On Speedy Crown ... and Doug Brown

Last month, we took a look at Cam Fella's accomplishments during his abbreviated stud career. Along the same lines, Speedy Crown has been retired from the breeding shed after over two decades of tremendous production. Like Cam Fella, Speedy Crown will live out his life in opulence and comfort, but he too will be sorely missed by the sport.

Of course, the gelding of Cam Fella two months ago was a far greater loss to the harness world than that of the retirement of Speedy Crown. After all, Speedy Crown has had the opportunity to produce many, many offspring during the course of his relatively lengthy stint at stud. Nonetheless, given his production last year, he had barely lost a step to his "competitors", and remained a dominant force in the world of trotters.

So, lets take a brief look at Speedy Crown and his accomplishments.

Speedy Crown (Speedy Scot / Missile Toe / Florican) was bred by Mrs. Howard Beissenger, and co-owned, trained and driven by her husband Howard Beissenger. Lightly raced as a 2-year-old, Speedy Crown took a time-trial mark of 2:01.2.

However, in 1971, Speedy Crown brought the trotting world to attention by scoring a summary of 24-15-3-3 and earnings of $189,342, including wins in the Hambletonian - then raced for less than $130,000 - and the $50,000 Leland Stanford. His 1:57.1 mark was the year's fastest trotting mile.

This was another era in terms of both the sport - and history. New USTA Sires and Dams sold for $10.00 ... Hoof Beats for $.50 per issue ... and a 3-year-old pacer named Albatross would obliterate all others in the Horse of the Year balloting. Nonetheless, Speedy Crown easily outdistanced Savoir, Quick Pride and others to be named 3-year-old Trotter of the Year, and narrowly defeated Fresh Yankee to be "Crown"ed Trotter of the Year.

Speedy Crown returned to the races in 1972, and dominated the 4-year-old trotters with an 18-10-5-2 summary, and $354,128 in earnings. This was accomplished against such standouts as Fresh Yankee, Savior, Flower Child and Dayan, and included a world record over Scioto Downs (1:58f). Again, Albatross was named Horse of the Year, and a Triple Crown winning son of Star's Pride named Super Bowl took Trotter of the Year honours. Speedy Crown had to settle for 4-year-old Trotter of the Year, and was retired to the breeding shed with $545,495 in lifetime spoils.

Speedy Crown and Super Bowl both began their stud careers with a 2-year-old crop in 1976. Over the past twenty years, their offspring have waged war on the track, and in the stud barns of the world. We will not enter into a comparative analysis of the two great stallions at this point. Let's save that for a future date, perhaps once Super Bowl's own stallion calling is completed.

Suffice to say that Speedy Crown did not make a significant impact with his first crop. In hindsight, some great broodmares were among that group of 2-year-olds, such as Armbro Sable, Armbro Spice and Norah Lobell. But this was probably of little solace at the time, as sires of 2-year-olds with average earnings per winner of less than $7,500! do not tend to see their mares bred on.

Fortunately, Speedy Somolli, 2, 1:57.2; 3, 1:55 ($427,550) came along in 1977, or Speedy Crown's stallion career may never have gotten the chance to establish the dominant line in trotting that exists today. Speedy Somolli was named 2-year-old Trotter of 1977, and was syndicated for a record $2 million by co-owners Howard Beissinger, Robert Mumma, William Rosenderg and Lana Lobell Farms. As a 3-year-old, Speedy Somolli won the Hambletonian, Yonkers Trot, and established world records on mile (1:55) and 5/8 mile (1:58.1) tracks. He led his counterparts in terms of seasonal earnings, and in two-minute miles (with eight). Speedy Somolli would also mark the beginning of a now-legendary line of stallions, as follows:

It goes without saying that the line of Speedy Crown through Speedy Somolli, Baltic Speed and culminating with the incomparable Valley Victory and his sons is one of the most remarkable 20-year stories in the history of harness racing. Speedy Crown's dominance as a sire of sires has been so remarkable and swift, that he can now be bred successfully - and safely - to Valley Victory, his own great-grandson. This 4x2 cross has been responsible for two of the last four Hambletonians, and is generally seen as one of the Golden Crosses of present day trotting.

Speedy Crown didn't just give us the line to Valley Victory. He also holds virtually every record that can be attained by a trotting stud. In 1997, Speedy Crown will become the first trotting stallion in history to surpass $100,000,000 in earnings. He is also the leading trotting sire of $100,000 winners (257), 2:00 performers (404), and was in the top-10 of every list available both in terms of percentage ... and number ... of juvenile performers in 1996. So, it seems, it has always been.

Speedy Crown sons have been both plentiful, and quality producers. Besides Speedy Somolli, Speedy Crown has left us Royal Prestige, Sir Taurus, Prakas, Jazz Cosmos, Homesick, Crysta's Crown, Crowning Point, Defiant Yankee and Armbro Goal - among many others.

As a broodmare sire, Speedy Crown is the stuff of legends. He is miles ahead of his competition in all broodmare sire categories, including: 2:00 performers (417) ... 1996 earnings both as all-aged ($10,415,121) and juvenile ($7,649,566) etc. Speedy Crown's daughter, Descent (1975), co-owns the record with seven 2:00 performers.

Even in 1996, as Speedy Crown was coming to end of a stellar reign as Trotting's King, Armbro Prowess, 2, 1:56.2 ($430,004) was winning the Breeder's Crown, International Stallion Stakes and Champlain (among her five victories). Prowess was named 2-year-old Filly Trotter of the Year for her exploits, yet another crown for Speedy Crown's collection.

I remember when I interviewed Dr. J. Glen Brown on the eve of his induction to the USTA Hall of Fame. We were talking about the success of Speedy Crown, the line to Valley Victory, and the doubling-up of Speedy Crown blood. His observation was: "Any time you're inbreeding or linebreeding, you want to accentuate the strengths of the individual to which you are crossing. But you also run the risk of accentuating weaknesses. Adios had very few genetic weaknesses and often the result of getting in close to him was a superior individual. Another sire that illustrates this is Speedy Crown, one of the purest gaited trotters there ever was."

So, we have a couple of small crops of Speedy Crown still to come to the races, and then his days as a sire will be officially over. As a broodmare sire, he will live on for at least another 25 years. But the line that comes to us through Valley Victory - there is no telling where that will lead the world of trotting. I know that I, for one, will think of Speedy Crown and his legacy - every step along the way.

Doug Brown - The Messenger

As you probably already know, Doug Brown was named the recipient of HTA's Messenger Award for 1997. It is customary for the "Messenger" to give a "state of the union" address to the annual HTA gathering, and Brown's was clear - that all the factions of the sport have to start pulling together in the same direction, if we are going to survive - let alone thrive - as a viable entity. Each year, Brown hosts the Doug Brown Celebrity Golf Tournament. This year, on June 15, the net proceeds from this charitable event will be donated to the Harness Horse Youth Foundation. The HHYF is doing what it can to educate the youth of North America regarding our great sport. It provides scholarships to outstanding students seeking careers in the sport ... supports one and two day youth camps at training centres and racetracks ... assists the development of 4-H programs and many other youth-related activities - all with the expressed goal of securing Harness Racing's future through the youth of today.   This year, I am priveleged - and somewhat daunted - to be organizing the Tournament. I have been working closely with HHYF representatives Ellen Taylor, Steven Wolf and Callie Davies-Gooch around the varied aspects of this gala event for a number of months, and we still have much to accomplish.

Perhaps you could help... The tournament is already a virtual sell-out, with respect to golfers. There will be 160 harness-related participants, including owners, trainers, drivers, breeders and grooms, each paying $200.00 to golf. Included among the golfers and guests will be John Campbell and wife Paula, Mr. and Mrs. Stan Bergstein, "Boomer" Gallant (making a special trip in from Prince Edward Island) and many others from around North America. Maybe you can help... The registration fee paid by the golfers covers the cost of golf, cart, and dinner, but little is left for the charity. You could help by assisting us with one or more of the following: Sponsoring a Hole ($200.00 minimum) - your name or company / stable name would be prominently placed as one of the sponsors for that hole. Prize Table Donations - we need prizes for each of the 160 golfers. Sweatshirts, coats, sweaters, hats etc. etc. can serve the dual purpose of promoting your company / stable, and cutting the cost of staging the event. In the end, the HHYF and our youth benefit.

Auction Items - last year's auction generated almost 1/2 of the $32,000 raised. Items could include limited edition prints, stallion breedings, autographed sports items (how ëbout a Tiger Woods signed driver ;-)), harness equipment, resort weekends etc. etc. Special Items - we need people willing to sponsor associated costs of such things as shirts ($1,500), hole-in-one prizes (insured amounts for the day), wine ($500.00), sandwich and soft drinks ($600) and many other "comp" items given to the golfers to make the day a special one for them, too. Again, sponsors' names will be prominently displayed, and charitable receipts issued for donations made. In the end, virtually any donation - whether of funds, goods or services - will translate to additional revenues targeted for the youth of our sport, and a secure future for Harness Racing. If you have any questions about the Doug Brown Celebrity Golf Tournament or the Harness Horse Youth Foundation, don't hesitate to e-mail me. I'll respond immediately. Thanks for doing what you can to assist us in our "Drive for the Youth of Harness Racing".

Ralph.
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