarter-of-a-second at a time.
And we had yearling speed records on the books, too, with the filly, Pride, in a time-trial in San Francisco, CA in 2:44 1/2 in 1881 to hit the record books down to the chestnut filly, Pansy McGregor down to 2:23 3/4 in Holton, KS in late 1893.
The colt, Frank Perry, established himself as the world record holder for 1-year-olds with a 2:15 Time Trial performance in 1911.
Yet another interesting example was from the gelding The Scheme that holds the record for yearling geldings at 2:21 3/4 in 1921.
The Scheme was driven by Alex Wishart and, in conversation with my late, great friend Chase Dean back about a half-century ago, Dean explained that Wishart drove many yearlings for L. E. Brown of Delavan, IL and he had yearling auctions and sold them and shipped them to new owners via railroad.
Since they didn’t have much time to train them down, Dean explained that Wishart would let them loose in a gallop and, when they got tired and fell into a trot or pace, they’d “put the watch on them.”
Back then, there were more than 900 race meetings coast-to-coast!
We have records on the books going back before the standardbred horses were even classified a standardbred.
And we have records on the books at distances from two miles, three miles, and five miles up to 10 miles, 20 miles, 50 miles and, yes, 100 miles — that record first achieved in 1845, again in 1846 and, finally, in 1853 when the bay gelding Conqueror indelibly put his name in the records books at 8:55:53 for the 100-mile distance.
Gone, forever, are the days of Goldsmith Maid setting world’s records as a 20-year-old in 1877.
Gone, are the days when horses like Tru Single G started over 100 times during the early 1950s, or Abax racing at age 26.
The standardbred breed has changed from a breed of durability to a breed of raw speed.
We are witnessing a transformation of our grand standardbred breed before our very eyes.
Soon, we will have a declining racing population as speed continually displaces durability.
This makes one wonder if the decline of racetracks is, actually, a negative thing or a blessing, since we will be having more problems filling races down the road — or track — as speed, finally, overwhelms durability to a point of no return.
We breed no more for the likes of Su Mac Lad, Seatrain, The Grey Gladiator or Foiled Again.
The 2-year-old season is just about here and excitement looms boldly ahead.
When the 2-year-old pacer Big Jim paced in 1:49.1 back in 2010, it was something really special.
When A Rocknroll Dance did the same a year later, it was, also, really special.
Then Sweet Lou went a tick faster that same year, really special.
Now, today, we have 18 different 2-year-old performers that have been under 1:49.
Will a 1:51 pacer wind up entered in a 4 or 5 claimer? It’s becoming a ho-hum mile these days.
Even our trotters are giving hints, as the incredible filly Mission Brief took a 2-year-old mark of 1:50.3 14 seasons ago, and 22 trotters have records under 1:52.
So much for the 2:10 2-year-old list.
Today’s juveniles are/will be 90-110 lengths faster than that coveted list of a generation past.
What’s more important — speed or longevity on the track?
So, what do we call this new breed of speed since it’s no longer a standardbred?
And, even more importantly, can we save our sport and the bettors in the same breath?
We need an answer in 1:45.3.
May The Horse Be With You!
