Was Hambletonian Day 2012 the greatest of them all?

by Bob Heyden

Here are 10 reasons why I believe the 2012 Hambletonian Day was the greatest of them all:

1. It was the last of eight Hambletonians that went for $1,500,000. Starting with Vivid Photo in 2005 and right through to Market Share in 2012. Ron Pierce was the only driver to double up during those years —Donato Hanover (2007) and Muscle Massive (2010) — and he had the 8-5 favorite in 2012, Uncle Peter, who finished seventh placed eighth.
2. Put On A Show certainly did. The 5-year-old daughter from the first crop of HOY Rocknroll Hanover had missed her entire 4-year-old season. The Chris Ryder trainee was driven by Jody Jamieson in the Lady Liberty and shot through in a new world record of 1:47.3 for females. She improved to 27-7-1 in 39 starts with $2,245,699 lifetime for owner Craig Henderson as well as Richard and Joanne Young.
3. Jimmy Takter finished a neck back of Market Share with Guccio in the $1.5 million Hambletonian. The colt was just two-for-14 lifetime with five seconds going in and stormed home to just miss.
4. Panther Hanover with Sylvain Filion won the McKee (then known as the U.S. Pacing Championship) in a sparkling 1:47.2. That time would hold up as the quickest of the entire year in the sport. Yes, that means that the both the fastest male and female mile of the entire year took place on the afternoon of Aug. 4, 2012. Hurricane Kingcole set the amazing fractions which included an industry best 1:18.1 three quarter time. He competed for Big Jim Carr of Hamilton, ON, who had just come off a couple of dream seasons with Big Jim, the horse.
5. The 10-cent Superfecta in the Hambletonian Oaks returned a staggering $17,582.77. This was triggered by a $116.40 upsetter Personal Style. The two overwhelming faves Check Me Out (23 20-3-0, $1,490,174) and Maven (18 12-2-1, $418,979) went off-stride in the final turn and lost all chance.
6. Captaintreacherous won the very last Woodrow Wilson in 1:49.3, a stakes record, by 10 lengths. The purse was $309,050, the smallest in the Wilson since it’s 1977 inception ($280,000).
7. Jim Oscarsson won the Peter Haughton with Aperfectyankee, who was 15-1 on the morning line, but was bet down and paid $10.80. It would be just one year later that lightning struck AGAIN for Jim with a freshman named Nuncio.
8. Quietly the opener on the 15-race card was won by Delicious ($31.60) with Ron Pierce driving. This would be trainer Ron Gurfein’s last Hambletonian Day victory.
9. Who had the most drives on the 2012 Hambletonian Day card? Tim Tetrick was in all 15 races, while Ron Pierce was in 14, Brian Sears in 13, and Yannick Gingras and Andy Miller each had 12.
10. Tim Tetrick did something unprecedented on that day, his Hambletonian winning day with Market Share. He drove the top three finishers in the Horse of the Year balloting at year’s end all to victory. HOY Chapter Seven (84 votes) won the Cashman in a stakes equaling 1:50.1. Second in the balloting was Hambletonian champ Market Share, the Linda Toscano-trained stablemate of Chapter Seven. Third was Captaintreacherous (six votes).