Forrest Skipper - Open Pace
Owner
Forrest Bartlett
Trainer | Driver
Lucien Fontaine
Purse $301,350
Los Alamitos Race Course, Cypress, CA
Extras
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Glow Softly - 3FP
Owner
William J. Walsh
Trainer | Driver
Nelson Guyette | Ron Waples
Purse $549, 450
Garden State Park, Cherry Hill, NJ
Extras
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Grades Singing - Mare Trot
Owners
Ferme Grade
Trainer | Driver
Herve Filion
Purse $242,290
Scioto Downs, Columbus, OH
Halcyon - 2FP
Since the inception of the Breeders Crown, Rosecroft Raceway has been the sight of dramatic championship racing each fall. In 1984, Fancy Crown's crushing romp obviously left a lasting impression, as that filly was eventually crowned "Horse of the Year". Last autumn, another filly needed to create an equally strong imprint in the minds of the racing public, and Rosecroft was once again the scene.
Halcyon, a brilliantly consistent, Impeccably bred Albatross freshman owned by Seth Rosenfeld, a Cornell economics major, and his mother, Lana, had spent the first half of her initial campaign in the shadow of Nadia Lobell, an eye-opening daughter of No Nukes whose sheer speed and enormous potential were evident from the moment she set foot on the Meadowlands stonedust. As Nadia's margins of victory grew, Halcyon quietly chugged along, winning race after race in Pennsylvania and New York, but unfortunately running Into traffic the only two times she met her rival head-to-head, and finishing in her wake.
By mid-season, however, Nadia Lobell was on the shelf with a serious hock infection, and Halcyon was getting stronger and braver with each start. The battle for divisional honors, which many had conceded to Nadia Lobell, was suddenly a two-horse race. In order to strengthen her case, though, Halcyon, who was bred by Jack and Lana Rosenfeld, needed a convincing score in her division's ultimate test, the Breeders Crown at Rosecroft.
She got one. Ray Remmen drove a masterful race, refusing to involve his filly in the cavalry charge towards the lead as the gate sprung. Once the field settled into position, however, Remmen wasted no time sending Halcyon to the front, grabbing the lead from Midi A Semalu before the half. When Time Well Spent rambled up on the outside to challenge, Halcyon was ready, and she maintained a neck advantage at the finish. Time Well Spent was a game second, and Midi A Semalu, finding racing room at a premium, snuck up the rail to be a close-up third. Halcyon's efforts enabled her to finally defeat Nadia Lobell she easily won the election for divisional honors.
Owners
Lana Rosenfeld & Seth Rosenfeld
Trainer | Driver
Ray Remmen
Purse $536,100
Rosecroft Raceway, Fort Washington, MD
Jef's Spice - 3FT
Owners
JEF's Stbd C.C. & North Woodland Stb
Trainer | Driver
Jim Gluhm | Bill O'Donnell
Purse $470,850
Freehold Raceway, Freehold, NJ
Extras
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Mack Lobell - 2CT
Pompano Park, which along with Rosecroft Raceway is the only racetrack to have presented a Breeders Crown event in each of the first three seasons, was the site of the 1986 Two-year-old Colt Trot. Workaholic and Express Ride, the winners in this division in 1984 and 1985, both went on to win seasonal honors, and the One More Time Stable was hoping that Mack Lobell, a colt which many observers felt was the best freshman they had ever seen, would be able to keep the streak intact.
Trainer Charles Sylvester, whose enormous success with freshman trotters had not extended to Breeders Crown competition, had the Lana Lobell-bred son of Mystic Park on edge for the final start of his initial campaign, and driver John Campbell, who had not won a Breeders Crown in 1986 after capturing four in 1985, handled the colt perfectly. Avoiding several breaking colts around the first turn, Campbell steered Mack towards Buckfinder, who had made the front at the quarter, and with a wicked burst of speed, Mack Lobell trotted to the lead. With much of the field outclassed or off stride, there would be no outside challengers, and Campbell downshifted the son of Mystic Park through a :31.4 third panel. As they turned for home, the top pair had opened a dozen lengths on the field.
O'Donnell wheeled Bucktinder out halfway down the stretch for the final challenge, but Mack hit overdrive at the eighth pole, trotting his last quarter in a blistering :28.2 to complete the circuit in 1 :59.1. The valiant Buckfinder was a length back, and, eventually, Nevele Olympian crossed the wire third. Mack Lobell would be the only Crown winner of 1986 forbdth
Sylvester, whose odds-on pupils Armbro Fern and Britelite Lobell had lost heartbreaking contests at Canterbury and Freehold in the previous weeks, and Campbell, and would become the third straight winner of this race to also cop divisional honors.
Owners
One More Time Stable
Trainer | Driver
Chuck Sylvester | John Campbell
Purse $496,850
Pompano Park, Pompano Beach , FL
Masquerade - 3CP
Owners
Val d'Or Farms, Lampert, Guida & Grano
Trainer | Driver
Jerry Silverman | Richie Silverman
Purse $543,850
Garden State Park, Cherry Hill, NJ
Extras
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Samshu Bluegrass - Mare Pace
Purse $264,820
Greenwood Raceway, Toronto, ON
Extras
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Sugarcane Hanover - 3CT
Owners
John F. Simpson Sr.
Trainer | Driver
Jim Simpson | Ron Waples
Purse $460,350
Garden State Park, Cherry Hill, NJ
Extras
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Sunset Warrior - 2CP
The only event to be split into eliminations In all three editions of the Breeders Crown, the Two-year-old Colt Pace was the firsf of the four races held at Garden State Park on November 14, and the $817,000 contest set the tone for the surprising night of racing that followed.
Track Robbery was the first to hit the wire in the eariier, and weaker of the eliminations, but the Governor Skipper colt broke into a gallop shortly before the finish and was placed second behind the valiant Maxamllion Hanover, who cut every step of the 1 :55.3 mile before succumbing to Track Robbery's surge. Third and fourth places, and spots in the final, went to Meadowbranch Bret and the favorite, Nukem,
The second elimination was a showcase for the richest two-year-old in the history of harness racing, Jerry Smith's Redskin. The chestnut Storm Damage homebred was sent to the front past the halt, and posted an easy 1 :55.3 victory for driver BIii O'Donnell. Three Jongshots followed the 1 • 5 shot across the wire: Savage Breeze, the lightly-raced Sunset Warrior, and Run The Table, a stablemate of Maximlllon Hanovsr In the Del Insko shQdiow.
The final was a shocker. Sunset Warrior, who had fll'llshed fastest of al in the eliminations, was sent to the front by Bil Gale, and, when O'Donnell, who had worked out a perfectsecond-ov81'voyage fo<the odds-on choice, asked Redskin for speed, Sunset Warrior responded with just a little more. Bm Gale popped the earplugs out of the homebred Sundance Sklpper colt's ears, and the pride and joy of the Little Farm and trainer Bob McIntosh chugged onward, malntaining a three-quarter of a length lead at the wire. Maxamillon Hanover was third, four lengths behind the winner.
Owner
Little Farm
Trainer | Driver
Bob McIntosh | Bill Gale
Purse $819,600
Garden State Park, Cherry Hill, NJ
Super Flora - 2FT
Owners
Picasso Farms & Douglas Kass
Trainer | Driver
Jim Miller | Ron Waples
