When trainer-driver Tom Harmer speaks of his homebred filly Pertty Music, he does so with the beaming pride of a proud parent – and with good reason.
Harmer not only bred, trains and owns the three-year-old lass, but he also owned, trained, and drove the filly’s parents, Jeremes Jet and My Metallica.
Harmer conditioned Jeremes Jet to earn $1,519,321 in purse earnings from 35 starts, with 16 wins, five seconds and one third. The bay stallion took a time trial mark of 1:47 at Lexington’s Red Mile on September 9, 2007.
Harmer also bred, trained and owns My Metallica, a daughter of Partyatartsplace who earned $287,851 from 13 wins, 10 seconds and nine thirds from 60 career starts. She took a mark of p,3,1:51.1 en route to winning a $40,000 division of the Hanover Stakes by nearly nine lengths on August 2, 2006.
Even more unique is the story behind the pairing of Jeremes Jet and My Metallica that produced Pertty Music, who’ll go postward in Friday’s $73,000 Cinderella Stakes for sophomore pacing fillies.
On September 17, 2005, My Metallica entered the Balmoral Park winner’s circle after having captured the $260,000 Orange & Blue Filly Stakes in 1:52.3 for driver Tony Morgan. The celebrating Harmer just happened to glance up at a TV at that precise moment, and saw his other charge, Jeremes Jet, leaving the Mohawk Racetrack winner’s circle after having won the $1-million Metro Pace with driver Paul MacDonell in 1:50.4.
“I didn’t think about breeding them to each other at that moment, but then later when I thought about (it), I thought about how cool it was that one was coming in the winner’s circle and the other was leaving at the same time, and I told Debbie (his wife) that we just had to breed them someday,” Harmer explained.
Another coincidence: Pertty Music is from Jeremes Jet’s second crop, and she is also My Metallica’s second foal.
“Jeremes Jet was a trainer’s dream,” Harmer acknowledged. “I don’t think anybody could have messed him up, he was a no-brainer. I qualified him and drove him in his first start. He was absolutely gorgeous, and all of his babies are gorgeous, and they’re all good-gaited, smart, and pleasant. None of them are mean.”
Pertty Music raced 10 times as a freshman, earning $24,056. She took a mark of p,2, 1:56.2 on August 5, 2012 en route to winning a Balmoral overnight for driver Todd Warren.
“She was a perfect filly to train down – the kind of filly you dream about. She did everything you asked her to do,” Harmer recalled. “I qualified her at Maywood as a freshman, and then sent her up to Canada to trainer Gregg McNair.”
Pertty Music began her sophomore campaign by qualifying at Maywood on April 4, where she won in 1:57 for driver John DeLong. She won her first two starts in Balmoral overnighters with DeLong at the lines – in 1:53.1 (on April 20) and in a career best 1:52.1 (on April 27), before heading to Canada.
“She qualified well and had a couple of good wins before I sent her north to Gregg (trainer McNair),” Harmer said. “She won her first start up there for him in 1:53, but after that (she) really didn’t race as well as I was hoping. She’s never had a lameness problem of any kind, but just hasn’t been as good as I thought she’d be.”
Pertty Music has won four starts this season from 19 tries, with two seconds and two thirds, with $72,736 added to her coffers this season. Prior to finishing sixth in last Saturday’s $161,000 American National Three-Year-Old Filly Pace at Balmoral, she scored a 1:54 triumph for DeLong over the Crete one-miler in a conditioned test. She’s amassed $97,792 from 29 lifetime starts.
“It’s really exceptional when you’ve raced both the parents of a youngster, and then you get the thrill of being the breeder, because you figured out the right combination,” Harmer admitted. “Then, it becomes double-special when they turn out to be something that you’ve trained and driven, and gotten to the races. It’s just a great feeling.”
(Maywood Park)