By Lenny Calderone, For Plainridge Racecourse

Plainville, MA — Al Ross has been in the racing industry since 1956, and although he has had his share of victories with horses and greyhounds, none has provided the thrills he is enjoying right now. “I’ve had some success breeding dogs, some success breeding thoroughbreds, but nothing like this,” Ross said Monday.

Ross, a resident of South Dartmouth, was referring to the trotter Royalty For Life, who he bred and raised along with partners Raymond Campbell and Paul Fontaine. Following an impressive victory in the $294,000 Stanley Dancer Memorial at The Meadowlands this past weekend, the 3-year-old colt is among the favorites for the $1.2 million Hambletonian Stakes, trotting’s most prominent race.

Royalty For Life’s connections to Massachusetts go beyond one single individual however. “Chip” Campbell, who owns a quarter share of the sophomore colt, is a Belchertown native, and Royalty For Life was born and raised on his farm in the western part of the state. Campbell is a director of the Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts, the official state sanctioned breeding program for harness horses in the Bay State, and he owned R.C. Royalty, who was a Massachusetts Sire Stake champion before he sired Royalty For Life.

After spending the first year of his life on Campbell’s farm, Royalty For Life was sent to George Ducharme, a trainer who grew up in Walpole, resides in Norfolk, and conditions his horses on a farm in Plainville. Under Ducharme’s care Royalty For Life rose to national prominence last year in his freshman campaign when he earned more than $300,000, winning the Kentucky Stallion Stakes at Lexington and was runner-up in the Breeders Crown. Following his highly successful 2-year-old season the colt returned to Plainville and trained there throughout the winter and spring.

In recent days Ross has fielded calls from as far away as Finland and Sweden expressing interest in his Massachusetts based colt. “They really like the R.C. Royalty breeding line over there,” said Ross, who several years ago invested in a breeding operation in Westport, where roughly a dozen horses currently reside. But for now he and Royalty For Life’s other Massachusetts connections are enjoying an experience that is rare for most individuals in harness racing, let alone those from the Bay State.