Sweet Future has again been elected Pacing Broodmare of the Year by the United States Harness Writers Association, making her the first broodmare to win her category twice, while Trotting Broodmare of the Year honours went to La Riviera Lindy, dam of U.S. Harness Horse of the Year Chapter Seven.
Sweet Future won in 2012 for basically the same two reasons she won in 2011 -- the hard-hitting 1-2 punch of three-year-old colt Sweet Lou and Free For All standout Bettor Sweet. Both enjoyed very good campaigns in 2012: the Yankee Cruiser sophomore Sweet Lou won just north of $1 million while taking the Tattersalls and finishing second in the Little Brown Jug (after winning an elim) and the Breeders Crown, while Bettor Sweet, a son of Bettors Delight, sent his seasonal bankroll soaring over half a million with three big wins at season’s end: the Allerage, a tough prep for the Breeders Crown, and then the Crown itself with ease.
Sweet Lou lowered his mark to 1:47.4 during 2012; coupling this fact with Bettor Sweet’s 1:47.2 speed badge, Sweet Future now has the distinction of being the only mare to produce two winners in 1:48. Sweet Future is quite the family story for Californian Seth Rosenfeld: his Birnam Wood Stable (a Macbeth reference) owns Sweet Future, and her dam Sweet Dahrlin was also campaigned by Rosenfeld under the Uptown Stable moniker.
La Riviera Lady had a good pedigree when she came to her breeding career -- her dam Royal Lindy had produced two $100,000 winners -- and lightning struck quickly and brightly with her first foal, the Windsongs Legacy colt Chapter Seven. Chapter Seven won eight of 10 starts this past year, four in sub-1:51 (only one trotter before him had ever beaten 1:51 more than once), and he was never more impressive than when surviving a raw outside trip against European star Commander Crowe to be a Breeders Crown winner last October.
Chapter Seven has been trundled off to stud now at Blue Chip Farm, but La Riviera Lindy’s name may again soon be heard for racetrack exploits, as last year her Sand Vic two-year-old Lady Riviera won several stakes and more than $100,000, auguring well for 2013.
La Riviera Lindy changed hands in August 2012, when Chapter Seven’s breeder Richard T. Banca (not to be confused with trainer Richard J. Banca of speedball-supreme Devonshire Hanover fame), who had owned her since she was a yearling, sold his champion producer to Steve Jones and his Cameo Farms.
As for those looking to the future, Sweet Future is expecting a 2013 foal by Pennsylvania sire Yankee Cruiser (remember, Sweet Lou’s daddy), while La Riviera Lady was mated this past year to Muscles Yankee in New Jersey.
The connections of Sweet Future and La Riviera Lindy will be honoured on Sunday (March 3), the climatic day of Harness Congress VI weekend, to be held at the Westin Beach Resort and Spa in Fort Lauderdale. Florida. Further information about the banquet, the Congress, and related events is available at www.ushwa.org.
(USHWA / Photos courtesy New Image Media)