CR Kay Suzie - Mare Trot
bay filly, 3, by Royal Troubador
Owners
Carl & Rod Allen Stable
Sometimes horse racing is more than a sport, more than a contest, more than just a way to make money. Sometimes it is the vehicle through which the very best in human and equine nature is displayed. In 1995, that was the case with a filly named CR Kay Suzie. The story of “Suzie” began in 1994, when the precocious youngster streaked across the racing horizon, setting records and winning races in a fashion that exhibited a talent far beyond her years. Bred, owned and raced by the Carl Allen family, “Suzie” was named for Carl’s granddaughter, Kaylee Suzanne. Any money the trotting filly made was earmarked for Kaylee’s college tuition, and by 1995, her father Rod often joked that Kaylee could purchase any entire wing of Florida State University in Tallahassee, where she was a sophomore. Named juvenile champion in 1994, “Suzie” had some support for Trotter of the Year honors, but that accolade instead went to the four-year-old Breeders Crown champion Pine Chip.
Hopes ran high throughout the winter of 1994-95. She won the Yonkers Trot and became the first filly to win the Beacon Course, the traditional prep for the Hambletonian. The Hambletonian colts and their connections cowered from the exceptional filly, and the middle jewel of the triple crown seemed hers for the taking. Except she didn’t win it. She didn’t even make the final, slipping into a gallop on the backstretch while engaging the leader in her Hambletonian elimination. The Allens took the heartbreak with equanimity and unusual grace and looked forward to piece together the remainder of the season.
Trainer | Driver
Carl Allen | Rod Allen
“Suzie” was next entered in the Yonkers International Trot, and cannoned through the mile in 1:55.4, at one time opening up a seven-length lead. The only problem was that the race was a mile and a quarter, and three trotters, all older males, went by the tiring filly in the stretch. Her indomitable spirit, matched by that of the Allen family was not quashed. She was entered against the colts in the World Trotting Derby, and made a two-heat hash of them, tying Peace Corps speed standard for that age group.
Her reputation was restored, but needed an extra polish if she were to establish an edge in the race for Horse of the Year honors. The only option the Allen family recognized was to supplement her to the $300,000 Breeders Crown Mare Trot at the Delaware County fairgrounds.
Supplements have not fared well in the series, in fact none had ever won. The check for $34,000 was small compared to her $700,000 in earnings, but the win was necessary. Her presence did not frighten away the seven other mares who wished to race in what would be the final Crown Trot just for mares. The next year the mares would have to race against males, albeit for a greatly increased purse. Contestants included the freshman Crown champ, Gleam, the world’s fastest trotting race mare Beat The Wheel, and another supplement, Super Tammy, as well as her stablemate, Giant Mermaid.
CR Kay Suzie’s ability confines her to a specific style of racing. Rod Allen sends her to the front, and the rest of the field attempts to keep up. Allen did not alter this strategy, but was pressed immediately out of the gate by Bill Fahy and Casurina, before Fahy saw obtaining the front was futile, and backed in third behind Beat the Wheel. By the :27.1 first quarter, “Suzie” had two lengths on Beat The Wheel. She widened it to three at the half and four lengths by the 1:26.1 three-quarter pole. Gleam and Super Tammy had both made breaks, but John Campbell and Giant Mermaid had no intention of conceding the race to CR Kay Suzie and were closing ground as fast as equinely possible. Suzie was tiring and Giant Mermaid was gaining, but the laws of physics prevailed. Rod Allen had put enough real estate between him and the field that he could allow Suzie to trot in :32 for the final quarter but still win the race. The end result was what counted.
CR Kay Suzie, a homebred daughter of the Allen’s Breeders Crown champion Royal Troubador, closed the year with ten wins in 13 tries and $910,535 in earnings and was named divisional champion as well as Horse of the Year.
Purse $300,000
Delaware County Fair, Delaware, OH - September 20, 1995
Extras
| Speed Records |
