There’s an inequity in the breeding business. Top stallions can be bred to hundreds of mares each year. Conversely mares can have but one foal each year

. This year’s $750,000 Hambletonian Oaks final field is vivid proof that behind every great trotter there is a great dam.

Topping this year’s field has to be Springtime Volo. This Jorgen Jahre Jr.-owned homebred is a daughter of 2004 Hambletonian Oaks champion Silver Springs from the stallion Classic Photo.

Silver Springs was a rank outsider in the 2004 Oaks. Actually she rallied at more than 50-1 just to gain a spot in the final. That year the sophomore fillies were an extremely strong group that consisted of the outstanding Peaceful Way, a filly many expected to take on the boys prior to the Hambo and Housethatruthbuilt, a powerful filly from the Trond Smedshammer barn. But Silver Springs overcame a long overland journey and had the breaks go her was as favorite Peaceful Way broke stride in the stretch.

Silver Springs earned $626,500 during her career and as a three-year-old went on to capture the World Trotting Derby filly division.

In the same crop as Silver Springs was an unheralded filly named Bramasole. This daughter of Muscles Yankee earned $347,753 during her racing career. Unlike Silver Springs when the Hambo Oaks came around Bramasole was not in the picture. Two weeks later she captured the Review at Springfield and later went on to win the Buckette at Delaware and finished a solid second to Housethatruthbuilt in the Breeders Crown final.

Bramasole’s first foal, Bramalea Hanover, by Hambletonian and Triple Crown-champion Windsongs Legacy, has been a consistent filly in this year’s competitive division winning seven of her 15 starts heading into Saturday’s classic.

In 2002 trainer-driver Trond Smedshammer guided Marla Bar to a third place finish in the Hambletonian Oaks elimination race. The daughter of Malabar Man would earn most of her money in New Jersey that year but put her best foot forward at the end of the season finishing second behind Cameron Hall in the Matron at Dover Downs.

Marla Bar, the dam of Oaks finalist Bar Slide, was from a half-sister to 1987 Hambletonian winner Mack Lobell as well as a half-sister to the dam of 1993 Hambletonian champion American Winner. The same bloodlines were also responsible for 1999’s outstanding colt Enjoy Lavec, third in Self Possessed’s record Hambletonian mile. Later that year the son of Pine Chip upset Self Possessed in a memorable three-heat World Trotting Derby thriller.

The aforementioned Cameron Hall brought a rich pedigree and an outstanding record into the 2002 Hambletonian Oaks. Trainer Bob Stewart was riding the crest of a “Hall” wave with Cameron Hall entering the Oaks elimination unblemished in her three-year-old season. She was upset by My Starship in her elimination and couldn’t right the ship for the final finished a solid second to Windylane Hanover. Cameron Hall closed out her sophomore season in grand style winning the Breeders Crown as well as six of her last seven starts. The daughter of Garland Lobell won 17 of 22 starts earning most of her $1.8 million career total at two and three.

Cameron Hall’s second foal Ultimate Cameron, by Yankee Glide, is an immediate relative of the Stewart-trained Hambo threesome of Conway Hall (4th to Muscles Yankee in 1998), Angus Hall (2nd behind Self Possessed in 1999) and Andover Hall who broke in the 2002 Hambletonian as the 7-10-favourite.

Ultimate Cameron has blossomed this year for Stewart winning the Casual Breeze and Elegantimage earlier this year at Mohawk.

You know anytime they name a race after a horse that she/he had to be a champion. Elegantimage was in fact one of the best of her era. But in 1996 an upstart filly based in Quebec, came to Toronto to challenge the big girls. Travelin Superlite, the dam of Saturday’s Hambletonian Oaks favourite Poof Shes Gone, got the measure of Elegantimage in an elimination of the Stewart two-year-old stake. The two fillies would meet again in the Canadian Breeders Championship. While Elegantimage got revenge, Travelin Superlite came from tenth at the half to finish a solid second.

The apple doesn’t fall very far from this tree. Poof Shes Gone earned over $1 million as a juvenile winning 10 of 12 starts. Last week she showed that last-to-first burst of speed winning her Oaks elm in a career best 1:53.1 clocking.

You have to have plenty of speed to win the Hambletonian Oaks, and though Fashion Feline’s dam Sly Fox didn’t reach the race in 2003 she did show a world of speed. In a qualifier just two weeks before the Oaks she trotted the first half of a mile in :53.2! That kind of speed didn’t go unnoticed and later that year Arlene and Jules Siegel bought the mare for breeding. In Fashion Feline, their Oaks entry Saturday, they have a very similar type.

In Oaks prep almost seven years to the date of Sly Fox’s effort, Fashion Feline trotted the first three quarters of a mile in 1:22.4 on her way to victory. Trainer Jim Campbell hopes for back-to-back Oaks upsets if Fashion Feline can overcome post ten.

Will Poof Shes Gone give her mother the credit she deserved? Will Springtime Volo have the breaks go her way just like her mom? Is Bramalea Hanover going to peak earlier than her mother did? Will Ultimate Cameron put an end to the jinx that has haunted her family on Hambo Day? Can Bar Slide connect with her grand mom’s rich East Rutherford legacy? Or will a new line be formed on Saturday?

Win or lose, the mothers will all be proud.

(Hambletonian Society)