Time has not affected Carter Duer’s ability to spot good horses

by Murray Brown

A few days ago, I was following a post on Facebook from Clay Horner about a sister to the leading money winner of 2026 (so far), Tarapasta ($346,900 this year and $820,395 lifetime), a mare that he had recently acquired.

Strangely, for me, I wasn’t all that familiar with her pedigree. So, I went to Pathway and drew out a five-generation lineage of her ancestors. It was not all that surprising that she comes from one of the great maternal families in the sport, that of Midnight.

Her fifth dam is a Worthy Boy mare named Stand By who was quite familiar to me. I remembered her not by her lineage, but rather by what I remembered of her as a race filly. She was the first standardbred that I had ever seen that wore a hood when racing. Not so surprising, in that her trainer, Billy Haughton, would try almost anything that he thought might help one of his equine pupils.

What to me was a little surprising is that Stand By’s dam Alerted came from a rather non-productive trotting branch of a great family, which until Stand By’s emergence was all but dead. Since Stand By, there have been four consecutive maternal pacing generations of top producers including chronologically, Scene Stopper, Sabella Lobell, Mattaroni, and now Pasta Blue Chip who is the dam of Tarapasta. Another major 2026 performer from that immediate family in addition to Tarapasta is the recent Harrah’s Philadelphia track record holder Captain Optimistic ($1,146,257).

Something else in Stand By’s pedigree caught my eye. Something that I had not previously noticed. In addition to her being trotting-bred, she was sired by Worthy Boy, a son of Volomite and out of the mare Alerted who was by Lusty Song, also a son of Volomite. Although it is not that strange to find such incidences of line breeding today, it was rather rare back then.

Why and how did this mating come about? I went to what I believed was the source, Carter Duer, who I believed was the farm manager at Castleton Farms when Stand By was bred. I called Duer and asked him the question. He didn’t immediately recall what had led to the mating, but said he would give it some thought. I said that while we were at it, I asked him why don’t we explore a second interview with The Curmudgeon in HRU? The first one, here, was in the issue of March 27, 2021. Time for an update, I thought.

I called him the next day.

The answer was that Duer, although working there at the time, was not yet the farm manager at Castleton. Bill Brown was still at the helm. Duer’s guess was that the mating likely came about by happenstance. Back then it was kind of rare for market breeders who stood stallions to breed their mares away from the farm. He thought that later on in his career Brown might have attempted such a mating, but he doubted that he would have done it knowingly at the time. In simple terms, he guessed that it came about by accident. Castleton was standing Worthy Boy, so they decided to breed him to Alerted.

Thus, this week’s column came about.

We old guys are becoming somewhat of a rarity these days. Many of us have died off and others have, in the words of General MacArthur, just faded away. But you still maintain a significant presence in the sport.

“I don’t know how significant it is. I certainly don’t do near as much, nor am I near as involved as I once was. These days I tend to do mostly what it pleases me to do. That involves helping to raise and prepare the yearlings for sale. I tend to stay away from the daily, sometimes mundane chores on the farm such as foaling, teasing, and inseminating the mares.

“I still follow racing. I like to think that I do it with as near a passion as I once did.

“Where in the past, I’d rely on the phone and for lack of a better term, hearsay, on letting me know how horses raced, today I can watch every horse and see every race that I want to see – live. It’s a great source of enjoyment to me. I’m now able to leave the more boring chores to the kids. I suppose that’s one of the few benefits of growing old.

“As beneficial as this has been for me personally, it also has its negatives. The major one is that it has kept me away from the racetrack and our major events. The last time I was at the Hambletonian was the year that Malabar Man won. I used to go to the Jug every year. I don’t remember the last time I was there.”

You are now nearing your 87th birthday. You have previously faced a few health issues. How would you describe your health?

“I would say that generally speaking it is pretty good. Although I still use that cane that you gifted to me many years ago at Harrisburg, I consider myself to be pretty mobile. I sometimes suffer from low blood pressure which causes me to feel dizzy occasionally, but thankfully rarely, pass out. I get along pretty well for an old guy.

“I think that mentally, for what it is, I am near as sharp as I ever was. I think I can still look at a horse as well as I ever could.”

Speaking of looking at a horse. I have known thousands of horsepeople through my many years in the sport. You are unique and among the very few, who once they saw a horse, that horse’s image was imprinted in your brain forever. If you were to see it years later, you likely would be able to identify it.

“I don’t know why. But that has been the case all of my life. I look upon it as being lucky. I consider it to have been a helping point in my career.”

You’ve been involved with horses, almost literally, since you’ve been able to walk and talk. What is it about the transition of the sport that you find most interesting?

“First of all, and most importantly, the horses themselves — in just about every way. They are certainly a whole lot faster, smarter, talented, and quicker to come to their speed.

“In a relatively short period of time, we have managed to breed out most of the defects, especially with regard to conformation and increase the positives. I look back to when I was at Castleton. We, and most commercial breeders of the day, produced an offering that couldn’t come close to matching the individuals that are being produced today.

“I’m not sure of the trainers being quite the all-around horsemen as some of those back then. Probably some of it goes back to the horses being so good today and the business being more specialized. Our trainers today don’t face some of the problems that those guys did. It seems like with trotters especially, a lot of the Europeans and Down Under guys have been close to the front of the pack here. People like Noel Daley, Marcus Melander, Ake Svanstedt, and a Swede by birth in Nancy Takter, do extremely well. Of course, at or near the top of every category, especially with pacers, you have Ronnie Burke. That man and his operation are simply amazing. I have no idea how he does it, but he continues to do it at the highest of levels.

“As there always are, there are several Canadians who do an exceptionally good job of developing good horses. Dr. [Ian] Moore seems to come up with one or more good ones each year. So do folks like Mark Steacy, Dave Menary, and Carl Jamieson. I know I’m leaving out some names that should be included. For that I apologize. My excuse would be that of an old guy. I just forget. I’m certain that there are some of those who stand out today, who would have likely done extremely well back then.

“But I don’t see as many Baldwins, Ervins, Millers, Haughtons, Simpsons, and Dancer types as those I experienced in those years. Maybe a big part of it, is that of the great natural talent of the horses themselves and the fact that those men both trained and drove their horses.

“Those guys reached their areas of success because they had to. They had no other choice. They had to make good racehorses out of often imperfect individuals. The only other option available to them was failure.

“On the other hand, the drivers today are generally so much better than they used to be. There are so many of them that are very good. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t survive. Back then, the vast majority of the drivers were also trainers. There were a few that were good at doing both – but very few.

“Today’s drivers as a group are so much better in so many ways than those who came before.”

There is a horse racing today by who I am overwhelmed. His name is Beau Jangles. What I am about to say I believe is crazy. Years ago, Delvin Miller told me he believed that one day the fastest horse ever would be a 2-year-old. You told me that John Hayes said the same to you. It hasn’t happened yet. It may never happen. But I believe that Beau Jangles could have been that horse. Wisely, Dr. Moore didn’t try to accomplish that with him. What are your thoughts on him?

“I’m not about to say that I either agree or disagree with what you said. If you asked me if I felt that he is one of the greatest 2-year-olds I’ve ever seen? He undoubtedly is. Perhaps the greatest ever.

“He did what he did at 2 without seemingly ever being seriously challenged.

“His mile last week at Mohawk in 1:49.3 looked to me to be the easiest sub-1:50 mile I’ve ever seen by a horse of any age.

“They say, especially in these times, that time is just a number. I suppose that, to some degree, is true. But I believe a sub-1:50 mile by a 3-year-old making his second seasonal start and having it look like a walk in the park is extraordinary. I look forward to watching what he can and likely will do as the season goes on.”

We’ll close by discussing a horse, who in my opinion, in a very short period of time, might be responsible for an upheaval in the trotting breed. His name is Captain Corey. You bred and raised him. On the eve of his 3-year-old season, you mentioned him in glowing terms in our last interview. What do you remember about him?

“I’ll use one word to describe him. That word is special. That’s what he was from the day he was foaled until where he is now.

“I owned this Angus Hall mare named Luv U All. She was okay, but just that in all respects. She didn’t have a remarkable pedigree — just an all right one. We trained her and she looked promising, but not much more than that. She had broken a bone in an ankle as a weanling. Maybe that compromised her. But in terms of talent, she came across as just being average. We were approached by Corey Callahan who had a booking to the hybrid trotter with a pacing pedigree, Googoo Gaagaa, that then was standing at Richard Hans place in Maryland. I had seen the horse race. He was a very fast and a quite impressive trotter. It was May, and I hadn’t booked Luv U All yet. I thought to myself, ‘Why not?’

“From the time he was foaled, he was remarkable. He was great looking. He seemed very smart and had a terrific nervous system. He grew into the beautiful yearling I hoped he would become.

“Nevertheless, what could I hope a yearling not eligible to any significant sires stakes, with an ordinary pedigree page, might bring – as good looking as he was and as much as I liked him?

“I was thinking probably somewhere around $20,000, maybe a little more if I got lucky.”

What happened at the sale?

“I indeed got lucky. He ended up selling for $150,000! I was thrilled. Even more so when I found out that the great Swedish trainer Ake Svanstedt was going to become his mentor. The colt that I liked so much was going to get the chance to become what I thought he might become.

“Did I envision him becoming a Hambletonian winner? Of course not. Even more enthralling, did I believe in him becoming the stallion that it now looks like he will become? Almost certainly not. Either one of those two happening is like catching lightning in a bottle. Having them both happen is almost miraculous.

“In our last conversation, I mentioned how highly I thought of him. He had won five-in-a-row at 2. He then lost a couple. Then Ake wisely stopped with him. At that point, I thought he had a chance, but only a chance of becoming a special horse.”

But you did believe greatly in his destiny after he was retired to stud.

“When he was syndicated after his 3-year-old season, I asked to buy two shares. They only allowed me to acquire one. In addition, they did allow me to breed another as a paid booking. That’s business I suppose. But I was disappointed.

“I’ve bred to him every year that he has been in the stud, both using my syndicate share and in paying for an additional booking. This breeding season I was cut off from my paid booking.

“I believe what he has shown thus far from his first crop may only be the tip of the iceberg. He did get full books each season. That will help any stallion. But, for the most part, the mares he received were just decent, with very few great or near great ones among them. His first year’s crop to the races was sensational.

“The other day at Pocono, there were three divisions of the Pennsylvania All-Stars for 3-year-old trotting colts. These are what is looked upon as being good, but not the top bunch of 3-year-old trotting colts. They won two of the divisions and finished second in the other one, with each division going around 1:52. Not bad for 3-year-old trotters early in the season. [Yesterday (May 23)] the All-Stars had four divisions of fillies. Get this, 12 of the starters in those races are by Captain Corey.

“I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a trotting sire who gets so many of his offspring to the races at this sort of top level. They have thus far included many stakes winners and high-quality trotters.

“We’ve got four of his yearlings to sell this fall. They just have a look about them. You can pretty much just pick them out.

“Beginning with this year’s book, he has received a full book of some of the best mares in the sport. This portends for the results for his offspring improving as time goes on. Of course, that’s the logic. But this is harness racing and sometimes logic doesn’t prevail. But I sure as heck wouldn’t be surprised, nor would I bet against it happening.”