by Kimberly French, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Kimberly French

Louisville, KY — When asked about future plans for his filly shortly before the 2009 Jugette Final, owner Ted Colby was quite concise about what awaited the now 6-year-old Special Sweetheart.

“As long as she continues to compete at a high level, we will continue to race her,” said the Bronxville, N.Y., resident. “As soon as she acts like she can’t do that anymore, we will bring her home and make her a broodmare.”

The daughter of Western Ideal and former Meadowlands track record holder Ladys Special Girl p,2,1:52.4 ($144,204) is still contending at Pompano Park in the Open ranks.

Special Sweetheart, who races as a homebred for Colby, his wife Susan and his brother Melvyn, has earned $837,469 from 86 lifetime pari-mutuel miles with 25 victories, 14 second place finishes and 16 thirds. She established her lifetime mark of 1:50.4 as a 3-year-old at the Meadowlands and from five trips to the post this year has earned three triumphs with one second and $21,000 in purse money.

USTA/Ken Weingartner photo

Special Sweetheart (#4) won the 2009 Valley Forge at Harrah’s Chester.

Still in harness after many of her former colleagues and rivals have headed on to their second career as mothers, Special Sweetheart knocked heads with the best in her division as a freshman and sophomore. The mare, now conditioned by Peter Pellegrino and formerly trained by Tom Artandi, was second in the $462,150 Three Diamonds Final in 2008 and eighth in the $700,000 Breeders Crown Final. At three, she captured the $350,000 Valley Forge, was fourth in the $591,600 Fan Hanover, $405,000 Mistletoe Shalee, $252,700 Nadia Lobell, and the $167,250 Matron Final, with fifth place checks in the $168,000 Jugette Final and $710,000 Breeders Crown Final.

Named after one of the Colbys two eldest granddaughters they nicknamed ‘sweetheart’ long before the mare’s personality became readily apparent, Pellegrino insists her moniker certainly suits her.

“She really is a sweetheart,” he said. “She does everything right in the barn and anything you ask her to do. She really has the right name.

“The results (in her races) seem to be the same no matter how you train her,” Pellegrino continued. “I thought she would be better on a bigger track but she’s not. When she’s good, she’s good and she performs the same way. She gives you her all.”

There may be two other things Special Sweetheart finds more irresistible than racing.

“She loves to eat,” Pellegrino said. “She’ll eat anything. She loves sweet potatoes and she’ll drink beer.

“Also, she has an older sister I’m Just Special (p,1:50.3f, $699,033),” he continued. “She’s a Camluck and they are nothing alike except they’ve earned about the same amount of money. I’m Just Special is black with a little bit of white frosting in her coat and Special Sweetheart is a bay, but when one of them leaves the barn, whether it’s to go out to jog or just walk, the other one starts screaming. They are like little kids that say, ‘Where is my sister?’ They are inseparable. It’s really very funny.”

It’s especially rewarding for the Colbys to have this kind of success in the business as they became involved as a diversion from the personal tragedy of their child’s premature demise from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. They claimed Special Sweetheart’s and I’m Just Special’s granddam Threeforyourlady p,5,1:53.1f ($307,268) in Canada and Ladys Special Girl was only one of her two offspring.

She is the only broodmare they own and has also produced Rocknroll Special (Rocknroll Hanover, p,4,1:53.3 ($22,382) and Special T Rocks (Rocknroll Hanover, p,4,1:51 ($142,714).

In fact, I’m Just Special is also named after the Colbys’ other granddaughter who is known to them as ‘special.’

The plan for Special Sweetheart’s 2012 campaign has not altered since Colby was originally interviewed more than two years prior.

“I’m going back to a farm in New York in the beginning of March and race at Yonkers, the Meadowlands and Pocono,” Pellegrino explained. “As long as she keeps racing well and is healthy, she is going to race. If something should happen along the way, then they will breed her.”