ARMBRO GOAL--A Top Sire Of Fillies

One of the most attractive and best-bred trotters who ever went to stud was Armbro Goal, winner of the 1988 Hambletonian. A son of Speedy Crown whose dam is the storied Armbro Flight, one might make a case that Armbro Goal had a pedigree as good or better than any trotting stallion who ever lived. He was bred and sold as a yearling for $135,000 by Armstrong Brothers of Canada.

Armbro Goal earned a mark of 1:59.3 at two; banked more than $1.3 million at three, winning 11 of 13 starts and trotted in 1:54.3 winning the Hambletonian for John Campbell. He made but 18 career starts, but also won the World Trotting Derby, the Dexter Cup, the Beacon Course, the Canadian Trotting Classic and the Zweig Memorial. He was the leading money-winning trotter of the year and was voted 3-Year-Old Trotter of the Year.

Armbro Goal is the same age as Supergill, and he and Supergill were, in fact, stablemates since they shared the Continental Stables shedrow as home. Berndt Lindstedt drove Armbro Goal in most of his starts, but John Campbell got the catch-drive in the Hambletonian when Lindstedt chose to drive Supergill.

Armbro Goal was a very appealing race horse, since his light bay color was very reminiscent of his sire Speedy Crown. His dam, Armbro Flight, would appear on anybody's list of the best trotting mares in history. She won a heat of the 1965 Hambletonian, and was a narrow second in the final; she also beat Noble Victory in straight heats of a memorable Kentucky Futurity, and later won the American Trotting Classic at Hollywood Park against older males. As an aged mare, Armbro Flight set world records for both mile and half-mile track racing and defeated the great Roquepine in the Roosevelt International.

Many great mares do not become noted producers, a subject we will explore in the future here in the Corner but Armbro Flight has to rank as not only one of the greatest trotting females of all time, but her production as a broodmare is outstanding. Her production, aside from Armbro Goal, includes the Kentucky Futurity filly champion Armbro Ermine 3,1:55.1; $284,681 and Hambletonian heat winner Armbro Regina 3,1:56.3; $149,705.

It has been announced just recently that Armbro Flight has been named an immortal of the Hall of Fame, such is her reputation and accomplishment.

Armbro Flight came by her trotting prowess naturally, since her dam was the 1953 Hambletonian winner Helicopter. To say that Armbro Goal's parents are trotting royalty is to overstate the obvious.

Armbro Goal went into stud duty at Castleton Farm, and from his first crop came a terrific filly named Winky's Goal, who won the Breeders Crown and more than $880,000 while acquiring a 4,1:54.4 mark. However, Winky's Goal's dam is the well-known Winky's Gill, the world champion Bonefish mare who had earlier produced Supergill. One of the disadvantages of breeding a great mare like Winky's Gill to a young stallion is that if the mating produces a top horse, as it did with Winky's Goal, the stallion often does not get all the credit he deserves. Observers often give most of the credit to an outstanding broodmare, discounting the stallion's contributions. It should be noted here that Winky's Gill has had four other fillies, all by Super Bowl, and none of them have records. So, obviously, Armbro Goal deserves more credit than he has been given for Winky's Goal.

The purpose of this week's essay is to examine the production record of Armbro Goal to date. The record reveals that he is clearly an underrated horse. The Speedy Crown stallion has never had a season when he disappointed. Winky's Goal is his leading money-winner, but he also produced the good trotter Abundance 4,1:54; $874,098, a Breeders Crown winner who also won a heat of the Hambletonian and was second in the final. Other top Armbro Goal performers before the 1998 season included the fine Currier & Ives filly winner Ultimate Goal 3,1:56.1; $334,620; the Lady Suffolk winner Noifsaboutit 3,1:56.2; $311,387; the Historic Cup winner Tap In 3,1:55; $310,374 and the Colonial Filly winner Raging Goal 3,1:57.2; $258,219.

Armbro Goal has had good offspring before, but the 1998 racing season is one of his best ever. In just the last few weeks of competition at the very highest levels of the breed, three of his daughters have won major trotting stakes.

Included in this group is the wonderful 4-year-old mare Raging Samantha 4,1:53.4, a winner now in excess of $400,000, highlighted by her unprecedented sweep of all five legs and the final of the rich Classic Oaks Series. The Classic Series races are distinct from most American trotting events in that each leg and the final are raced at distances beyond a mile. Raging Samantha has won at distances of 1 1-16 mile all the way to 1 3-8 mile this season. Along the way, she set two North American records for the 1 1-16 mile distance, and lowered the stakes record for the Classic Oaks to 2:09.3 (mile rate approx. 1:55.2) for 1 1-8 mile in the $275,000 final at Garden State Park. This week, she will take on the best older male trotters in the $275,000 final of the Trotting Classic series at Mohawk Raceway in Canada over 1 3-8 mile.

While Samantha has been raging, the 3-year-old Armbro Goal filly Lassie's Goal has quickly risen through the ranks to become one of the top fillies of the season, as her recent 1:54.2 score in the World Trotting Derby filly division indicates. In that event, she beat all the top fillies of the season. And yet another 3-year-old filly, Controlled Goal, recently won a New Jersey Sire Stake at Freehold in 1:59.3h, and is clearly a filly making dramatic improvement as the season unfolds. That filly is a three-quarter sister to the Breeders Crown winner Personal Banner, who was by Royal Prestige.

These three fillies are really very indicative of both the successes and shortcomings of Armbro Goal's stud career. He has always demonstrated outstanding ability to produce good fillies, but it is in the siring of top colts where his stud career has been criticized. Abundance is his lone high-caliber colt performer, although he has also produced solid trotters like Historic Cup winner Tap In 3,1:55; Review Stake winner Rigged Right 3,1:55.4; NJSS and Chas. Smith winner Climbing Bud 3,1:55; and the fast Review Stake winner Kentucky Wine 3,1:54. The lack of a really sensational colt trotter has hurt Armbro Goal, there is no question about that. His 1997 two-year-old champion Harry's Bar 2,1:58.1 has not raced in more than a year, but is training back for a return to the races after an early season skeletal injury. One of the better 3-year-old trotters in North America is the gelding Fool's Goal 3,1:53.4, who unfortunately was not eligible to many of the top stakes this year. Fool's Goal took his record at the Meadowlands earlier this summer beating a good field of aged trotters, even though he is still basically a very inexperienced trotter.

From a breeding standpoint, Armbro Goal's classic lineage (his sire won the Hambletonian and his dam is one of the great trotting mares ever) is interesting when we examine the production record. Raging Samantha is from a mare by Lindy's Crown; Winky's Goal, Rigged Right and Climbing Bud are all from Bonefish mares; Utlimate Goal is from a Final Score mare; Abundance and Kentucky Wine are both from mares by Nevele Pride. Of interest is the fact that all of these broodmare sires trace to Star's Pride in their male line.

One of the basic theories of good horse breeding is that a stallion may be mated successfully with mares from the same male line as that of the stallion's dam. In this case, Armbro Flight is by Star's Pride, and thus Armbro Goal's success with Star's Pride line mares merely follows a formula employed by successful breeders for decades. Of the above-mentioned broodmare sires, Lindy's Crown is a son of Lindy's Pride; Bonefish is by Nevele Pride, Final Score is by Super Bowl, and so on. All of these broodmare sires trace to Star's Pride.

Armbro Goal, for all of his success, has never crashed the upper-echelon of international trotting, and this has always puzzled. At Castleton, he stood in the shadow of Supergill, whom he had clearly out-performed on the racetrack. After he moved to New Jersey, he had Valley Victory to contend with, and the perception was that he was a notch below that great sire--but then who isn't? The facts, however, show that he was far from inferior. In 1997, his 3-year-olds actually won more than the 3-year-old get of Valley Victory.

Another factor which has affected Armbro Goal's perception is that none of Speedy Crown's other siring sons have found the level of success predicted for them. However, nearly all of the sons of Speedy Crown have shown ability, like Armbro Goal, to produce good fillies. Among these are Speedy Somolli, Sir Taurus (who will be the subject of a column in the coming weeks,) Prakas, Royal Prestige and Crowning Point.

Armbro Goal should be judged as a quality horse whose daughters will no doubt make valuable contributions to the breed for many years to come.