Immortality - 2FP
Former Merrill Lynch exec Lou Guida has had a tremendous impact on the sport of harness racing, experiencing immoderate success with his partnerships and management of every level of trotter and pacer. from yearling to broodmare to stallion. Over the past 15 years, Guida has made his mark as a standardbred owner. breeder, stallion syndicator, agent, racehorse seller and buyer and even as a one-man public relations band for the sport. He owned the best son of Nlatross (Nlhilator), the best son of Mystic Park (Mack Lobell), and the best daughters of Baltic Speed, Amity Chef, Jate Lobell and No Nukes (Peace Corps, Miss Easy, Hazleton Kay and Immortality). Even more mindboggling is that he bought them all as yearlings.
Guida has employed a wide range of trainers, drivers and consultants. In 1985, while shopping for horseflesh, he had his eye on a juvenile filly standout, Follow My Star. Shortly before the Breeders Crown, he offered owner Allen Wilk a hefty sum for the favored Follow My Star. Guida displayed the good sense to keep her with her current trainer, and that is how trainer/driver Bruce Nickells' second career, as a 'filly man·, began. Convinced that Nickells had a magic touch with the fairer sex, Guida plied him with royally bred distaffers from the yearling sales and even threw in a few homebreds.
Nickells obliged, turning out pacing performers such as Bruce's Lady, Conquered Quest, Hazleton Kay, Central Par!< West, Maytown Hanover, Nadia Lobell and Angel B Good. Just to hone his diagonally-gaited skills, Nickells also won the Hambletonian Oaks with Par!< Avenue Kathy, and is responsible for trotting stakes winners C'Est Ouoi, Mystic Virtue and Lotsa Pasta (all fillies) and colts Ten Pound Bass and Stars And Bars. However, Guida's purchase of Follow My Star dictated that Nickells's destiny be training pacing fillies, and the ensuing results were phenomenal.
His distaffers have racked up seven divisional titles, more than $6 million, and innumerable speed standards. Follow My Star retired as the richest pacing mare of all time. Another Nickells-trainee, Miss Easy, usurped that title in 1991. Miss Easy and Immortality are the only two females to win more than $1 milfion in a single season. Nickells has won every distaff pacing division of the Breeders Crown at least once, something no other trainer has done, and ranks third overall in the Crown trainer standings. Over the nine year span of the series, his 15 entrants have won six championships and more than $1.9 million. For these recent accomplishments, Nickells was named Glen Garnsey "Trainer of the Year" In 1990.
It was not surprising that when the baby races began in late spring that Nickells had several promising fillies ready to compete. But his favorite was the aptly-named Immortality, a No Nukes daughter of the world champion mare Jef's Eternity. Though Immortality, owned by the partnership of Winning Verdict Stable and Rose Guida finished second in a pair of baby races, she would not taste defeat again. Driven by John Campbell, Immortality annexed the La Paloma, Sweetheart and Three Diamonds Finals in relaxed fashion before making her Crown appearance. Her obvious leadership in her division kept her peers away from the Crown entry box in droves, and just five other freshman fillies were willing to scrap over the remaining purse money after Immortality seized the lion's share.
The entrants included: Pro Group's Lady Is Pro, a half-sister to two-time Crown winner Town Pro; Steve Arnold's Crystal Eros, boldly entered in the Crown after she choked down and failed to finish her race the previous week; M & L Stable's Cammie's Lady, second in the field in earnings to Immortality; Patrick and Patricia McRae's homebred Town Dreamer; Brittany Farms and Daisy Acre's Nukes Magic, one of three daughters of No Nukes, a sire yet to claim a Breeders Crown credit.
As the gate opened for the first of six Breeders Crown events that evening, Cammie's Lady sprinted to the lead with Crystal Eros seizing the two hole. Once the front end was settled, Campbell slipped Immortality out and took control of the race. She had the lead but not the wood past the quarter in :28.1, and once snugged against the hubrail paced off a half in :57.2 and a three-quarters in 1 :26.4. When Cammie's Lady, obligated to make a move on Immortality after receiving a two-hole trip began to move, Campbell imperceptibly shifted in he bike and Immortality responded by skating away to a three-length lead, tripping the timer in 1 :54.4.
Cammie's Lady was clear of the remainder of the fillies to take second place, and Crystal Eros finished third. Bruce Nickells, triumphant for the fourth time in live years in this Crown division, shook his head in amazement. Immortality was bred by Bill Perretti, who won this division in 1988 with the Nicke!ls-trained Central Park West. It was No Nukes· first Crown sire credit, and Campbell's 21st driving trophy over the nine-year series. The $97,000 yearling price Winning Verdict Stable and Rose Guida anteed up in November had turned into $978,485, and Immortality was voted divisional honors by a landslide.
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