NORTH AMERICAN TROTTING AT A CROSSROADS

Trotting in North America is at a crossroads. Super Bowl’s last crop of yearlings sells this coming fall. The last Speedy Crowns have already been sold. Balanced Image, the leading money-winning sire for each of the past few years, will be 21 this spring. Valley Victory will be only 13 this coming breeding season, but his fertility woes continue, and his heretofore profound affect on the breed can only be diminished in the coming years as his number of foals continues to decline. It is clearly time for a new horse to emerge. But who will that horse be?

MANY PROMINENT YOUNG SIRES

Never in recent memory have more young sires been in a position to become the siring star of the next generation. History tells us that there will be a top sire among this group of young stallions, but the road map to tell us which of these horses is to be the new king is, like the road map to a strange area, sometimes difficult to read.

Consider the following. Valley Victory’s first siring son, Victory Dream, has proven to be a big success this season. However, Victory Dream's imprint on the breed will, sadly, be diminished by his own long-term fertility problems. It has been reported that only three mares are in foal to Victory Dream following the 1998 breeding season. This is a tragedy for the breed, as Victory Dream’s own wonderful courage and gait were very much evident in his son Self Possessed 2,1:55 4-5 and his daughter Softly Dream this past season.

However, several other young sons of Valley Victory are on the verge of their own, much-anticipated siring careers. The first crops of Donerail and Dancer’s Victory were well-received at the 1998 sales, and will race in 1999, to be followed in 2000 by those of Mr Vic and Lindy Lane. They will be followed in 2001 by the get of Yankee Glide and in 2002 by Muscles Yankee’s first crop. Donerail will be but seven years old in 1999 and has not been bothered by any of his sire's troublesome fertility problems. Neither have Lindy Lane nor Dancer’s Victory, who will both be six years old. Yankee Glide is but five years old for his second season at stud in 1999, and, of course, Muscles Yankee will be but four for his first tour of the breeding shed.

The sheer volume of sons of Valley Victory in the stud should insure the success of this sire line, as many are placed at prominent nurseries, and have had, or will have, good books of mares. It will be interesting in the coming years to see which of these horses prosper, as the historical precedent is that only one or two of these young stallions will, in fact, become successful in their own right.

WHAT OTHER ALTERNATIVES ARE OUT THERE?

What are the other possible alternatives in the unlikely event that the current dominant Valley Victory genes are not passed on? The most obvious choice would be Pine Chip, whose impressive first racing crop of 1998 two-year-olds include the Peter Haughton winner Enjoy Lavec 2,1:56 4-5 and the Valley Victory winner Starchip Entrprise 2,1:56. Pine Chip is 1998’s leading sire of 2:00 two-year-old trotters (he has ten) and he has sired the winners of $1.3 million in his first crop. Two more Pine Chip colts with above-average ability are Wired Pine 2,1:57 and Arbor 2,1:57 2-5. Regular leaders of this Corner already know of my passion for Starchip Entrprise. He is a terrific colt with a big, big future. Starchip Entrprise was obviously sore and off form for the Breeders Crown final, but in spite of that, was the only colt that seriously chased CR Commando in the world record final.

One of the obvious deficiencies of Pine Chip’s first crop is the absence of top fillies, although his daughter Bit O Candy was a promising second in the late-season Goldsmith Maid final. Another filly I liked when she behaved (which wasn’t often) was Chips Ahoy. She has abundant ability, but must overcome her breaking habits. Another good-looking Pine Chip filly was the stakes-winning Chiptease 2,1:58 3-5. Pine Chip continues to be well-patronized, and even though his stud fee was raised to $20,000 (from $10,000 his first three years in the stud) his book filled quickly and is already closed for the upcoming breeding season.

THERE ARE OTHER GOOD OPTIONS AS WELL

If Pine Chip does not follow up his impressive first-crop showing, what other horses are around? For many years, observers have feared that we would paint ourselves into the proverbial corner by inbreeding and producing trotters that had a preponderance of the same blood. Nature, it seems, always has an answer for us.

One of the hottest sires in the business currently is Garland Lobell, a son of Abc Freight, and grandson of Noble Victory. How important is a sire like Garland Lobell to the industry? It is impossible to calculate how valuable a horse like this is to the breed. For many years, it has been assumed that the valuable Volomite male line would depend on Balanced Image for its continuance into the new Millennium. However, since most of Balanced Image's best offspring have been geldings, this sire line has limited opportunities to perpetuate itself. Earl, a young son of Balanced Image, is off to a slow start as a sire in Ontario, and Trade Balance, the Kentucky Futurity champion, is surprisingly set to begin his stud duties in New Jersey in 1999.

It is possible that the horse most likely to continue Volomite’s influence will not be a son of Balanced Image, but rather Garland Lobell and his sons Conway Hall and Angus Hall. Conway Hall won our admiration with his late-season heroics in the Kentucky Futurity, the Orsi Mangelli and the Breeders Crown. His early entry into the stud in 1999 at Walnut Hall Limited is a loss for the racing industry, but should advance the cause of sustaining this profoundly important male-line influence. Angus Hall was the first two-year-old trotter to crash the mythical 1:55 barrier with his world record 1:54 4-5 score in the Breeders Crown elimination, and he is every bit the top horse that his brother Conway Hall was a year ago. In my mind, at least, Angus Hall brings a little more to the battle than his full accomplished full brother. He will make a valuable stallion candidate in the coming year. The further development of the Garland Lobell influence is a healthy one for the breed, as it will both complement and diversify the blood of Super Bowl and Speedy Crown, and that of Valley Victory and his sons.

SPEEDY CROWN NOT READY TO DISAPPEAR JUST YET

The Speedy Crown line that does not lead to Valley Victory has a couple of other propitious outposts. Mr. Lavec, a young and promising son of Speedy Somolli, and grandson of Speedy Crown, with an interesting French maternal influence, was moved to Ontario in 1998 following two introductory seasons where his get will be eligible to the New York Sires Stakes. They were extremely well-received at this year's yearling sales. In last week’s Corner, we examined the new-found success of King Conch, a son of Speedy Crown finding new favor in the rich Ontario Sires Stakes.

SUPER BOWL ALSO HAS NOT DISAPPEARED

The Super Bowl line is far from gone from the siring horizon, although a good deal of the future of the line rests on the shoulders of 1997 Horse of the Year Malabar Man, whose first foals will hit the ground this spring. A son of Supergill, and a grandson of Super Bowl, Malabar Man bred perhaps the best assemblage of young and talented mares in history during his first tour of the breeding shed this past spring, and has an enormous opportunity. A good-gaited, fast and professional race horse, Malabar Man was a natural talent and his pedigree invites the mating of mares by the most successful stallions that preceded him. Malabar Man bred more than 200 top-bred mares in his first season, and his first foals are anxiously awaited.

Malabar Man is not the only son of Supergill to be making an impact. Two sons of Supergill, neither of which were the racing stars that Malabar Man was, have already shown a clear ability to be promising young sires. In Ohio, Supergill’s son, Striking Sahbra, only six years old, has become that state’s leading young sire, and impressively, he led all sires in North America during 1998 with a two-year-old winning percentage among all his foals of 26 per cent. And perhaps most impressively, more than 70 per cent of Striking Sahbra’s two-year-old crop started this past season, and that mark, too, led all North American sires. Promising Catch, another son of Supergill, has had a promising debut in Quebec, and gives us assurances that the Supergill blood will continue to be present in North America for a long time to come.

ROYAL TROUBADOR ALSO SIRED SPEED--AGAIN!

Super Bowl’s legacy is also very much alive with his royally-bred son Royal Troubador, sire of the unbelievably fast CR Commando 2,1:53 2-5, winner of the Breeders Crown at Colonial Downs. Even if we give some credit for CR Commando’s quick performance in the Breeders Crown to the one-turn mile at Colonial Downs, it has been evident all season that CR Commando had special talents that only needed time to blossom. It was clear that CR Commando had turned the maturity corner in his stakes appearances at The Red Mile and his virtuoso performance in the Breeders Crown was not all that surprising. Royal Troubador had already demonstrated what he was capable of when he sired the unbelievably fast CR Kay Suzie, perhaps the fastest trotting filly in the history of the breed.

The rest of the Super Bowl line continues with American Winner, whose first two crops have raced with distinction in 1997 and 1998. The American Winners are a naturally-gaited, fast bunch, but they may be too fast too early for their own good. For example, Buzzin Brian, American Winner’s quickest performer to date at 3,Q1:54 4-5, was a gifted colt whose own astonishing early speed was probably his own undoing. Buzzin Brian was an extraordinarily gifted colt whose real potential was never realized after he became unsound. Viking Kronos 3,1:56, also wrote banner headlines during his impressive two and three-year-old seasons, and will carry American Winner’s precocious bloodline to European breeders. It is reasonable to assume that his own amazing ability will translate to his offspring, and not at all surprising when we consider what a good-gaited and fast horse American Winner was.

SIERRA KOSMOS ALSO OFFERS VALUABLE CHARACTERISTICS

If we need further avenues of development, we need look no further than Sierra Kosmos, who will be but ten years of age this coming breeding season. Sierra Kosmos has had a huge year, siring the Hambletonian Oaks champion Fern 3,1:54 4-5; the World Trotting Derby winner Kick Tail 3,1:54 2-5: Hambletonian elimination winner Silver Pine 3,1:54 1-5 and Lady Suffolk winner Cosmo Girl 3,1:56. This outstanding quartet of performers were four of the top six money-winning three-year-olds in North America this past season. Sierra Kosmos also has a pair of impressive two year olds with the very good filly Midori Hanover 2, 1:57 1-5, winner of eliminations for both the Breeders Crown and the Goldsmith Maid. His most promising two-year-old colt is the Pennsylvania Sires Stakes star Cosmic Order 2,1:58 1-5f. A great many trainers who had been turned off by the early aggressive manner of the Sierra Kosmos offspring have had those premature assessments reversed by this strong showing. To have a champion like No Nonsense Woman 3,1:54 in his first crop, and to follow her with the likes of Fern, Kick Tail, Silver Pine, Midori Hanover and Cosmis Order is a very notable and promising showing of other good things to come from Sierra Kosmos as the quality of his book improves.

At this point in time, the future of the trotter in North America looks very promising. Outlined in this Corner has been the success and/or opportunity to succeed for nearly 20 young trotting stallions, all under the age of ten. Surely a seminal sire will arise from this group. In any event, this is as healthy a situation as we have had in some time, and bodes well for the future. It should be great fun to see which of these sires becomes the star of the 2000 decade.