by Chris Lomon

If success truly does breed success, odds are it could be a memorable Lexington Select Yearling Sale for Crawford Farms.

Crawford Farms is a family-owned standardbred breeding and racing farm with two locations in upstate New York and beautiful Versailles, KY. Albert and Michelle Crawford have stepped into the family legacy that Jim and Patricia Crawford started in 1966. With over 1200-plus acres located in two states, one of the most impactful players in the world of standardbred racing is looking forward to seeing how their youngsters are embraced for the upcoming annual sale. Over the last 16 years, with over 100 impeccably bred broodmares, Crawford has supplied the industry with dually bred, blue-blooded yearlings.

Crawford pupils, 61 in all, 59 of them dually eligible, will be front and center at this year’s sale.

“We are over the moon to feature 59 dual-eligible yearlings, while the two Crazy Wow yearlings are Kentucky-eligible,” said Michelle. “That does give us an edge going into the sale. What I’ve heard from people who have looked at our pages and viewed our yearling videos is that they have been so impressed. I’ve had more foot traffic up here, when you typically can’t get anyone up to this part of New York, especially at this time of the year. Every day, we get another call. It’s buyers, owners and trainers – just so many people coming up to see the horses. We have the most elite broodmare band of trotters in the business, which enables us to bring blue-blooded yearlings to the sale.”

It’s a sentiment echoed by Albert.

“I really got into the pedigrees and crosses, especially on the trotting side, and looked at the crosses who are producing some top-notch yearlings,” he said. “We’re extremely excited about this sale and even beyond that. We had great success either through foaling, raising, and selling trotters, last year across New Jersey, Kentucky, and New York. The trotting fillies have been strong, and I think our trotters can go against anybody. We’ve never had as athletic a group as we do this year. It all ties back to breeding. When they get in that chute, they roll.”

Perhaps the biggest obstacle for Albert and Michelle, who own champion trotting mare, $3.85 million earner Atlanta, is whittling down the list of babies they are impressed by.

That said, it’s what others are saying, specifically, high praise from those who have visited the farm in the days and weeks leading up to the sale, that has the couple feeling, understandably, quite optimistic.

“We have an especially well-bred Tactical Landing filly out of Flawless Lindy, Oklahomasmokeshow, Hip #56.” Michelle said. “She looks amazing and has everything you would want in a yearling trotter. We have 17 first foals selling this year, so that’s another reason for us to be optimistic about the sale.”

“French Kisses, Hip #65, she truly looks the part,” said Albert, of the Chapter Seven—Sans Defaut filly. “She is stunning. Long, tall, and beautiful.”

Shesnostranger, Hip #120, a daughter of Tall Dark Stranger—Sandbetweenurtoes, is another filly that has caught their eye.

“She is probably my choice of the pacers,” said Albert. “In the chute — I’m a chute guy — if they are athletic there, that always stands out for me. It’s like the NFL Combine. I look at the chute as the NFL Combine. If they go out and run 4.2 40s, you sit there and say, ‘Wow, what an athlete.’ When I showed up for chute day to see their athleticism, she just blew me away. I had the same reaction to Oklahomasmokeshow and French Kisses.

“Another one is [unbeaten trotter] Karl’s full-sister, Mybffannee [Hip #440]. She just hit that chute, tail up over her back, extension way beyond her nose… just amazing.”

The Crawfords made the decision to keep one offspring from their megastar mare Atlanta, Deja Blu.

“My highest rank is a five,” Albert said. “Atlanta got a five-plus and this filly, I gave her a five-plus-plus. My comment was, ‘Just a freak. Long, tall, strong, acts like a Mack truck.’ My jaw dropped. If you watched her video, you would bet heavily that she’s a colt. She’s a good cross to Chapter Seven too.”

The hope, for the Crawfords, is that they have the opportunity to purchase a piece of some of the yearlings they sell at Lexington.

“What we are hoping is that some people who buy these extremely well-bred fillies will let us keep a piece,” said Albert, who also noted Mia Maxie, Hip #114, a daughter of Chapter Seven—Dominica, as another impressive offering at the sale.

“We’d like to keep them all, but that’s not possible,” Michelle said with a laugh. “I would also add that we owned a piece of Tall Dark Stranger, and we have 16 yearlings of Tall Dark Stranger this year for the sale. Hip #273 Blue Onyx, looks like a mirror image of him. We’re pretty excited about that one and our entire group.”