A bunch of Breeders Crown facts

by Bob Heyden

Fans, handicappers, tire kickers, it’s Breeders Crown time and this should get you started.

1. Seven of the top 12 Crown money-winning pacing sires in history were themselves HOY, but not so much on the trotting side, where just three of the top 50 were: No. 1 (Muscle Hill), No. 5 (Chapter Seven) and No. 27 (Malabar Man).

2. Jason Bartlett not only got his first two Breeders Crowns in 2025, but also two runners-up (Coaches Corner and Dandy Ideal), all with the boys.

3. Ron Burke has won the 3YOFP four times, all with homebreds.

4. In 2021, there were a record eight photos to decide the Breeders Crowns: two noses, five heads, and a neck. In 2002 and 2012 not a single photo was required.

5. From 2014-17 Yannick Gingras won the 2YOFT.

6. Always B Miki reached eight Breeders Crown credits faster than any other stallion on either gait: 39 8-2-5.

7. George Segal and Brittany Farms have an astounding nine Breeders Crown 2-Year-Old Filly Trots to their credit including three straight from 2004-06 that they owned and bred.

8. Marcus Melander has seven Breeders Crowns. The first six were sired by Chapter Seven. Only Greenshoe’s Meshuggah broke the streak in 2025.

9. Chapter Seven is the only sire in the Open Trot to have both sired a winner in this division (Gimpanzee in 2020) and won it himself (2012).

10. The 3YOCP has actually had 12 different winning drivers the last 12 editions. The most in any division without a repeater.

11. Female trainers won six of 10 Breeders Crown 3YOCPs from 2009-2019: Tracy Brainard (2009), Casie Coleman(2011 and 2014), Linda Toscano (2012), Jamie Macomber (2017), and Tahnee Camilleri (2019).

12. Unusual that the 3YO and the Older trotters have the same stakes record of 1:5O.1. Coult this be the year of the first sub 1:50 Breeders Crown trotting mile?

13. Triple Crown winners have had a tough go in the Breeders Crown: Glidemaster (second in 2006), Marion Marauder (unable to fend off Bar Hopping and Southwind Frank in 2016), and Windsong’s Legacy (who passed on the Crown entirely in 2004 after nailing down the Triple Crown.

14. The two stakes record holders in the 2YOFP are both Burke homebreds: Loua Dipa in 1:49.1 (2025) and My Girl EJ in 1:49.2 (2023).

15. A pair of 60-1 winners in the same Crown year is unprecedented. The only time was 2025: The Last Martini at 68-1 and Meshuggah at 62-1.

16. Dr. Ian Moore broke through on the Breeders Crown stage at Hoosier Park in 2020 with Century Farroh.

17. Walner has the longest active Breeders Crown siring streak at four years.

18. Nancy Takter has won at least one Breeders Crown in eight different years with three of those multiple winning seasons.

19. The last horse older than 5 to win the Open Crown Pace was 7YO McWicked in 2018.

20. Trond Smedshammer won the 3YOFT four times including three straight from 2003-05. Nobody has done three in a row since in this division.

21. Dexter Dunn won four of his first five attempts in the Open Mare Trot.

22. The Breeders Crown surpasses 500 total Crowns in their history at Scioto.

23. Hall of Famer Ron Pierce had a stranglehold on the freshman Crown pacing colt division. He won six of 16 from 1998-2013 starting it off with history’s first ever 1:50 flat 2-year-old Badlands Hanover at Colonial.

24. The top four finishers from the 2YOCP from 2025 have all won major stakes in 2026: Beau Jangles Al Papi Melillo and Brandon Blvd.