Last time, we began what will be a three-part examination of the bloodlines in the sport ... an overview of "from whence they came". We looked at Hambletonian's five great sons, and saw how time and nature have decreed that only Happy Medium (Peter The Great) and George Wilkes (Axworthy) remain as tail-male progenitors in today's trotting pedigrees ... and Electioneer (The Abbe) and Happy Medium (Peter The Great's grandson Volomite) on the pacing side of the sport.

I must apologize, as in re-reading last month's "overview", I realized that I had illustrated the Peter Scott branch of the Peter The Great line, but neglected to reference the Peter Volo (Volomite) branch of trotters. A huge oversight, and one that I hope has not caused too much consternation. I'll correct that error.

This month, we will look at the "modern day" of trotting, and it's not-so-distant roots. And we'll see if we can guess where the future will take us.

The Happy Medium Trotting Line

The Happy Medium sire line is by far the most dominant influence in the world of trotting today, and appears destined to maintain that position for the forseeable future. The true foundation sire of the line was Happy Medium's grandson - Peter The Great. A foal of 1895, Peter The Great was a leading sire for the first two decades of this century, standing in Kentucky for 14 years, first at Patchen Wilkes Farm (1904-1917), then at Laurel Hall (1918-1923).

His last crop was the get of the 1922 season, as he became impotent in 1923, also the year of his death at age 27. Peter The Great's impotency was probably furthered by his use at Patchen Wilkes, where it is said that he regularly serviced upwards of 200 mares per season. The resulting multitude of foals rolled across the sport like a tidal wave, as Peter The Great offspring dominated the trotting theatre.

Early in his career, the daughters of Peter The Great clearly outclassed his sons, leading to speculation that he would not establish a male line of supremacy. But soon after, sons like Peter Volo, Peter Scott, Peter The Brewer, Peter Mac, The Great Volo, McGregor The Great, Hollyrood Bob and Chestnut Peter would put an end to that theory.

In the end, the Peter The Great sire line that is so dominant today gives credit to his two great sons ... Peter Scott (1909) and Peter Volo (1911). Peter Scott produced Scotland (1925), and Peter Volo produced Volomite (1926), each of whom has established lines of their own that we will examine shortly.

But first, a foray into the bloodlines of the early 20th century. If there was a knock against the get of Peter The Great, it was in the area of their gait. Peter The Great himself was a mixed-gaited horse, and fell into disfavour with his owner J. Malcom Forbes, particularly after being bred to world champion mare Nancy Hanks ... and producing a pacer. Shortly thereafter (1903), he was sold at Old Glory to Patchen Wilkes Farm for $5,000.

At that particular time in the sport's history, the Axworthy (George Wilkes) and Bingen (Electioneer) performers were renowned as the possessors of much smoother gaits than the Peter The Great tribe. Again, the maternal influence would come into play - in an unsung role - in establishing the future of the breed.

Peter Volo and Peter Scott were both rough-gaited trotters. Yet, they produced Volomite and Scotland, respectively - who have since led the breed in terms of gait, speed and dominance. The two were bred along remarkably similar lines. Volomite was from a mare by San Francisco (McKinney/George Wilkes-line), one of the greatest-gaited trotters of his time ... with a second dam by Mendocino - by Electioneer, whose family produced the smoothest and most naturally-gaited trotters of all the Hambletonian sons. Scotland was from a mare by McKinney (grandsire of San Francisco) ... second dam by Chimes (a son of Electioneer). So, we can see that in the pedigrees of both Volomite and Scotland, the choppiness of gait that they would have inherited from Peter The Great was compensated for by the influence - on their dams' side - by Goeprge Wilkes and Electioneer. As usual, little attention is paid to this very important aspect of our bloodlines.

Volomite (Worthy Boy):

Volomite was a double-gaited producer, and by the end of his career had produced 305 trotters ... and 304 pacers. Next month, we'll look at his pacing-line, which survives through Direct Scooter. On the trotting side of the ledger, Volomite has produced two separate lines. One of these, through Worthy Boy, resulted in Star's Pride (sire of Super Bowl, Nevele Pride, Ayres, Hickory Pride and many, many more). Star's Pride has been one of the greatest trotting progenitors of all time. Of the six horses to sweep trotting's Triple Crown - four have been sons of Star's Pride.

Yet, although a great number of Star's Pride sons have been tried in the stud, and have produced meaningful performers - thus far, they have failed to further the sire line. Hickory Pride, Ayres, Nevele Pride, Egyptian Candor, Lindys Pride, Matastar and scores of others have been so-scripted.

Super Bowl has sent out Texas, Joie De Vie, Brisco Hanover, Worthy Bowl, Final Score, and scores of other "pretenders", but none have managed (thus far) to produce an important sire. Supergill, American Winner, Giant Victory, Cumin and Royal Troubador lead the way in terms of current hopes that a Super Bowl son will do so.

And Malabar Man (Supergill) bodes well for the future of the Star's Pride branch of the Volomite trotting line. Malabar Man boasts a very interesting pedigree - he is by Supergill, who carries a 2x4 Star's Pride cross through Super Bowl and Nevele Pride ... and out of Lady Love McBurr, who carries a 4x4 cross to Star's Pride through Nevele Pride and Hickory Pride. Open to Valley Victory and other Speedy Crown-line mares, Malabar Man bears watching.

Volomite (Victory Song):

The other branch of the Volomite trotting line that is currently flourishing finds its way from Victory Song ... to Noble Victory ... then branches off to the threesome of Balanced Image, Mack Lobell and Garland Lobell. This Volomite branch appeared "dead in the water" a decade ago - largely due to fertility and behavioural problems. Noble Victory was the first standardbred syndicated for a million dollars, and was the first stallion ever (trotter or pacer) to produce two 2:00 2-year-olds from the first crop. But, he was self-destructive, a stall-kicker and a relatively infertile horse.

Noble Victory sired Noble Gesture, who in turn sired Balanced Image and Mystic Park, the sire of Mack Lobell. Noble Gesture was a high-strung horse, who would bite himself, and chase himself in circles in the paddock. He had poor fertility, and ended up dying of a ruptered aorta in the breeding shed - at 12 years of age. His son Mystic Park went quickly from limited fertility to virtual sterility, and Mack Lobell has had sterility problems. Balanced Image, on the other hand, is an extremely fertile stallion, and is currently being bred to close to 200 mares per year in North America and Europe. His get tend to be head-strong, but sound and good-gaited, and he appears the best candidate to further the Noble Victory branch of the Volomite line.

Finally, Noble Victory sired ABC Freight, who in turn sired Garland Lobell, who toiled for years in relative obscurity in Quebec. However, his accomplishments from a very poor representation of mares in his early crops have led to Garland Lobell being moved to New York, and servicing full books the past three years. He has also escaped the curse of infertility cast upon the Noble Victory clan, and stands a good chance of furthering the line.

Scotland:

By far, the strongest and most successful branch of the Happy Medium (Peter The Great) family comes to us through the line leading back to Scotland. Specifically, this line goes from Scotland ... to Spencer Scott ... to Rodney ... to Speedster ... to Speedy Scot. It then branches out, with one path leading to Arnie Almahurst ... to Arndon ... to Pine Chip, and the other branch from Speedy Scot to Speedy Crown ... to Speedy Somolli ... to Baltic Speed ... to Valley Victory and all his sons.

Although the strength in this family is clearly along the Speedy Crown "branch", it is the Arnie Almahurst connection that has led to the fastest trotter of all time, Pine Chip, 4, T1:51. This great champion's first foals will race in 1998, and were extremely well-received at the fall sales. Another former world champion by Arnie Almahurst, Florida Pro, fell out of favour with the North American breeders, but his son Sugarcane Hanover is doing very well in Europe.

But Speedy Crown - here is the sire that may be the best trotting stallion in history. He has been the fountainhead of tremendous speed, attitude, manners, desire and perhaps most importantly - gait - in the trotter of today's generation. I wonder if to some degree, the gait of Speedy Crown found it's genesis in much the same way as described earlier in the pedigrees of Scotland and Volomite ... both of whom were bred to George Wilkes-line mares. Because Speedy Crown is out of a mare by Florican, a stallion tracing tail-male to Axworthy (George Wilkes).

Speedy Crown has not only exhibited prepotency - his great-great-grandsons will have horses racing in 1998 - but many of the sires of the current generation carry at least two crosses to him. Many afficianados proclaim that "You cannot have too much Speedy Crown in a pedigree", meaning that he is seen by many as a virtually perfect Standardbred specimen in terms of genetic traits. Who can argue with this logic, when a host of the greatest performers in the recent history of the sport are by Speedy Crown's great-grandson (Valley Victory) ... out of mares by Speedy Crown himself.

Table

However the trotting lines pan out down the road, there is an observation regarding them that I find remarkable. Look at the major trotting lines in terms of generations:

Volomite (1925) -

Worthy Boy (1940)
	Star's Pride (1947)
		Super Bowl (1969)
			American Winner (1990)
			Supergill (1985)
				Malabar Man (1994)

Victory Song (1943)
	Noble Victory (1962)
		ABC Freight (1974)
			Garland Lobell (1981)
		Noble Gesture (1968)
			Balanced Image (1978)
			Mystic Park (1979)
				Mack Lobell (1984)

Guy McKinney (1923) -
Spud Hanover (1936)
	Florican (1947)
		Songcan (1969)
			Nearly Perfect (1982)
				Sierra Kosmos (1989)

Scotland (1925) -
Spencer Scott (1937)
Rodney (1944)
	Speedster (1954)
	Speedy Scot (1960)
		Speedy Crown (1968)
		Speedy Somolli (1975)     Baltic Speed (1981)
		Valley Victory (1986)
		Victory Dream (1991)
		Arnie Almahurst (1970)
		Arndon (1979)
			Pine Chip (1990)

As you can see by this graphic, the lines tracing back to Guy McKinney (Axworthy) and Volomite have only been five times removed thus far. Volomite was 15 when Worthy Boy was born. Then it was seven years to Star's Pride ... 22 to Super Bowl ... 16 and 21 to Supergill and American Winner. Similarly, the Guy McKinney line has had gaps of 13, 11, 22, 13 and 7 leading to Sierra Kosmos. Meanwhile, although it took Scotland 12 years to produce Spencer Scott, the next EIGHT removes leading to Victory Dream were done in ten years or less for each succeeding sire. The numbers go 12, 7 (1st crop), 10, 6 (1st crop), 8, 7 (1st crop), 6 (1st crop), 5 (1st crop) and 5 (1st crop).

The Axworthy Trotting Line

In the early part of the 20th Century, as much as the Peter The Great offspring were rolling across the terrain, Axworthy was also staking his claim to fame, and was generally seen as the co-leader among the trotting sires of the day. His son Guy Axworthy was the first stallion to sire two 2:00 trotters ... and then three ... and four. Guy Axworthy carried an interesting pedigree, in that he was bred 2x3 to the full brothers Guy Wilkes and William L. He also led the list of trotting sires until his death in 1933.

Included among Guy Axworthy's sons was Lee Axworthy, 1:58 1/4, who held the stallion record for 25 years (1916-1941), until it was broken by Greyhound - who himself was a son of Guy Abbey, by Guy Axworthy. Lee Axworthy died at seven years of age, after only two crops, yet his legacy carried on through his son Lee Tide to Spencer, one of the great broodmare sires in the sport. The early death of Lee Axworthy was an inestimable loss in terms of the future of trotting, and it is hard to imagine how the sport might have looked today had he bred on for another 20 years.

Guy Axworthy also sired Arion Guy (the first 4-year-old 2:00 trotter); Mr. McElwyn (the first 3-year-old in 2:00) and Truax, who sired Calumet Chuck, who in turn sired Titan Hanover (the first 2:00 2-year-old trotter) and Nibble Hanover. Titan Hanover produced Hickory Smoke, who in turn sired Chiola Hanover and Dayan - but there died that branch of the Geoge Wilkes (Axworthy) sire line.

Besides Guy Axworthy, Axworthy also sired Dillon Axworthy, who became the sire of Dean Hanover, who can be found in the maternal pedigree of many trotters racing today. Dean Hanover sired Demon Hanover, who appeared to have the qualities necessary to carry on the line ... but died at 15 years of age.

In the end, despite constantly being poised on the brink of extinction, the Axworthy (George Wilkes) line has continued to survive. The current link traces back to Guy McKinney, the son of Guy Axworthy who was the winner of the inaugural Hambletonian in 1926, through his unsung son, Spud Hanover. Spud Hanover sired the brilliantly fast Florican, who in turn gave us world champions Florlis and Songflori, as well as Songcan, Tamerlane and many others. But with the failure of Songflori and Florlis to produce a viable son, the line again appeared destined to cease to exist.

Then, two years after his export to Europe, Songcan produced the exciting Nearly Perfect, who went on to trot in 1:54 at four, and gave the line a last gasp. Since going to stud, Nearly Perfect has produced the great fillies Whiteland Janice and Imperfection - and furthered the stallion line with Sierra Kosmos. After two crops, Sierra Kosmos has given us the brilliant No Nonsense Woman, and the Axworthy sire line appears safe - if only for another generation.

So, what does the future hold for trotting bloodlines? Will the Speedy Scot line swallow up all the rest, relegating those sires to the supporting roll of providing broodmares to the Valley Victory sons currently in vogue? Or will the Star's Pride line climb on the shoulders of the Speedy Crown line mares, and reclaim the dominance they held 30 years ago? What about Axworthy - can Sierra Kosmos revive the line by producing sons to share the load with he and his sire Nearly Perfect? How will it look in ten years from now ... or twenty?

Hard to say, but I'm going to try my hand at predicting what might happen. It seems to me that sire lines come and go - in a sense. They appear to dominate for a while in the tail-male sense, then give way and take on a supporting roll through the broodmares - only to rise up again from the ashes. I think the Peter Volo/Star's Pride/Super Bowl line has been - to a degree - "waiting" for the Speedy Crown line to reach its zenith, and that in a few years from now, we are going to see a predominant Super Bowl-line stallion that will be from a heavily inbred Speedy Crown-line mare.

I don't think the Axworthy line will ever re-attain its previously held position of prominence, but will continue to provide an important element to the gene pool - through its mares. I don't think it is a "fluke" that Imperfection, Whiteland Janice and No Nonsense Woman have happened along. Watch out for Sierra Kosmos fillies in the future - just as we've had to credit Axworthy-line mares for their offspring's greatness for the past 70 years or more.

That's the way I see it ... Valley Victory-line dominance over the next few years ... then a Super Bowl line from an intensely in-bred Speedy Crown line mare ... and Axworthy throwing in his "wild card" every now and then. Let's check back in 2017!!

Ralph