This month's article... Muscles Yankee - Valley Victory Strikes Again The 1998 Hambletonian and Beacon Course Trot are in the books as I write this August installment of BLOODlines, and again in 1998 a son of Valley Victory has established himself as the early favourite for divisional honours. This is a fairly deep crop of sophomore trotters, in that David Raymond (Speedy Crown - Spectra Hanover - Super Bowl); Kick Tail (Sierra Kosmos - Victorious Tail - Bonefish); Silver Pine (Sierra Kosmos - Pine Speed - Speedy Somolli) and Conway Hall (Garland Lobell - Amour Angus - Magna Force) have all returned to the 3-year-old wars in relatively good shape. But so far, Muscles Yankee has manhandled his competition like a beach-bully -kicking sand in the face of his competitors as he makes his way to the front of the class.   photo courtesy of Monica Thors   A Coup for Perretti Farms Muscles Yankee was purchased as a yearling from the Kentucky Standardbred Sale (Fasig-Tipton) in 1996. Jim Wheeler was the successful bidder, collaring the Valley Victory colt for $200,000, making him the 10th highest priced Valley Victory of the year. A month later, in Harrisburg, Perretti Farms bought a 1/4 share of the yearling. Bob Marks (Marketing Director at Perretti) explains: "Mr. Wheeler approached us, and offered an interest in the colt. His Mattjesty had just finished having a great 2-year-old year, and our pacing yearlings had sold very well - so we thought 'What the heck - maybe it would be fun to get into the trotting business.'" Malabar Man was just a 2-year-old then, and nobody could have known that he would end up standing at Perretti a year later. As a 2-year-old, Muscles Yankee took a 1:56.3 mark and finished with a 9 6-1-0 ($166,327) slate. His only two unplaced finishes were the result of costly breaks in stride in the $405,000 Breeders Crown and the $322,100 Valley Victory Trot - both as the odds-on favourite. At the end of Muscles Yankee's 2-year-old year, Mr. Wheeler sold his remaining 25% interest in the colt to Perretti Farms. "By that time, Jim had sold off a quarter of the colt to Herb and Irv Liverman, and another quarter to Mr. French. We figured at the time that the worse case scenario would be that we would have a very good New Jersey Sires Stake prospect, with a lot of European interest. And at best - he'd become a Hambletonian winner." As fate would have it, Muscles Yankee has accomplished the latter, and Perretti Farms is on the verge of standing consecutive Hambletonian winners at their New Jersey farm. Strike while the Iron's Hot As a 2-year-old, Muscles Yankee showed great promise from the get-go. However, his immaturity was evidenced in the occasional tendency to fly into a gallop. This year, he has matured, and has yet to break after 6 starts. In his first start of the year, Muscles Yankee came first-up after a 1:00.3 half, and won the mile in 1:57, flashing his own final panels in :28.2 and :27.2. His next start (his only loss thus far) found him boxed in til deep in the stretch, when he shook loose and rallied from fourth in the final strides, but narrowly missed catching Kick Tail in a 1:54.2 mile. Since then, Muscles Yankee has been unbeatable - fashioning together four consecutive winning miles: the Beacon Elimination (1:55) and Final (1:54.3), and the Hambletonian Elimination (1:54.2) and Final (1:52.2). In the Hambletonian on August 8th, Muscles Yankee was guided to the wood by Campbell in a :27.4 first quarter, then sent to the lead just after the :55.2 half. From there he cruised home, hitting the 3/4's in 1:24 before brushing the final quarter in :28.2. The 1:52.2 mile is the track record for 3-year-old colts, and just off the Hambletonian record set by the great Continentalvictory (1:52.1) in 1996. Immediately after the Hambletonian victory, trainer Chuck Sylvester announced that Muscles Yankee would be going to the Yonkers Trot. It appears that many of his peers have chosen to avoid him, as that race goes on August 29 - and there have not been enough entries to require eliminations. As a result, Muscles Yankee went a preparatory qualifier on August 21 at Freehold - just to get him ready for the half-mile test. The mile in 2:01.3 went on the day of this writing - and Muscles was reported to be bearing-in on the turns, a factor that Sylvester will be attending to in the week to come. At this point it is unclear if Muscles Yankee will go to the World Trotting Derby. This will be a decision made solely by Chuck Sylvester. What is clear is that the Yonkers Trot and the Kentucky Futurity are the primary objectives of the ownership group - victories in those races will make Muscles Yankee the first Triple Crown winner since Super Bowl in 1972. Should he win the Yonkers Trot, he will NOT go to the World Trotting Derby, as Sylvester prefers to "save" his charge for the Kentucky Futurity. But should he falter in the Yonkers Trot, Sylvester says "then it will not matter anymore and we will just go for the money." Speedy Crown Speedy Somolli Somolli Baltic Speed Carlisle Sugar Frosting Karen's Choice Valley Victory Nevele Pride Bonefish Exciting Speed Valley Victoria Nobel Victory Victorious Lou Lou Sidney __________________________________________________________________ Speedster Speedy Scot Scotch Love Speedy Crown Florican Missile Toe Worth A Plenty Maiden Yankee Victory Song Noble Victory Emily's Pride Wistful Yankee Hickory Pride Bazen Yankee Hoot Yankee The Son of a Hambletonian Fixture Valley Victory: As a foal of 1986, Valley Victory's first crop competed in the 1994 Hambletonian. His son Victory Dream won it and arch-rival Bullville Victory took the other two Triple Crown legs, as well as the World Trotting Derby. In 1996, the glorious filly Continentalvictory won the Hambletonian (1:52.1), chased in vain by Lindy Lane. And in 1998, Muscles Yankee makes it three Hambos in five years for the get of Valley Victory. Muscles Yankee is a son of Valley Victory from a Speedy Crown mare. This same cross (4x2 Speedy Crown) has resulted in such stand-out performers as Victory Dream 3, 1:53.2 ($1,016,537); Lindy Lane 3, 1:53 ($895,110); Bullville Victory 3, 1:53.1 ($759,285); Donerail 2, 1:55.4 ($703,049); Yankee Glide 3, 1:55.1 ($506,904) and Dancer's Victory 2, 1:57 ($264,800) ... and fillies like Armbro Monarch 3, 1:54.3 ($670,374); Act Of Grace 3, 1:52.3 ($403,525); Prolific Lady 3, 1:56.2 ($373,925) and Lifelong Victory 3, 1:54.1 ($350,587 - not including European earnings). Maiden Yankee: In some ways, it is hard to imagine that Muscles Yankee brought $200,000 at auction. Although Maiden Yankee had taken a 3-year-old mark of 1:59.4f and earnings of $188,722 at 2&3 - she had failed to produce a horse faster than 2:03.1 from her first six foals. Only three of the six had raced, and the three had earned a total of $54,000. Maiden Yankee is a full-sister to Defiant Yankee 2, 1:58.1, who will go down in history as the sire of Beat The Wheel 4, 1:51.4 (July, 1994). The dam of Maiden and Defiant was the Noble Victory mare Wistful Yankee (Noble Victory), who was a solid producer of starters (12 of 13) - but really produced little of note. And frankly, her daughters have produced trotters - but that's all. The third dam of Muscles Yankee is Brazen Yankee (Hickory Pride), the half-sister to Petite Yankee (Hickory Smoke). Brazen Yankee produced race-course trotters ... but lesser-bred sister Petite Yankee became the grand-dam of the top trotters Yankee Predator 1:56.2 ($527,643) and Smokin Yankee 3, 1:58 ($445,953). But that was over fifteen years ago. Now if you really want to take a trip back in time ... Brazen Yankee's dam was Hoot Yankee (Hoot Mon) ... who in turn was one of only four foals of Burma Hanover (Nibble Hanover) ... who in turn was out of Earls Princess Martha - who when bred to Spencer Scott produced the immortal Rodney 5, TT1:57.2 (1949). So, what does this all mean? To boil down the "cross" aspect: 1. Wistful Yankee (second dam of Muscles Yankee) was a 3x3 Star's Pride 2. Maiden Yankee (dam of Muscles Yankee) was 3x4 Victory Song, and 4x4 to the half-siblings Rodney and Burma Hanover So, Muscles Yankee not only features the 4x2 Speedy Crown cross so prevalent in the top Valley Victory offspring - he also sports a 4x3 cross to Noble Victory and six crosses to Star's Pride. What the Future Brings Muscles Yankee is from a relatively weak branch of the maternal family that produced Rodney (immortalized as the sire of Speedster). But he is a son of the most powerful influence on trotting since Star's Pride - Valley Victory - and his future role as a trotting sire at Perretti Farms is inevitable. It has often been noted that many of the great sires have been tremendous performers, by top sires - but with relatively weak maternal families. Muscles Yankee has all of these attributes - in spades!! Time to sit back and enjoy the show. Send email to Ralph Sucee BLOODLINES || THE DIRECTORY design by