With a breeding operation that consisted of only one broodmare, the likelihood of Hayley Moore coming up with a Hambletonian winner was, well, unlikely to say the least.
Moore defied the odds with Market Share.
Born on May 3, 2009 on Moore’s small farm in Paris, Kentucky, Market Share not only won the $1.5 million Hambletonian, but added the $1 million Canadian Trotting Classic, $350,000 Zweig Memorial, $235,000 American-National Stakes and finished his season by winning the $108,000 Galt Stakes to make him just the fourth trotter in history to surpass $2 million U.S. earnings in a year.
Market Share, a son of stallion Revenue S, was the fourth foal out of the mare Classical Flirt, who until last fall was the only broodmare on Moore’s farm.
“People breed trotters their entire careers and try to get one that wins the Hambletonian and we’ve managed to do that,” Moore said. “I don’t know if anyone could ever write that kind of scenario. My husband [Jim] and I are both still pinching ourselves. It’s amazing.”
Moore, a small animal veterinarian, got into harness racing through her late husband, trainer/driver Greg Gaekle. They bought Classical Flirt, a daughter of Yankee Glide, as a two-year-old in 2003 from trainer Richard Oldfield. Her family includes 1943 Hambletonian winner Volo Song as well as 1946 runner-up Victory Song, 1952 runner-up Hit Song and 1957 runner-up Hoot Song.
“Mr. Oldfield came to Greg and said he had this nice little two-year-old, fairly well bred, but she had been injured and wasn’t keeping up with his program,” Moore said. “We wanted to start breeding at that point and figured if she didn’t make the races she had a nice pedigree to be a broodmare. We gave her some time off and tried to train her back down, but she was unable.”
Gaekle passed away in 2005, but Moore decided to continue with the plan to breed Classical Flirt.
“I just decided it was something I was going to do,” Moore said.
She bred Classical Flirt to Revenue S, but the foal, Legs On A Rail, never raced. Next, came the Classic Photo-sired mare Photogenic Legs, who finished second to Costa Rica in the 2009 New Jersey Sire Stakes fall final and has earned $102,739 in her career. The third foal was a colt by Broadway Hall named Broadway Legs, who won five of 11 starts in the U.S., earning $57,225, before finding ongoing success in Norway. Market Share followed.
“He’s got good conformation,” Moore said. “The reason we bred back to Revenue S the second time was because when you run the pedigree cross it looks like a good cross on paper. It really does. I was disappointed with the first foal that way, so we wanted to try it again.”
Market Share showed a good deal of spirit from the beginning.
“He was tough; he was a handful,” Moore said, laughing. “He was usually fairly well behaved, but he had a streak in him that you had to be careful. His attitude as a foal was that he thought he was better than everybody else and he was going to let you know it.”
Market Share was purchased for $16,000 at the Lexington Selected Sale by Richard Gutnick and turned over to trainer Linda Toscano. Driven by Jeff Gregory, Market Share went five-for-five as a two-year-old, racing exclusively at Freehold Raceway, and won the $25,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes Green Acres final and the $25,000 New Jersey Futurity.
“We were pumped,” Moore said about Market Share’s rookie season. “That was really awesome. Everyone said it was on a little track and he wasn’t tested, but when you take a two-year-old and you’re able to do that, it gives them confidence. And when you put them with an owner and a trainer combination like Richard Gutnick and Linda Toscano, you’re giving them the best possible chance.
“They’ve really taken care of him. They’ve given him time off when he needed it, when he got colt sore, and let him work through it and didn’t push him. When everything comes together and everybody does their best and the horse has got something, it’s just like a dream come true.”
This year, Market Share suffered a little bad luck, throwing a shoe in the Dexter Cup and going off stride, and something of an adjustment period as he got acclimated to racing on the big tracks. In late July, Market Share won his Hambletonian elimination and on Aug. 4 at the Meadowlands he won the final by a neck over Guccio in 1:52.1.
Market Share won seven of his final 11 starts of the season, finishing second three times and third once during that span. For the year, he won 10 of 20 races, hit the board 18 times, and earned $2 million (U.S.). The plan is for Market Share to return to the races as a four-year-old in 2013, and Moore is hopeful it could be another memorable season.
“I’m not holding my breath, but I’ve got my fingers crossed,” she said. “This has just been absolutely amazing.
“You could never forecast this kind of thing.”
This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.