Defiant One - 2CT
The powerful Swedish empires of Team Nordin and Continental Stable are usually well-represented in all of harness racing's trotting divisions. 1987 proved no exception, as both stables turned out one diagonally-gaited champion after another. However, among the two-year-old colts, no one horse or trainer overpowered the somewhat fragmented division. Of the many contenders, some, like Supergill, showed flashes of brilliant speed, and others, like Firm Tribute, displayed remarkable consistency.
By the end of October, not all the heavyweights of the division were still racing, and it appeared the Breeders Crown event hosted across the Canadian border at Mohawk Raceway could be anybody's race. Twelve colts were willing to take a shot at the richest purse trotters had ever seen In Canada, necessitating the event to be split into two eliminations and a final.
There were, of course, two favorites. In the first elimination, The Team Nordln-tralned Grundy's Cohnectlon, owned by Michigan hardware magnates Clifford and Seymour Grundy and their partner Sydney Cohn, looked to be the chancy colt. An unruly son of Speedy Crown, Grundy's Cohnection displayed a tendency for going off stride. But he also was able to recover quickly from his miscues, and though he broke in several stake races, his speed when he resumed trotting usually enabled him to make up enough ground to be close at the wire.
But it was the Continental Stable starter, Continental Spirit, who took the first elimination for his owner, Ed Rudner. The colt had shown a facility for negotiating smaller tracks, and driver Jan Johnson steered him around the Mohawk five-eighths oval smoothly, taking advantage of the pace-setting cover of the other Team Nordin entrant, Petri Kosmos. Johnson maneuvered the colt free at the top of the stretch and won In 2:01.4. Grundy's Cohnection, parked the mile but staying onstride, finished third and made the final.
In the second elimination, a newcomer to the Grand Circuit trotting ranks was making his presence felt. Young Mark O'Mara bought a son of Bonefish, named Firm Tribute, at the yearling sales for $25,000 and was unable to find any partners on the horse. A year later Firm Tribute was In the Breeders Crown with almost $350,000 on his card, more earnings than any other colt In the field. The heavy favorite, he did not disappoint, taking command at the quarter and winning by an unchallenged-two-length margin in 2:01 .2.
When the colts returned for the final an hour later, Firm Tribute was once again the favorite in the wagering and with the rail did truly appear unbeatable. Also starting were two colts from the Team Nordin Stable and two from Continental, as well the well-regarded but lightly campaigned Armbro Gaylord from the Lofty Bruce Stable. Hall of Famers from.both sides of the border were represented, as driver/trainer Ron Waples had finished fourth with Huggie Hanover and driver/trainer Howard Beissinger squeaked in with a fourth place finish behind his homebred colt Defiant One. Beissinger had almost elected not to race Defiant One. The morning of the race the colt came up with a slight temperature and Beissinger seriously considered scratching him before deciding to go ahead and race him.
In the final, Berndt Linstedt, driving King Of Broline, stole the front end and then set leisurely fractions to the three-quarters in 1 :31. Past the three-quarters, O'Mara had moved Firm Tribute out and was steadily advancing up the outside. The pair seized the lead at the head of the stretch but the toll the overland journey had taken was apparent, and the field was closing in. Suddenly from out of nowhere, came Howard Beissinger and Defiant One. Seventh at the three-quarter pole, Defiant One, owned by Ann Beisslnger and Eva Duringer, was sailing by horses. At the wire, Defiant One was past Firm Tribute by three-quarters of a length. The horse and driver barely appeared on the television monitors before the tote board flashed a final time of 2:01.4.
Howard Beissinger is in the Hall of Fame because he is a consummate horsemen and has few peers as a developer and driver of young trotters and pacers. All that experience was brought to the fore in this brilliant Breeders Crown victory. The win was also a continuing association with a great trotting family for Beisslnger and his wife, Ann, who sold part of the homebred to her friend and former Miss Austria. Eva During er. Beissinger developed both the sire of the new Breeders Crown champion, Defiant Yankee, winning the Dexter Cup with him, as well as his grandsire. the great Speedy Crown. He also trained the dam of Defiant One, Only A Rose; her dam. Lindy's Rose, and her sire, Lindy's Crown, with whom he won the trotting Triple Crown.
Defiant One, a tt1e under the weather in the rooming, was crowned a winner that night and Howard Beissinger reminded the world that he wasn't through parading champions yet.
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