Keystone Wallis Passes

Dr. Patricia Hogan of Hogan Equine has announced that the retired champion Standardbred Keystone Wallis, who Hogan graciously helped save in 2009, has passed away at the age of 31.

Dr. Hogan announced via social media that Keystone Wallis passed away Saturday night (June 3). The Open pacing mare made 62 starts during her career and recorded 18 wins, 17 seconds and eight thirds. She banked over $618,000 lifetime and took her mark of 1:55.3f as a two-year-old.

“Champ Keystone Wallis, 31, passed on last night,” Dr. Hogan wrote. “(She) taught me much about (the) need for ‘safety nets’ – that even great horses can fall [through] cracks…”

In November of 2009, Keystone Wallis almost slipped through the sales ring. If it wasn’t for Kate Miller, who remembered the mare from her racing days at the Meadows, Keystone Wallis would’ve been purchased for $100 at the sale.

Miller, who lives and works in the Pittsburgh area, scraped together some of her own money, collected cash donations from friends and drove to Ohio to purchase Keystone Wallis for $150. A friend shipped the horse back to Pennsylvania for her for free, but the daily board bills became too much for Miller to afford.

Enter renowned equine surgeon Dr. Patricia Hogan. Dr. Hogan had seen a story on Miller and Keystone Wallis that was published in a Standardbred industry publication. After seeing it, Dr. Hogan emailed Ellen Harvey of Harness Racing Communications and asked if she knew how to get in touch with Miller. After providing Dr. Hogan with Miller's email address, the two of them took it from there.

"I was just so impressed and touched that a young person would step up to help a horse," Dr. Hogan told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at the time. "Keystone Wallis was a world champion. I thought she deserved better."

Harness Racing Communications has also assembled a story on Keystone Wallis’ passing, which appears below.

Keystone Wallis, Paternal Great-Granddam of 2016 U.S. Horse of the Year Always B Miki, Passes Away

Keystone Wallis, the paternal great-granddam of 2016 U.S. Horse of the Year Always B Miki, passed away over the weekend at her home of eight years with equine surgeon Dr. Patty Hogan, and her husband Ed Lohmeyer, in New Jersey. She was 31.

“We found her in the paddock at feeding this morning (Sunday, June 4) with her faithful friend, (Hall of Fame broodmare) Flat Foot Fluzy standing guard over her,” said Hogan. “Looks like it was peaceful – no signs of trauma or any struggle in the ground around her.”

She was the dam of 14 foals, including Neverhaveneverwill, dam of Always A Virgin, the sire of Always B Miki. Keystone Wallis had lived with Hogan since 2009, long before her great-grandson became a patient of Hogan’s for two different orthopedic surgeries.

Keystone Wallis won 18 races in 62 starts, including a heat of the Jugette, along with $618,256; she took a mark of 1:55.3f as a two-year-old. She was trained by the late Jack Kopas for owners Trent Valley Stables.

Dr. Patty Hogan (L) and Kate Miller with Keystone Wallis

She changed hands for the last time in the fall of 2009, at age 23, when she sold for $150 at public auction to Kate Miller, who’d seen her race in the Adioo Volo at the Meadows when Keystone Wallis was a three-year-old and Miller was six.

Not yet in first grade at the time, Miller couldn’t read a program, but she remembered the mare for her grey colour and her post position – one. Two decades later, she recognized her name in a sales catalogue and went for the specific purpose of buying her to ensure a safe home.

Miller was 26 then, but in no position to provide care for an older broodmare. Hogan read of their story and volunteered to care for Keystone Wallis at her home for the rest of her life. The mare forged a strong friendship with Lohmeyer’s mare Flat Foot Fluzy, now 30, and the two spent every day together until the end of Keystone Wallis’ life.

Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the connections of Keystone Wallis.

(With files from Harness Racing Communications and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)