Twenty years ago this week, Ball And Chain made Canadian harness racing history by pacing a mile that broke the vaunted 1:50 barrier for the first time.
On August 19, 1995, Woodbine Racetrack hosted eliminations for the Canadian Pacing Derby. Similar to recent headlines, the big story heading into the Derby elims came from a girl taking on the boys. Female phenom Ellamony was one of the 13 horses that dropped into the Canadian Derby entry box along with heavyweights Ball And Chain, Pacific Rocket, Riyadh and Village Jiffy.
The first elim featured Ball And Chain, Ellamony and Pacific Rocket in a solid field of six. With an opening quarter of :24.4 hung up by Pacific Rocket, the scorching early panel also made Canadian harness racing history as the fastest first fraction ever paced. Ball And Chain was waiting patiently in the pocket behind Pacific Rocket while Tony Kerwood guided the pacesetter through a swift :53.4 half and 1:22.1 third station.
As the field turned for home, Doug Brown angled Ball And Chain out for the stretch drive and he collared Pacific Rocket with Brown aware of a hard-charging Ellamony (Mike Saftic). Ball And Chain's :27.1 final quarter propelled him to a two-plus length victory with the teletimer reading 1:49.4 -- the first and only horse to pace faster than 1:50 at a Canadian racetrack.
Though technically a two-turn oval like a one-mile track, Ball And Chain's mile was also harness racing's first sub-1:50 performance over a track that was not a standard one-mile track.
Owned by trainer Joe Stutzman along with John Fielding's Fielding Equine and George Millar, Ball And Chain would fall a nose short to Pacific Rocket in the 1995 Canadian Pacing Derby but avenged that loss with a win in the 1996 edition. He would retire after his next start, a win at Sportsman's Park in the 1996 U.S Pacing Championship on August 31.