ARNIE ALMAHURST--A Close Look at a Real Star

Last week in the "Corner" I discussed the male lineage of Pine Chip and his impact on the current season. This week, I propose to broaden that discussion to an analysis of the sire line that evolved to produce Pine Chip and the other exceptional trotters in this male line.

One of the finest trotters in Europe at this point is the elegantly-gaited Kramer Boy, a son of Sugarcane Hanover, himself a racing star in North American and European campaigns. Sugarcane Hanover burst into prominence in North America when he won the Kentucky Futurity as a late-developing three-year-old for trainer Jimmy Simpson and driver Ron Waples. Sugarcane Hanover was by Florida Pro, a world champion 3-year-old son of Arnie Almahurst.

This is the same sire line that produced Pine Chip, since both Sugarcane Hanover and Arndon, Pine Chip's sire, trace directly in their male line to Arnie Almahurst.

As often happens in breeding, what appears to be a trend often does not materialize. If anyone would have predicted that an expansion of this male line would occur with Arnie Almahurst, there is little doubt you would have been dismissed for forwarding such folly. For years, this male line was nearly the sole province of Speedy Crown, the greatest trotting sire in modern history. Speedy Crown's get dominated the late 1970's, the entire decade of the 1980's and most of the 1990's. His offspring have now won more than $100 million, and his broodmares are the queens of trotting ancestry. The most noted production comes through Speedy Crown to Speedy Somolli, to Baltic Speed, to Valley Victory and so on.

Yet, for all of Speedy Crown's siring majesty, he has not left another son to continue his male line presence. A number of his sons have had great impact (Armbro Goal, Sir Taurus, Prakas, Royal Prestige, Workaholic, Jazz Cosmos and Crowning Point among others) but none of these, unlike Speedy Somolli, have lived up to the inherited task of continuing their own sire's majestic legacy. However, the continuance of the male line now rests not solely with Speedy Crown, but also with Arnie Almahurst, another noted son of Speedy Scot.

Speedy Scot is one of but six trotters to have captured the Triple Crown, and he was about as handsome and powerful a trotter as ever lived. He was an awesomely magnetic horse. He had great power and presence on the track and his fiery temperament was a perfect match for the cool, professional horsemanship of Ralph Baldwin. There is no doubt that in the hands of a less competent horsemen, Speedy Scot would never have been the horse he became. Speedy Scot was a national treasure for those of us who love trotters, and one of my fondest childhood memories was watching him win the Hambletonian in 1963 at Du Quoin.

Speedy Scot won 44 of 57 career starts, and more than $650,000 in three and a half seasons at the races. He was a very mature horse even from his earliest 2-year-old appearances, and was a terrific post horse, insured of a good position in almost every race because of his ability to leave the gate quickly. At 3, he trotted in 1:56.4, won the Triple Crown, added the Dexter Cup and Matron for icing on the cake, and at four, dominated the FFA ranks, winning the Roosevelt International, the American Trotting Championship, the Founder's Plate, the American-National Maturity, the HTA final, and the Roosevelt Challenge Cup. He was our national Horse of the Year in 1963 and was barely defeated a year later by the 2-year-old pacing sensation Bret Hanover for the same honor.

Speedy Scot went into the stud at Castleton Farm, who had bred and raced the colt in their famous maroon and gray silks. He was purely a Castleton product, as he was by Speedster and out of a mare (Scotch Love) who was by Victory Song. Both Speedster and Victory Song stood at Castleton as well. His entire stud career is an interesting study. He did not produce a long string of champions. Speedy Crown and Arnie Almahurst are his only memorable sons in just over 20 years in the stud. He did not produce exceptional speed. His daughter, the celebrated international star Classical Way 4,T1:55.2 is his fastest performer, and Mark Six 3,1:56 his fastest male offspring.

Speedy Crown was from Speedy Scot's second foal crop, born in 1968. Arnie Almahurst was a foal of 1970 from the fourth crop. Speedy Crown and Arnie Almahurst were about as unlike as two horses could be. Speedy Crown was a beautiful, blood bay colt who would catch your eye because he was so light on his feet and was so attractive. Arnie Almhaurst, on the other hand, was a big, powerful brute of a horse, much like Speedy Scot. Both horses had exquisitive gaits, but Speedy Crown was the perfect race horse, safe and reliable. He never made breaks. Arnie Almahurst, on the other hand, was a scoundrel. Arnie lost 12 races as a 3-year-old, and made breaks in eight of those losses. His main problem was that he was unreliable behind the gate. Most of his breaks occurred when he reached the gate too soon and would get anxious before the start. But it must also be noted that he managed to leave the gate in the first heat of the 1973 Hambletonian, only to jump offstride at the quarter pole when he was making a move to take over the race. His most famous break, however, occurred in the Kentucky Futurity. He won the first heat for Joe O'Brien, then jumped at the start of the second heat and ran the entire mile on an uncontrollable break at about a 2:10 rate. Most observers felt the exertion of the mile long run in the second heat would see Arnie drop the deciding third heat, but he and O'Brien rebounded to win one of the most memorable races in history.

Neither Speedy Crown nor Arnie Almahurst were remarkably fast horses. Speedy Crown's career mark was only 3,1:57.1, and Arnie's mark was 3,T1:57.2. I am convinced that Speedy Crown could have trotted much faster had he been asked, but he was so dominant, he won most of his races without being asked for speed.

Arnie Almahurst, on the other hand, never showed any real natural affinity for speed. I guess the best analogy we could use here is to say that Arnie very much resembled the French trotter in that he was a big, strong, horse who could trot a long way with staying power, but who lacked any brand of real speed. But Arnie and Speedy Crown could sire speed.

Speedy Crown produced Speedy Somolli, the first 1:55 trotter in a race, and Arnie Almahurst produced Florida Pro, the second trotter to race in 1:55, both of those records coming in the opening heats of the historic 1978 Hambletonian. Much has been published and written about the development of this sire line from Speedy Somolli to Valley Victory, but little note has been taken of the developing line from Arnie Almahurst, and its impact on the breed. .

Arnie Almahurst never had Speedy Crown's opportunity in the stud. He first stood at Castleton Farm's Florida farm, and his initial book of mares numbered only 51--and they produced only 36 foals. But Florida Pro was in that first crop. Arndon, Arnie Almahurst's world champion son, was from a foal crop of only 41 in 1979. Arnie later stood at Castleton's Ohio farm for only one year and died there in 1982 at the age of 12 after surgery for a twisted intestine.

Arnie Almahurst clearly had a lot to offer. He was the first trotting sire to produce three 1:55 trotters, including Florida Pro, Arndon and Diamond Exchange. He also had Power Seat at 3,1:55.4. And Arnie was a good filly sire. Nearly half of his 38 in 2:00 were females, and nine of them won more than $100,000. Arnie Almahurst broodmares have also had remarkable success, including the noted Castleton Farm producer Flory Messenger (dam of Express Ride, Carry The Message, Harry's Bar and Wired Pine) and the Brittany Farms matron Allegro, dam of seven 2:00 trotters, including the dam of millionaire Lookout Victory. Super Arnie, one of Europe's top young sires, is from an Arnie Almahurst mare. So is Tap In 3,1:55.

Florida Pro was also a very gifted horse and I am not surprised that his male line has endured through his son Sugarcane Hanover and now to Kramer Boy. Florida Pro was a tall, athletic horse who took his 1:55 mark in a dramatic, first-over conquest of Speedy Somolli in the second heat of the 1978 Hambletonian. I have to say here that I thought Florida Pro was the stronger horse at Du Quoin that afternoon, and I thought he should have won the third heat of that race. By Arnie Almahurst and from Promissory, a Dartmouth mare, Florida Pro had a splendid pedigree since his third dam was Emily Star, a full sister to Hambletonian winner Emily's Pride. Florida Pro was not a success here in North America, but with Sugarcane Hanover and Kramer Boy in the line of succession, I think the Florida Pro legacy is safe for the immediate future. Arndon's racing career and enigmatic background were detailed in this space last week, so we will not repeat it here. His siring legacy is safe for the time being through his son Pine Chip.

This is an interesting development for the breed because it allows us to develop what is trotting's most valuable current bloodline in a manner similar to what has happened with pacing's most successful siring family. The Hal Dale pacers have dominated for the last 40 years, and originally it was thought that the future of the line rested with either Bret Hanover, a son of Adios, or Good Time. Of course we now know that the future of the line rested with neither horse, but with Meadow Skippper, a descendant of Hal Dale through Hal Dale's otherwise nondescript son, Dale Frost.

What has happened with the Speedster male line through Speedy Scot is very similar to the development of the Hal Dale pacing dynasty. Arndon, the sire of Pine Chip, is in much the same position that Dale Frost was in when he sired Meadow Skipper. Dale Frost offered nothing else of any consequence to pacing history, but with Meadow Skipper found a horse that would continue the great Hal Dale male legacy, albeit through an unpredictable branch.

Arndon has done the same thing for trotting breeders in producing a horse like Pine Chip, offering the opportunity to perpetuate the sire line that leads from Speedster to Speedy Scot to Arnie Almahurst to Arndon and then Pine Chip when everyone assumed that the line would continue only with Speedy Crown's sons and grandsons. I am not saying here that the Valley Victory branch of Speedy Scot's legacy is a dead end, because nothing could be further from the truth at this point. What I am saying is that Pine Chip represents a unique opportunity for the breed to expand the footprint of its most outstanding male line in a rather novel and exciting way. This is particularly valuable to the breed in the event the Super Bowl line cannot continue through either Supergill or American Winner or one of their sons.