Valley Victory - 2CT
It wasn't a Walt Disney movie, it actually happened. Could the first-crop son of a former Breeders Crown champion achieve the same title four years later on the same turf?
In 1984, the three-year-old Baltic Speed, a son of Hambletonian winner Speedy Somolli, captured the Breeders Crown at Pompano by a head over Sandy Bowl, and was awarded divisional honors for the second straight year. Four years later a compact son of his would dazzle the industry with a world record performance in just his seventh lifetime start.
Valley Victory had displayed flashes of the cantankerous temperament his grand sire, Speedy Somolli, was capable of and was not the most willing of pupils according to his trainer, Steve Elliott. His first parimutuel starts were not until August, in a sire stakes race and a pair of conditioned races. It wasn't until late September in Lexington that the diners in the Red Mile club house stopped in midbite to notice Valley Victory streaking to an eight and a half length triumph, unfurling a 27.1 last quarter on his way to a new lifetime mark of 1 :57.2 over the historic clay. Despite the murmurings out of Lexington and the faith of his owner Arlene Traub and trainer Steve Elliott, the freshman colt division was still considered a wide-open affair.
Eliminations were necessary to slim down the bulky field of freshman, with both Valley Victory and Ziggy Hanover winning their respective contests easily the preceding Saturday. Peter Haughton winner Keyser Lobell shot out for the lead, through moderate fractions of 29.1 and 1 :00.1 for the half. O'Donnell had the inexperienced Valley Victory positioned fourth and when he pulled on the right line to signal him out of the hole, the colt responded with such acceleration that he nearly hooked wheels with the horse he was passing.
Past the three-quarters in 1 :29.4, Valley Victory merely pulled away from the rest of the field as if it was his royal birthright. He won by five lengths in a world record time of 1 :58.1 and was resultantly crowned divisional champion: The tiring Keyser Lobell made a break and finished off the board, while Cobra Lobell and Ziggy Hanover picked up place and show money.
