C R Renegade - 3CT
Brown colt, 3, Royal Troubador – Country Kay Sue, by Speedy Somolli
Owners
Carl & Rod Allen Stable
When the three-year-old trotting ranks assembled in the spring, no one could have predicted the emergence of the astonishingly fast Self Possessed. The son of first crop sire Victory Dream had shown a decent freshman year but none of the eerie speed he would unleash over the summer stakes season.
The low-slung trotter came with all the right connections. Hall of Fame driver Mike Lachance, trainer Ron Gurfein, who has lowered his own speed records time after time, breeder Brittany Farms and owners who were familiar to the winners circle.
A record-breaking Hambletonian, a nostril loss in the World Trotting Derby, a decisive return to the winners circle in the Kentucky Futurity…Self Possessed coronation in the Crown was signed and sealed as his final start before retiring in glory to the stallion barn.
Surely no one would have selected CR Renegade as the colt who would come closest in earnings and accomplishment to Self Possessed…if anything, his stablemate CR Commando, the freshman divisional and Breeders Crown champion would have been the easy choice for dominance in the division.
Judged on his own merits, CR Renegade is a superior racehorse who enjoyed a superlative year in 1999, but athletes are often judged against the merits of their peers. Some horses jump shadows, other horses race under them. In the case of CR Renegade, the shadows of two horses have helped to define his career. The first was his big sister CR Kay Suzie. As 1995 Horse of the Year and back-to-back Breeders Crown winner, Suzie left awfully big hoofprints for her brother to fill. Blazingly fast, her greatness was hampered only by her excitability; she would sometimes go up in the air rather than forward on the racetrack.
Though he too wore trotting hopples, CR Renegade was different than Suzie in temperament but had the family speed and desire, enough so that driver Rod Allen had high hopes for his colt's sophomore season. Hopes that were encouraged when Renegade finished second in his seasonal debut, a Pennsylvania Sire Stake at the Meadows in April. A dismal eighth place finish in the Dexter Cup, was erased with three consecutive wins including a sweep of the Currier & Ives in May. Second by a neck to Fortuna Winner, in a division of the Colonial at Woodbine on June 11, CR Renegade faltered and failed to advance to the Canadian Trotting Classic Final.
Trainer | Driver
Carl Allen | Rod Allen
With Hambletonian day approaching it was back to the Meadowlands to face the trotter whose shadow loomed large over the class - Self Possessed. In an overnight race, CR Renegade was third to the horse most said could not be beaten.
But in the eliminations for the Beacon Course, CR Renegade trotted to a 1:54 win, while Self Possessed roared to victory in 1:52.2 in his elimination. Declining to cede victory before the Beacon Course final was even raced, Allen and CR Renegade shadowed the pace-setting Self Possessed through swift fractions. When Self Possessed suddenly faltered and went off-stride, Allen swept his colt to the front and CR Renegade was soon standing in the same winner's circle his sister had visited just a few years earlier.
That win in a career-best 1:53.4 would be the last time CR Renegade got the better of Self Possessed for months. A ninth place finish after being parked for much of the mile in the Hambletonian won by his nemesis gave way to wins in the Zweig at Syracuse and the Yonkers Trot in August.
For the next few months wherever the trotters met, Self Possessed came away the winner. Finally, it all came down to the Breeders Crown. With no eliminations and Self Possessed expected to retire after the race, the $588,000 Trot would be the last meeting between the two colts.
CR Renegade drew post two, Self Possessed, the four. Allen decided to make a radical equipment change on his horse. He removed the trotting hopples CR Renegade had worn for most of his life. "I haven't been able to beat him with them on," he said. "Maybe I can get a little more out of my horse this way. He seems happier without them."
Allen also talked to the television commentators live as he scored CR Renegade prior to the race, and said he never conceded a victory. It was his hope that Self Possessed made one of his rare miscues, as he would be happy to pick up the pieces.
The connections of Angus Hall felt the same way, as the stout trotter had quietly earned more than half a million through the year and rarely missed a check. Self Possessed truest threat, Enjoy Lavec, who bested him in the World Trotting Derby, had to be scratched due to sickness and never raced again.
As the gate folded, Self Possessed strolled unhurriedly to the front while CR Renegade tucked in fifth along the rail. As the timer clicked through fractions of :27.2, :56.3 and 1:25.4, Self Possessed seemed, as always, in control. But in deep stretch, the record-breaking trotter became rough-gaited and then broke stride. CR Renegade and Allen, poised to strike, streaked forward winning by 1 1/2-lengths in 1:54.2. In the length of the Mohawk stretch, CR Renegade trotted out of the shadow of Self Possessed and CR Kay Suzie, and claimed the Breeders Crown spotlight as his own.
Allen family winner circles are always joyous affairs and this one was no different, as Rod’s parents, Carl and Mae Jean, and his wife Dawn embraced him. It was his third Crown trophy and the fifth for the Allen family.
Self Possessed needed to win the Crown to make a serious bid for Horse of the Year honors, but he was an easy vote for all the divisional awards.
Purse $588,000
Mohawk Raceway, Campbellville, ON - October 29, 1999
Extras
| Speed Records |
