With the 2008 O'Brien Awards just days away, the SC website will shine the spotlight on the finalists in each O'Brien division
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Today we profile the pacers that head into Saturday's award ceremony as winners: Secrets Nephew and Somebeachsomewhere.
Older Pacing Horse - SECRETS NEPHEW
In 2008 Secrets Nephew's performances were synonymous with consistency.
The son of Camluck - Table For Seven hit the board in 27 of 31 trips postward while tackling some of the best horses in the nation week in and week out for co-owner, trainer and driver Lyle MacArthur.
He kicked off his six-year-old campaign by winning two of his first five starts in January and February - both against open company.
That set him up well for the Spring Pacing Championship in March and Secrets Nephew won both of his $50,000 divisions in the preliminary rounds before drawing a tough post nine in the final. A slow start in the $91,000 contest never allowed him to get be a factor in the race and the result was one of his very few disappointing results of the season.
A testament to the pacer's durability is the fact that he raced 11 months during 2008. He had three different multi-race win streaks during the campaign, including three consecutive victories in late July and early August where he was at the top of his game.
In the midst of that streak, Secrets Nephew captured an Open event on July 26 at Mohawk in 1:48.4 lifetime best clocking.
On July 19, his win against open rivals marked a milestone for the iron horse who joined harness racing's millionaire's club with the victory.
Three-year-old colt pacer - SOMEBEACHSOMEWHERE
There are few superlatives left to describe Somebeachsomewhere and the impact he has had on the sport of harness racing.
After a perfect rookie campaign, the statuesque son of Mach Three - Wheres The Beach entered his sophomore season with the weight of the industry on his shoulders and he did anything but disappoint.
There was some adversity at the beginning when a deep bone bruise in his front foot forced co-owner/trainer Brent MacGrath to scratch the 'Beach' from his first scheduled start in a mid-May Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Elimination at Mohawk Racetrack.
Like all great horses do, Somebeachsomewhere overcame that obstacle and won his highly-anticipated season debut in a division of the Burlington Stakes on May 31 at Mohawk. This served as a perfect tune-up for the $1.5 million Pepsi North America Cup which he won easily as a crowd estimated at 10,000 cheered him on.
He followed that up with a dominant 4-1/2 length 1:48.3 win in his Meadowlands Pace Elimination on July 12, leaving no reason to think he wouldn't capture the $1.1 million Final one week later.
However, the harness racing world would be stunned on July 19 when a lesser known colt named Art Official became the first horse to beat the mighty 'Beach' with a 1:47 world record shocker in the Pace Final. It was the first and only time that Somebeachsomewhere would ever taste defeat during his illustrious career.
The pacing phenom ran the table with 10 straight wins to cap off one of the greatest single seasons in the history of the sport.
Along the way, he claimed the world record for three-year-olds on a half-mile track with his 1:49.2 victory in the $493,000 Confederation Cup Final at Flamboro Downs and lowered the overall world record for three-year-olds with his electrifying 1:46.4 romp in the $134,000 Bluegrass Stakes at The Red Mile in Lexington.
Somebeachsomewhere also captured a $180,000 OSS Gold Final, a $293,000 division of the Tattersalls, the $650,000 Messenger Final, the $300,000 OSS Super Final and had his swan song in the $500,000 Breeders Crown at The Meadowlands on November 29.
He ended the season as the richest single-season money-winning three-year-old colt pacer of all-time before being retired to the famed Hanover Shoe Farms in Pennsylvania.