TWO WORDS TO REMEMBER IN PEDIGREE RESEARCH

The results of the Goldsmith Maid stake for two-year-old trotting fillies once again reminds us of two words that seem to have shaped much of the modern trotter. Those two words--Bill Shehan.

The winner of the Goldsmith Maid was the Valley Victory filly Rum Boogie, and the 1:57 2-5 conquest was her fifth win in eight starts. In this race, she defeated the Breeders Crown champion Musical Victory, the year's fastest filly at 1:55 3-5 over the one-turn Colonial Downs mile. Rum Boogie's victory may have earned the Valley Victory filly year-end honors in a division very much up for grabs. Rae, the Speedy Crown filly who was so impressive winning the Merrie Annabelle in August at The Meadowlands, did not carry her excellent form into the fall. Rum Boogie was very impressive in Lexington, then disappointed in the Breeders Crown eliminations, where Musical Victory starred, only to return to her championship level in capturing the Goldsmith Maid, defeating Musical Victory.

RUM BOOGIE AND MUSICAL VICTORY HAVE MUCH IN COMMON

There is much in common between Rum Boogie and Musical Victory. I shall return to the common roots of these two talented fillies in a moment. However, what also distinguishes both Rum Boogie and Musical Victory is that one man--Bill Shehan--is responsible for the pedigree that it is at the root of both of these winning fillies. Both are by Valley Victory, whose siring prowess I examined in detail last week in this space. Rum Boogie is a daughter of the Crowning Point mare, Margarita Miss, 4,1:56, a winner of $141,927. Margarita Miss is tied as Crowning Point’s second-fastest female, and Rum Boogie is her second foal, the first being a 3yo colt by Napoletano. Musical Victory is a daughter of the Arnie Almahurst mare, Allegro, already dam of seven 2:00 trotters from the ten foals preceding Musical Victory, who at 2, 1:55 3-5 is her eighth 2:00 offsrping, and her fastest foal. Musical Victory is a half-sister to Higher Love 2, 1:59 3-5; $167,481, and that Joie De Vie mare is the dam of Lookout Victory 3,1:54 3-5; $1.5 million, also by Valley Victory.

It should be obvious that both Crowning Point and Arnie Almahurst, the broodmare sires at work here, share a common ancestry, in that both trace in their male line to Speedy Scot, the great trotting king of the 1960’s. Crowning Point is a grandson of Speedy Scot through his son, Speedy Crown, while Arnie Almahurst is a son of the great "Castleton Cannonball."

THE RARE BREEDING INSTINCTS OF BILL SHEHAN

Valley Victory has a well-documented affinity for the Speedster male line in his matings. What is striking in the lineage of these two fillies is the emergence once again of the rare breeding instincts of the late Bill Shehan. It is not an overstatement to say that Shehan, as a private breeder, may have had a more profound influence on our breed than any private breeder in history. There have been many prominent private breeders, whose accomplishments have long been recognized. Charles Phellis must certainly rank very high, as the man who bred both Hoot Mon and Miss Tilly. K.D. Owen is also right up there, having established the male line that led to Balanced Image and Mack Lobell, as well as a number of the breed’s most successful maternal families, including that of the great Moni Maker. Then there is Norman Woolworth, whose Clearview Stables has bred and raced Hambletonian champions and Kentucky Futurity winners for most of the last half of this century.

Bill Shehan, however, has left a more indelible imprint than any of the above, it would seem to me. I had the great pleasure to know Bill Shehan, and to have spent an afternoon with him was a crash course in breeding theory and execution. Shehan believed in the power of maternal families, believed in true racing class and/or physical quality in his broodmares, and bred his mares for type and gait.

SHEHAN LIKED MANY OF OUR BEST FAMILIES

Shehan toiled a lot in the gardens of our more successful families. He very much liked the Maggie H. family of trotters and this was understandable, since that group represents one of the purest trotting outposts in the breed. In this family, Shehan bred the mares which eventually produced the millionaire trotter Firm Tribute, as well as another branch of the same family which produced the Speedster matron Lovester, and her important descendants Rosemary, Imperfection, Royal Prestige, Almost An Angel, and the full brothers Spellcaster and Magna Force, the sires of the dams of 1998 world champions CR Commando and Angus Hall.

But Shehan also was a great admirer of the breed’s largest and most successful family--the tribe descended from Miss Bertha Dillon, one of the mares who built the foundation that Hanover Shoe Farms stands upon today. Miss Bertha Dillon was a foal of 1914, and she was bred by A.B. Coxe, a prosperous breeder of the day who developed many champions. Miss Bertha Dillon was a daughter of Dillon Axworthy, and was part of the group of mares that Lawrence Sheppard acquired in the very early years of Hanover Shoe Farms’ development from the Coxe estate.

MISS BERTHA DILLON--PROBABLY THE GREATEST MATRON OF THIS CENTURY

Miss Bertha Dillon produced many notable trotters, including the brilliant world champion and undefeated filly, Hanover’s Bertha, a daughter of Peter Volo, as well as her full brothers Sandy Flash and Lawrence Hanover. Miss Bertha Dillon was the first mare to produce three 2:00 trotters, and had SEVEN daughters who each ultimately founded winning families of their own. The seven daughters included Miss Bertha Worthy, Miss Bertha Hanover, Hanover’s Bertha, Charlotte Hanover, Bertha Hanover, Bertha C. Hanover and Fay Hanover. All but Miss Bertha Worthy, who was by Lee Worthy, were full sisters, and their female lineage is remarkable because in more than one instance, they have produced the fastest horses in the history of the breed-- at both gaits!!

For example, the Miss Bertha Worthy group earned lasting honors as the maternal outpost responsible for the ultimate production of the legendary pacing star Bret Hanover, the only pacer ever voted Horse of the Year three years in a row. As an historical aside, Miss Bertha Dillon, the matriarch of this extraordinary family, was bred to Peter Volo nearly her entire lifetime, and was, in fact, kept most of her life at Walnut Hall Farm, where Peter Volo stood. Upon her death, Miss Bertha Dillon was buried in the infield of The Red Mile.

MISS BERTHA HANOVER

Shehan’s interest in the Miss Bertha Dillon tribe rested primarily in the family tracing from Miss Bertha Dillon’s 1925 foal, Miss Bertha Hanover. He liked many of the traits of this family, including their physical quality (type) and their gait. Shehan admired Caleb, a 1958 son of Hoot Mon, and a great, great, grandson of Miss Bertha Hanover. He also loved the gait of 1977 Hambletonian winner Green Speed. In 1983, when he purchased Keystone Profile at auction as a yearling, he pointed to this family as one he wanted to be in for the duration. Keystone Profile, of course, not only became a world champion, trotting in 1:55 3-5 at three, but as a broodmare, has produced the speedy Act Of Grace 3,1:52 3-5. Green Speed’s and Keystone Profile’s third dam, the Nibble Hanover mare, Chata, was a half-sister to Caleb.

In another branch of the same family, Shehan also admired the Hoot Mon trotter Dart Hanover, a foal of 1965, and a contemporary of Nevele Pride during his US campaign, and later an international star in Europe. In 1970, Shehan acquired for his broodmare band a yearling filly named Decca Hanover, who was by the aforementioned Caleb. Decca Hanover was a daughter of Delicia Hanover, a Dean Hanover mare whose own dam was Delphia Hanover, a daughter of Miss Bertha Hanover. Decca Hanover never raced with much success, and her daughter Santa Fe was by Shehan’s Yonkers Trot winner Tamerlane, a son of Florican. However, Santa Fe is the dam of Margarita Miss, and the grandam of Goldsmith Maid winner Rum Boogie, which means that Miss Bertha Hanover is Rum Boogie’s sixth dam.

A REMARKABLE FAMILY

Miss Bertha Hanover's family is a remarkable one, in that it not only includes the stars mentioned avove, but also is home to such well-known trotters as Egyptian Candor, Sea Cove, Savoir, Peace Corps, Arndon, Conway Hall and his brother, Angus Hall, as well as Mack Lobell and American Winner. There is hardly a stronger outpost of trotting talent than this one.

THE SPORT'S FIRST 2:00 TROTTING FILLY

The most successful racing daughter of Miss Bertha Dillon was her 1927 foal Hanover’s Bertha, undefeated in her racing career, and winner of both the Hambletonian and Kentucky Futurity. Hanover’s Bertha was the sport’s first 2:00 trotting filly, and her record came in the opening heat of the 1930 Kentucky Futurity. However, Hanover’s Bertha did not enjoy the excellent production of Miss Bertha Hanover, her full sister, as noted above.

Hanover’s Bertha does have one historical distinction, though. She is the only filly winner of the Hambletonian to produce a daughter who also won the Hambletonian, since her 1934 daughter Shirley Hanover, by Mr. McElwyn, won the 1937 Hambletonian. Shirley Hanover’s full sister, Beverly Hanover, is the dam of 1960 Hambletonian winner Blaze Hanover in the family that ultimately produced such well-known trotters as Britelite Lobell, Crown’s Best, Giant Force and Mr. Drew.

As I noted earlier, Bill Shehan was a big admirer of this family, and when, in the early 1970’s, he acquired Rosana Hanover, a daughter of Speedy Count, no one took special notice. He bred Rosana Hanover to Noble Victory, and produced a mare named Sea Change. Sea Change went to Tamerlane, producing a mare named Appassionato, foaled in 1977. Appassionato was bred to Arnie Almahurst and thus Allegro, the dam of Musical Victory was produced. Musical Victory’s eighth dam is Hanover’s Bertha, a full sister to the sixth dam of Rum Boogie! What a legacy! Shehan’s faith in a family that had produced two Hambletonian winning fillies, has again been rewarded.

NOTHING ABOUT BILL SHEHAN SURPRISES US--HE WAS SELDOM IN THE WRONG PLACE

We should not be surprised that Bill Shehan’s continuing legacy of breeding wizardry is a central thread of the story in the production of both Rum Boogie and Musical Victory. Shehan is also the breeder who purchased a handsome Chiola Hanover mare named Intercontinental as a yearling for $90,000 from Castleton Farm in 1984. This purchase came at a time when the average Chiola Hanover yearling was selling for around $12,000 to $15,000. Although she earned virtually nothing as a race horse, Intercontinental would ultimately produce Continentalvictory.

Bill Shehan was very seldom in the wrong place with his broodmares, and his success cannot be overlooked, or dismissed as just good luck. Rum Boogie and Musical Victory are just more reminders of his lasting imprint on the modern trotter.