Moni Maker - Open Trot
bay mare, 5, by Speedy Crown -- Nan’s Catch, by Bonefish
Owner
Moni Maker Stable
If it’s true that all things come to those who wait, the 1998 Breeders Crown Trot proved an exemplary lesson in patience and reward. Trotters are funny animals, and their gait and balance requires those who train them to be combination horseman, engineer and psychic. Some trot naturally, and then the temptation to extract too much too early comes into play. The Breeders Crown Trot brings together the established superstars and the carefully nurtured, the reclamation projects and the veterans who practically trot in their sleep.
In the first year of the Crown Trot, CR Kay Suzie astounded spectators by winning in a sizzling 1:52.3 with just one pari-mutuel start on her card, in which she made a break. The following year, Wesgate Crown, a 1993 freshman Crown and divisional winner who went winless at three returned to take another Crown title as a six-year-old. The third edition would be a coronation of a head that had not worn a Crown, despite three tries.
Westgate Crown was back for another attempt at a title, after campaigning successfully in Europe and breeding a few mares in his leisure time. He is the first Breeders Crown stallion to race in an event the same year as one of his offspring also raced in the Crown program. Glory’s Comet, practically a member of the Peters family from Ontario, had started his year in January by winning the Horsemen’s Series final and was trotting strong in June to annex the Titan Cup. Goodtimes, another Canadian veteran, had taken his Nat Ray elim in a lifetime best 1:54, showing spry foot for a seven-year-old.
Georgia Limited had raced in the Elitlopp and finished a game second, and won the American- National upon his return. Bred by the sport’s greatest ambassador, Delvin Miller, Georgia Limited led a two-horse entry from the Joe Stutzman stable, his stablemate the expensive and richly bred Pietro Pan who faced obstacle after obstacle in returning to the racetrack. Though five, he’d made just a handful of starts, but managed to record a 1:54 mark earlier in the month.
Two sons of Supergill, Supertoy and Super High Test, were promising youngsters who went awry of the lofty plans laid out for them early on and returned to the racetrack for a trainer who had the time and the patience to coax their best from them. T Cody, a son Ohio stallion Armbro Iliad, was nearing the $400,000 mark from his modest beginnings. B Cor Pete, driven by the famous Olle Goop who steered the legendary Grades Singing to many wins in Europe and a dramatic Crown victory in her home town of Montreal, was not in top form but could be counted on to give his best effort.
Lastly, there was the product of patience, foresight and providence, Moni Maker. The daughter of Speedy Crown, one of the greatest trotters and most prolific sires in the history of harness racing, was rising through the trotting ranks at the same moment the stallion was retiring from the breeding shed. As progeny of one of his last crops, she would be one of the most brilliant performers in a group of more than 2,200 foals, whose earnings exceeded $104 million. With $2.3 million on her card, Moni Maker was the richest, and most would agree, the best.
Trainer | Driver
Jimmy Takter | Wally Hennessey
Moni Maker’s dam, Nan’s Catch, but was brought back home from the yearling sale by breeders David and Rikki Caldwell, because they saw in her a much greater value than the bidders were willing to give. Nan’s Catch won the Breeders Crown as a two-year-old and the Hambletonian Oaks as a threeyear- old for the Caldwells, proving their vision to be well-founded.
An $87,000 yearling purchase for her first owners, Moni Maker turned in a solid freshman year. But her sophomore year was the attention-getter. Among her peers were the sensational Continentalvictory, who overshadowed Moni Makers phenomenal accomplishment of 19 straight wins, including the Hambletonian Oaks. Her head loss in the Breeders Crown that year to Personal Banner was gutwrenching, but time was on her side in a big way.
In the midst of that three-year-old season, her owners, Edmund and David Smith and Alan Foster, were approached by those in the current partnership. An agreement was struck where they would share 50/50 partnership through the close of the year, with Bill Andrews remaining in charge of her conditioning. The Moni Maker Stable would then take over. The partners in the Moni Maker Stable are people who have had been associated with some of the finest trotters of the slat two decades, but they were about to become part of something special.
Among the members are Frank Antonacci, KR Leasing, Paul and Antoinette Nigito, Harvey Gold, Geoffrey Stein and David Reid. KR Leasing is the family of Hambletonian Society director Frank Antonacci, as well as his brother Gerry and their father, Guy. Their Lindy Racing Stable name was derived from their first Hambletonian winner, Lindy's Pride, who swept the 1969 Triple Crown. The family got involved in harness racing in 1966, with an emphasis on owning, breeding and racing trotters. Guy “Sonny” Antonacci has been in partnerships responsible for no fewer than four Hambletonian winners.
Paul Nigito, a realtor, and his wife Antoinette have been partners with the Antonaccis on many of their top performers, including Mr. Chin, Uconn Don and Lindy Lane and was co-owner of Joie De Vie, the favorite in the 1981 Hambletonian. They have bred and owned many champions, but none of the caliber or Moni Maker. David Reid credits Sonny Antonacci as the man with the vision, who persisted in trying to obtain Moni Maker, because she represented one of the last racing Speedy Crown mares.
The partners had a grand time in 1997. At the end of the three-year-old season Moni Maker had gone to Europe and raced well in the Lotteria and the Elitlopp. Her fifth-place finish in the final of the Elitlopp in May of 1997, was the last time she would be worse than third.
Her return to the U.S. in the summer of ‘97 saw Wesgate Crown beat her by a head in their Breeders Crown contest, but already the superlatives were being heaped upon her. She turned the tables on Wesgate Crown in the Nat Ray (and remains the only mare to ever win the Nat Ray) at the Meadowlands in a time of 1:52.2, the fastest trotting mile of 1997. She was the overwhelming choice in the 1997 USHWA/USTA voting as the top older trotting mare in the sport.
At five, Moni Maker grew even taller and stronger. She returned to Europe, as the pickings are notoriously slim for older trotters in this country. The team of caretaker Roman Kogalin, trainer Jimmy Takter and assistant trainer and blacksmith Conny Svensson, and driver Wally Hennessey had a very tough task ahead of them.
Moni Maker raced in the Prix de France and the Grand Criterium Vitesse in Cagnes-sur-Mer, France, and won in Italy in the Premio Costa Azzurra. She was being prepped for an event that was very close to Jimmy Takter’s heart, another try in one of the grand trotting spectacles of Europe, the Elitlopp.
On the last day in May, she became the first American trotter to win the Elitlopp since Mack Lobell. Her win was hard fought, a demonstration of speed and stamina that merged to produce what all of Europe called “the best trotting mare in the world.”
The partners, who rarely miss a Moni Maker race no matter on which continent it occurs, were treated to one of the greatest thrills in the racing game, and the search was on for those adjectives to describe Moni Maker and her ability. Her race time in the Elitlopp was 1:53.3, the fastest in the history. Her time also smashed Mack Lobell’s long-held world and Breeders Crown record of 1:54.1, set on the five-eight mile of Pompano Park in 1987.
Her remarkable, double-heat triumph was only the latest effort in along line of memorable victories for this splendid mare. She then added another European Grand Circuit victory to her list when she won the Copenhagen Cup in a new world record time of 2:26 over one and one quarter miles. She also won at Torino in Italy. Then it was time to pack her tack and come home.
In her first North American start of 1998, Moni Maker was upset by Goodtimes in the Nat Ray eliminations, the victim of John Campbell’s smart drive with the veteran Goodtimes, and traffic problems. Once Wally Hennessey got her to the outside, she charged quickly from third to finish just a neck back. Her last quarter of 26.2 served notice that she was fit and ready to race in the $500,000 Breeders Crown the following week.
Moni Maker had been in three Breeders Crown events to date, and lost her last two by less than a quarter of a length. Campbell sent Glory’s Comet to the front in a vain attempt to control the race. When Moni Maker swept by him, the lone mare in the field, driver Wally Hennessey was just riding. The outcome was not in doubt after the first quarter, and Moni Maker cruised to a three length win in a remarkable 1:52.3 effort, tying the stake record a set by CR Kay Suzie, the fastest trotting mile in Crown history. The Nat Ray was more of the same, as she idled around the Meadowlands mile track in 1:52.4. She had now proved her supremacy on two continents, and could have stopped there. Instead she took Horse of the Year honors and became the first American trotter-owned to win the Prix d’Amerique since Delmonica Hanover in 1975.
Purse $500,000
Meadowlands Racetrack, East Rutherford, New Jersey August 1, 1998
Extras
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