Chapter Seven

[pandy]

It's too bad that they're retiring this 4 year old trotter after his last race this weekend. I thought maybe they'd take him to Europe next year.

[LottaKash]

It's too bad that they're retiring this 4 year old trotter after his last race this weekend. I thought maybe they'd take him to Europe next year.

Yeah Pandy, it is too bad about their decision to retire the Champ of the Trotters...I was hoping that he would go to the Big Dances in Europe....Nobody around here to kick around anymore..

Chapter Seven was so awesome with that tenacious mile he did in the Breeders...

I would have to go back some time in the history of HarnessRacing to come up with as "brave" a win as in that one....Yikes! What a Motor !....

Tho, there have been some really Tough Winners in times past, especially in the International Trots they held each year Yonkers & Roosevelt Raceways.....

Old timers will certainly remember some of those wicked fights of old......

[pandy]

Yeah that was something. Commander Crowe is a monster, to get parked the mile against a horse like that and draw clear, wow.

[Zapper]

Same owners I would not be shocks it Market Share is the one who goes Europe come next year.This will be Market Shares final start of the year before being turnout next week.Watch the wire on this one it may shock us all.

[wilderness]

Does anybody recall the specifics of the new rule for sires eligibility in some stakes, requiring 4YO sires or older?
One of which is the Hambletonian?

[Zapper]

Does anybody recall the specifics of the new rule for sires eligibility in some stakes, requiring 4YO sires or older?
One of which is the Hambletonian?

Does it mentioned where you have to race?

[wilderness]

WEG Stallion Eligibility (http://xwebapp.ustrotting.com/absolutenm/templates/article.aspx?articleid=45798) 11/21/2011.
Rules regarding the progeny (http://xwebapp.ustrotting.com/absolutenm/templates/article.aspx?articleid=47336) 3/23/2012

There was a similar press release for either and/or The Meadowlands and The Hambletonian Socety, however I was unable to locate them in the USTA archives.

[Zapper]

Market Share will go to The Galt this week at Maywood and that will be the final start this year

[Oskar]

The thing is that the trotters made so many more starts back in the day. Chapter Seven started ten times this year. In 1970, when Fresh Yankee was voted HOY—110 votes for her and only 49 for MHF—the mare started 32 times, winning 20 of those and finishing second in the rest of them. She won in two different Euro countries, plus Canada and the US that year.



During the sixties Bob Farrington’s Grandpa Jim and Jimmy Cruise’s Earl Laird were a couple of tough customers. The two of them were raced from coast to coast and everywhere in between. G Jim beat the great mare Roquepine in the 1968 Challenge Cup. He won the ATC the year before, and took the Maple Leaf Trot three years in a row. Grandpa Jim earned a hard half-million on the FFA circuit.



Earl Laird was the best aged trotter in the country in 1968, at age eight. He won the UN Trot, Maple Leaf and a slew of FFA races that year.



Dayan, who beat Super Bowl in that one’s final start—the 1 1/8 ATC at Hollywood Park in 1972—was an outstanding FFA trotter.



CB’s Jimmy, Killbuck Mary, Savoir, Spartan Hanover and Sir Faffee are a few other tough ones.



Crown Wood (Speedy Crown) was claimed out of a pacing race for $22,000 in 1982. Two years later he won the $100,000 ATC at RR for Joe Marsh Jr. He represented the US in the International that year.



Flamboyant beat the boys in the Dexter Cup. Later on she beat them again, at 1/5, in the1968 1 1/16 Realization at RR.



Grades Singing was the FFA champ in 1986. She won the ATC in TR time at RR.



Hairos II won the 1960 International, trotting the entire 1 1/4 distance on the outside, and pulling 260 pound driver, Willem Geersen. When is the last time Tetrick weighed in at 260?



Ideal Du Gazeau won the International in ’81, ’82 and ’83.



Lutin d’Isigny won the following two years, setting a WR for the mile and a quarter distance on a half, as he won by seven lengths in 1984.



The great Une de Mai trotted the entire mile and a quarter on the outside when she just got up to beat Fresh Yankee by a nose in 1971. She also ground Nevele Pride into submission in 1969.



Florida Pro and Giant Victory were trotters with no gate speed who were often required to spend most of the race on the outside. Florida Pro broke at the start of the Beacon Course Trot in 1978. He was 11th at the quarter, 9th at the half and 6th at the three-quarters. He circled the rest of them and won by two.

[pandy]

Good post. There's no doubt that Chapter Seven's place in history is diminished by his inactivity and early retirement. I don't consider him a great trotter, although in today's sport, by U.S. standards, he is one of the best we've seen in the past 10 years or so, maybe more. But in Europe there are a lot of trotters that can trot on that level. The problem, which your post points out, when a horse doesn't race that often it's hard to tell just how good he is. Is Chapter Seven a great trotter? Some will say he is, but he certainly didn't prove much when you look at the careers of some of the great ones who raced often and endured a lot more.

[Oskar]

The average number of starts for the ten horses on top of this week’s Hambletonion Society/BC Top Ten Poll is 12.



They complain about too much emphasis being placed on 2-year-old racing, but the three freshmen in that poll, Captaintreacherous, Wheeling N Dealin and To Dream On, started ten, nine and nine times, respectively.



How can a sport be sold to the public when the stars rarely race?



Direct Scooter started in 32 heats at two. He won 21 of those and finished second six times.



Shadow Wave started 31 times at two, winning 20 of those races.



Skipper made 27 starts.



Bret won all 24 of his starts at two.



French Chef won 21 of 23 starts at two.



Tar Heel made 29 starts and Adios 26.



Nevele Pride won 26 of 29 starts at two.



Speedy Count won 21 of 27.



Hickory Pride made 27 starts; Lindy’s Pride 24; Mack 20; Pine Chip 25; Super Bowl 23; Arndon 22.



The fact that the best of either gait race so infrequently is one of our biggest problems. Chapter Seven retired with 28 lifetime starts to his credit, and he’s four-years-old. Those mentioned above did that, or close to it, as two-year-olds.

[pandy]

Speed Kills. The reason for the shortened careers is most likely due to the faster final times. For years I've said that we should slow down the races by switching back to the original wood sulky. My main reason is that the races were much better back then, with a better outside flow and a more even and fair race where closers had a chance. But another reason is the fact that in today's fast-paced and speed biased sport the drivers have to have the horses going at break neck speed from the get go to try to establish position. This is simply much harder on the horses, and that's why these horses don't race as often as they used to.

The other reason is greed and taking an early retirement to enter the breeding shed. Today a lot of owners only look at it from a financial standpoint. Years ago the big owners in the sport were in it for the sport and if they had a great horse the wanted to showcase that horse.