by Dean A. Hoffman

It seems that a good trotter just can’t get enough Speedy Crown blood.

Of the 10 richest 2-year-old trotters of 2006, eight of them have repeat crosses to Speedy Crown within the first four generations of their pedigree. His influence is truly pervasive.

Also, two brothers—Angus Hall and Andover Hall—each sired a pair of the ten richest. But the broodmare sire honors go to Malabar Man who sired the dams of three of the top 10.

Sires

Angus Hall is the sire of the talented young colt Laddie, a winner last year in 1:56.4s. He is also the sire of the fast and rich filly Caught My Eye 2,1:59.3s ($232,905).

Andover Hall is the sire of the champion colt Donato Hanover, winner of the Breeders Crown and Peter Haughton Memorial. He is already assured of a spot in the stud barn at Hanover Shoe Farms and he’s the winter book favorite for the Hambletonian.

Andover also sired the dominant filly Pampered Princess, who came into the Breeders Crown final unbeaten, but finished second. She had won her previous starts with flawless ease.

The other trotting stallions represented in the top 10 are Enjoy Lavec (Gerri’s Joy), Like A Prayer (Godiva Hall), Self Possessed (Possess The Magic), SJ’s Caviar (Mythical Lindy), Yankee Glide (Falls For You) and Yankee Paco (Beer Budget).

Broodmare Sires

Malabar Man scores a hat trick in this category as he sired the dams of three of the ten richest freshman trotters of 2006. They were Possess The Magic, Godiva Hall, and Caught My Eye.

Donerail sired the dams of both Donato Hanover and Pampered Princess, so you can say that the Andover Hall-Donerail cross is off to a fast start in the breeding ranks.

Other broodmare sire credits go to Balanced Image (Falls For You), Garland Lobell (Gerri’s Joy), Lindy Lane (Mythical Lindy), Valley Victory (Laddie) and Yankee Glide (Beer Budget).

Inbreeding

Mythical Lindy has Speedy Crown three times in his first four generations, making him 4x4x4 to the great trotting sire. His dam, Myth, is by Lindy Lane out of Lady Starlet. Both Lindy Lane and Lady Starlet are out of Speedy Crown mares.

Falls For You has two crosses to Speedy Crown within his first three generations. His sire is Yankee Glide and his dam is Armbro Niagara and both of them are out of Speedy Crown mares.

Beer Budget has a 3×4 cross to Speedy Crown and it’s interesting to note that his sire Yankee Paco is inbred 3×3 to Noble Victory.

Laddie, Donato Hanover, and Caught My Eye are each 4×4 to Speedy Crown.

Pampered Princess carries a 4×4 cross to Speedy Crown, but she also carries a 4×3 cross to Florida Pro. Speedy Crown is a son of Speedy Scot while Florida Pro is a grandson of Speedy Scot.

Gerri’s Joy has the almost obligatory 4×4 cross to Speedy Crown, but she picks up a separate 4×4 cross to Speedy Somolli, a son of Speedy Crown. In fact, of the eight stallions in the fourth generation of Gerri’s Joy’s pedigree, five of them trace to Speedy Scot and a sixth one is Speedy Count, a product of the identical Speedster-Victory Song cross that produced Speedy Scot.

Possess The Magic has a 4×3 cross to Baltic Speed, a son of Speedy Somolli, and picks up another dose of Speedy Somolli through the mare Katie Almahurst, second dam of Self Possessed.

Godiva Hall carries Speedy Crown blood too, of course, but it’s not as close as the others in the top 10. She does, however, have a 3×4 to Super Bowl, Speedy Crown’s long rival in the stud.