by Pete Lawrence, for the Breeders Crown

Cranbury, NJ — Can this really be the 25th year of the Breeders Crown series? It all started with Workaholic’s score in the freshman colt trot at the Red Mile in 1984, so I guess it is.

When did my sideburns get so grey? Where did the hair on top of my head go? I can’t find my car. Who took my walker? Oh, it’s right over here, next to the Metamucil. (A joke, it’s a joke. I’m at least a year away from that!)

For build-up and drama, as well as a great field and a great race, my favorite Breeders Crown event is probably the 1984 2-year-old colt pace at The Meadows, from the very first year of the series. I had the privilege of covering that event, and it was an event, while working for the late, lamented Harness Horse magazine. That Crown, of course, was the race in which Dragon’s Lair beat Broadway Express, and, oh yeah, the great Nihilator, who was third.

Dragon’s Lair, who’d raced mostly in Pennsylvania to that point, was the “house horse,” trained and driven by Pittsburgh native son Jeff Mallet. Dragon, a handsome black or brown horse, was the irresistible force to Nihilator’s immovable object, and what sparks when they collided! Pershing Square won one elimination, and Nihilator beat Dragon in the other elim, in a then-world record 1:54.3. Dragon took the dramatic final before a big crowd, a loud, packed house that The Meadows rarely saw except for Adios afternoons.

Time for the mile was a brand new world record, 1:54.1. (Note to the young ‘uns: that was pretty rapid in those days.)

Who can forget Jeff sarcastically “thanking” Lou Guida from the winner’s circle, over the PA system, for bringing Nihilator to The Meadows (so Jeff could beat him). Jeff might’ve gotten carried away, just a little bit, by the moment.

There are photos around, and even a poster (I think), of the Crown party thrown after the races later that night, perhaps at the nearby Hilton which apparently isn’t even a Hilton anymore. Jeff danced the night away, we all did. It was probably the racing highlight of Jeff’s career.

Editor’s Note: Click here to watch a video of the 1984 Breeders Crown 2-year-old colt pace.

Favorite Breeders Crown moments, number 2

The date was October 30, 1987, at Rosecroft Raceway in Oxon Hill, Maryland, site of the Breeders Crown 2-year-old colt pace featuring heavily favored Camtastic and the Woodrow Wilson winner, Even Odds.

But I was nowhere near there. I lived in an apartment in Freehold, New Jersey, but was more often at my parents’ small apartment on West 63rd street in Manhattan, or their country place near Walker Valley, N.Y., about half an hour from Monticello.

The Breeders Crown races were carried on the young ESPN network back then, generally on Fridays. I was in Walker Valley that day, planning to watch the race from Manhattan — the apartment had cable TV, the country house didn’t — and I departed Walker Valley sometime in the early evening for the hour and a half trip to the city.

But there was traffic, lots of traffic. Making it all the way to Manhattan in time to see the show was looking very dicey, then it was looking out of the question. I had one possible chance to see the Crown, and even that was a longshot — I had to find someplace public that had cable TV, in a hurry, then convince someone there to let me watch.

I spied a hotel on Route 17 in Bergen County, I think it may have been a Ramada Inn, and I stopped in and went into the bar.

“Hi. My name is Pete, I’m a sports writer, and I need to see a horse race that’s coming on soon on ESPN. Can I watch it here?” I asked the bartender.

“I wish I could help you, but we don’t get ESPN here at the bar. Only the TVs in the hotel rooms receive that signal,” he said.

So I looked for the hotel manager, and screwed up a headful of nerve to ask him what I asked him: “Hi. My name is Pete, I’m a sports writer, and I need to see a horse race that’s coming on soon on ESPN. Can I watch it in one of your rooms?”

He sized me up, and didn’t say anything for a minute. Then, apparently figuring any story that crazy might just be true, he took a chance on me. He grabbed a key from the rack of room keys, walked me down a long hall, opened the door, and let me sit on the edge of a bed. He turned on the TV, just as the Crown show was starting, and warned me to clear out as soon as it was over. And then he said one more thing.

“Don’t touch anything, and don’t use the bathroom.”

So I did get to see the race, won by 1-5 Camtastic and Bill O’Donnell in 1:56.2 over longshots Nuclear Nightmare and Even Odds.

I tried to find that manager afterwards to thank him, but perhaps his shift had ended and he’d gone home.

So to that nameless hotel manager, wherever he is, I say thanks very much. You did a good thing, and I saw the race I needed to see.

And I didn’t use the bathroom.