Cardigan Bay (horse)
Encyclopedia
Cardigan Bay was a New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 Harness racing
Harness racing
Harness racing is a form of horse racing in which the horses race at a specific gait . They usually pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky, although racing under saddle is also conducted in Europe.-Breeds:...

 horse foaled 1 September 1956. Affectionately known as "Cardy", he was the first Standardbred
Standardbred horse
Standardbreds are a breed of horse best known for their ability to race in harness at a trot or pace instead of under saddle at a gallop. Developed in North America, the breed is now recognized worldwide for its harness racing ability...

 to win US$1 million in prize money in North America. He was the ninth horse worldwide to win one million dollars, (the first eight were Thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

s). Cardigan Bay won races in New Zealand, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, Canada and the United States.

Along with his arch-rival, American champion of the day, Bret Hanover
Bret Hanover
Bret Hanover was an outstanding American Standardbred racehorse. He was also one of only nine pacers to win harness racing's Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Pacers and achieved a fine career total of 62 wins from 68 starts...

, he has a legitimate claim of being one of the truly great Standardbred racehorses. Cardigan Bay became an overnight sensation in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, and appeared with Dancer on the Ed Sullivan show as the "million dollar horse".

Breeding

Cardigan Bay was foaled at Mataura (near Gore) in the South Island
South Island
The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...

 of New Zealand. As you drive into Mataura from Gore, there is a sign on the road proclaiming Mataura as the birthplace of Cardigan Bay. He was a first crop foal by a leading sire, Hal Tryax (USA), his dam Colwyn Bay was by Josedale Dictator (USA). Cardigan Bay was a brother to Thule Bay and a half-brother to Brides Bay.

Racing career

He began racing in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 and his first stake money was won in a saddle pace on a grass track. He won all the major open class
Open class (horse racing)
Open class is a term used in standardbred harness racing to mean that the event is open to all comers. It is usually a horse race for champions that have progressed through from lower graded races. The equivalent in thoroughbred racing is a Group One race....

 races including the New Zealand Trotting Cup
New Zealand Trotting Cup
The New Zealand Trotting Cup or New Zealand Cup is a Group One harness race held annually by the NZ Metropolitan Trotting Club at Addington Raceway in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is considered the country's most prestigious harness racing event. the prize was NZ$750,000, the largest prize for a...

 and Auckland Cup (from 78 yard handicap). His driver in New Zealand was the leading reinsman Peter Wolfenden
Peter Wolfenden
Peter Wolfenden or P T Wolfenden is a driver of Standardbred racehorses in New Zealand. He is notable that he drove New Zealand's top pacer Cardigan Bay to victory in the New Zealand Trotting Cup. He was the top driver throughout the 1970s and represented New Zealand in the World Driving...

, who was the country's number one driver during the 1970s.

Cardigan Bay even won a major event at Addington
Addington, New Zealand
Addington is a major suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand. It is sited south-west of the city centre.-Description:The suburb was named for the country residence of Bishop John Sumner, one of the leading members of the Canterbury Association....

 raceway in Christchurch
Christchurch
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...

 while the grandstand was on fire. A photo of this race is considered one of the great iconic images in the history of horse racing. He also won the Inter Dominion Pacing Championship
Inter Dominion Pacing Championship
The Inter Dominion is a harness racing competition that has been contested since 1936 in Australia and New Zealand. The host of the series is rotated between the six harness racing states of Australia and the North and South Islands of New Zealand. The rotation of the Championships is fixed...

 final in Adelaide, Australia.

In 1961, Cardigan Bay had taken his winning sequence to nine, having won the Final Handicap and New Zealand Free For All
New Zealand Free For All
The New Zealand Pacing Free For All is a major New Zealand harness race. It is notable as it is a Group One championship sprint race and has been won by nearly every champion pacer in New Zealand. It was valued at $300,000, but was reduced to $200,000 due to economic pressures...

.

"Cardy" was taken to the USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 at the advanced age of eight, on a "racing lease" to a New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

 reinsman Stanley Dancer
Stanley Dancer
Stanley Franklin Dancer was an American harness racing driver and trainer. He was the only horsemen to drive and train three Triple Crowns in horse racing. In total, he drove 23 Triple Crown winners. He was the first trainer to campaign a horse to $1 million in a career, Cardigan Bay in 1968 and...

 and his owners for a payment of $US125,000, even though he had only $US137,000 in earnings up to that point and was "down on the hip" from a severe injury suffered racing in New Zealand years earlier. He won many races in the US and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 and was able to dominate US racing for three years with the only exceptions being the very few, very best US horses, and there he gave as good as he got. He defeated the famous US Champion Overtrick
Overtrick
Overtrick was a champion U.S. standardbred racehorse who was memorable for his breaking of many existing world records and his classic duels with champion pacer Meadow Skipper....

 in one of three races. He was the singular horse to have defeated the three Hall of Fame USA horses of that era: Overtrick
Overtrick
Overtrick was a champion U.S. standardbred racehorse who was memorable for his breaking of many existing world records and his classic duels with champion pacer Meadow Skipper....

, Bret Hanover
Bret Hanover
Bret Hanover was an outstanding American Standardbred racehorse. He was also one of only nine pacers to win harness racing's Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Pacers and achieved a fine career total of 62 wins from 68 starts...

, and Meadow Skipper
Meadow Skipper
Meadow Skipper was a Standardbred racehorse foaled in 1960 by Dale Frost out of Countess Vivian by Kings Council. He earned $ 428,057 as a racehorse....

, as well as defeating every other great horse of his time at least once.

In 1964, Overtrick
Overtrick
Overtrick was a champion U.S. standardbred racehorse who was memorable for his breaking of many existing world records and his classic duels with champion pacer Meadow Skipper....

 and Cardigan Bay engaged in two great races: The Dan Patch
Dan Patch
Dan Patch was the outstanding pacer of his day. Dan Patch broke world speed records at least 14 times in the early 1900s, finally setting the world's record for the fastest mile by a harness horse during a time trial in 1906, a record that stood unmatched for 32 years.-Life:He was a brown...

 Pace and the Dan Patch Encore. Cardigan Bay prevailed by the shortest of noses in the Dan Patch, and Overtrick got his revenge in the Encore. Overtrick also defeated Cardigan Bay in an earlier race in 1964, prevailing by a neck at a mile and a half race.

Perhaps his most famous encounter was with the great Standardbred horse, Bret Hanover
Bret Hanover
Bret Hanover was an outstanding American Standardbred racehorse. He was also one of only nine pacers to win harness racing's Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Pacers and achieved a fine career total of 62 wins from 68 starts...

, in the Pace of the Century
Pace of the Century
The Pace of the Century was a match race between two of the greatest ever standardbred harness horses, namely Bret Hanover and Cardigan Bay. It was lucky indeed that these two were racing at exactly the same period, as these were possibly the only two capable of beating each other...

, in 1966. Cardigan Bay with Stanley Dancer driving, won that race in front of forty five thousand at Yonkers Raceway, New York and became only one of two horses, (the other being Adios Vic) up to that time, to have beaten the mighty Bret Hanover. However Cardigan Bay met his match in their next encounter, the "Revenge Pace" with Bret Hanover exactly reversing that one-two finish. This latter race drew a record crowd ever for a race in Western New York.

The million dollar pacer

By age 12, 1968 he was nearly through but continued on in quest of the symbolic one million dollar mark. He needed about $85,000 at the start of the year. Finally, in September at Freehold Raceway
Freehold Raceway
Freehold Raceway is a half-mile racetrack in Freehold Borough, New Jersey. Established in 1853, it is the oldest harness racetrack in the United States and is located at the intersection of U.S. Route 9 and Business Route 33 in Freehold....

 in New Jersey, he won his very last race, surpassing one million dollars. He became a celebrity and appeared on the Ed Sullivan show with his pal Stanley Dancer
Stanley Dancer
Stanley Franklin Dancer was an American harness racing driver and trainer. He was the only horsemen to drive and train three Triple Crowns in horse racing. In total, he drove 23 Triple Crown winners. He was the first trainer to campaign a horse to $1 million in a career, Cardigan Bay in 1968 and...

 and the Beach Boys.

A month after he had reached the million dollar mark, it was, by formal proclamation, "Cardigan Bay Day" in Yonkers, New York. The next evening Cardigan Bay walked down a long red carpet, which led into the living rooms of 20 million viewers, on the Ed Sullivan television show. No immigrant had ever "made it any bigger any faster". Dancer immediately retired him and he was returned to New Zealand with great fanfare with thousands at harbour awaiting his arrival.

Major wins

  • 1961 Auckland Trotting Cup
    Auckland Trotting Cup
    The Auckland Trotting Cup or Auckland Cup is a race held at Alexandra Park in March in Auckland, New Zealand for Standardbred horses. It is one of two major harness races, along with the New Zealand Cup, held in New Zealand each year. It is notable as it is a Group 1 championship race over...

  • 1963 Auckland Trotting Cup (handicap of 78 yards)
  • 1963 New Zealand Trotting Cup
    New Zealand Trotting Cup
    The New Zealand Trotting Cup or New Zealand Cup is a Group One harness race held annually by the NZ Metropolitan Trotting Club at Addington Raceway in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is considered the country's most prestigious harness racing event. the prize was NZ$750,000, the largest prize for a...

     (handicap of 54 yards)
  • 1963 Inter Dominion
    Inter Dominion
    The Inter Dominion is a harness racing competition that has been contested since 1936 in Australia and New Zealand. The host of the series is rotated between the six harness racing states of Australia and the North and South Islands of New Zealand...



Cardigan Bay is possibly the most well known racehorse ever to come from New Zealand. Cardy won 80 races in all. Much of his racing was done in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 where he teamed up with legendary reinsman Stanley Dancer
Stanley Dancer
Stanley Franklin Dancer was an American harness racing driver and trainer. He was the only horsemen to drive and train three Triple Crowns in horse racing. In total, he drove 23 Triple Crown winners. He was the first trainer to campaign a horse to $1 million in a career, Cardigan Bay in 1968 and...

 in his many appearances at Yonkers Raceway
Yonkers Raceway
Yonkers Raceway, founded in 1899 as the Empire City Race Track, is a one-half-mile standardbred harness racing dirt track and New York state-approved slots racino located at the intersection of Central Park Avenue and Yonkers Avenue in Yonkers, New York near the New York City border...

 near New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. He was the only horse to have defeated the three Hall of Fame USA horses of that era: Overtrick
Overtrick
Overtrick was a champion U.S. standardbred racehorse who was memorable for his breaking of many existing world records and his classic duels with champion pacer Meadow Skipper....

, Bret Hanover
Bret Hanover
Bret Hanover was an outstanding American Standardbred racehorse. He was also one of only nine pacers to win harness racing's Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Pacers and achieved a fine career total of 62 wins from 68 starts...

, and Meadow Skipper
Meadow Skipper
Meadow Skipper was a Standardbred racehorse foaled in 1960 by Dale Frost out of Countess Vivian by Kings Council. He earned $ 428,057 as a racehorse....

. He was a Harness Champion in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 being Pacer of the Year in 1965 and 1968.

In New Zealand he lived nearly 20 years on Puketutu Island off Auckland, until his death at age 32. He remains to this day the measure by which all New Zealand Standardbreds are compared.

Tributes

Cardigan Bay was an inaugural inductee into the New Zealand Trotting Hall of Fame
New Zealand Trotting Hall of Fame
The New Zealand Trotting Hall of Fame is an organization created to recognise and honour those whose achievements have enriched the New Zealand Harness racing industry. The Hall of Fame's first group of honorees were inducted in 1998...

 with the immortals Caduceus
Caduceus (horse)
Caduceus was a New Zealand bred Standardbred racehorse. Caduceus is notable for winning the 1960 Inter Dominion Trotting Championship, trotting's premiership event in Australia and New Zealand, from a handicap of 36 yards, in front of a world record crowd...

, Harold Logan
Harold Logan
Harold Logan was a New Zealand bred Standardbred pacer that won two New Zealand Trotting Cups. He was a leading performer in 1931 and 1932. In 1932, he won the New Zealand Trotting Cup with a handicap of 60 yards.-Pedigree:...

, Highland Fling
Highland Fling (horse)
Highland Fling was a New Zealand bred Standardbred racehorse. He is notable in that he won two New Zealand Trotting Cup races, the richest harness race, and sometimes the richest horse race in New Zealand. Highland Fling was a leading performer in the years 1947 and 1948...

, Johnny Globe
Johnny Globe
Johnny Globe was an outstanding New Zealand bred Standardbred pacer that held four world records. He is notable in that he won the NZ Trotting Cup, the richest harness race, and sometimes the richest horse race in New Zealand. Johnny Globe is also notable in winning 15 free for all pacing events,...

 and Ordeal
Ordeal (horse)
Ordeal was a New Zealand Standardbred racemare. A notable achievement was winning the Rowe Cup, the top event in New Zealand for trotting horses. Ordeal was considered the top trotter in New Zealand in the 1960s, but had moderate success in the United States...

.

Bruce Skeggs
Bruce Skeggs
Bruce Albert Edward Skeggs was a longstanding Victorian Parliamentarian but equally famous for his career as a race-caller. He was a Liberal member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1973 to 1982, representing Ivanhoe...

, race caller for many years, rated Cardigan Bay, harness racing's first million dollar earner and winner of the 1963 Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

 Inter Dominion
Inter Dominion
The Inter Dominion is a harness racing competition that has been contested since 1936 in Australia and New Zealand. The host of the series is rotated between the six harness racing states of Australia and the North and South Islands of New Zealand...

, as the best pacer he ever saw. Skeggs called a world record 34,000 harness races through a network of radio stations. He broadcast races in ten different countries – Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, United States of America, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 and Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...

.

On the horse's death in 1988, Cardy's driver Stanley Dancer
Stanley Dancer
Stanley Franklin Dancer was an American harness racing driver and trainer. He was the only horsemen to drive and train three Triple Crowns in horse racing. In total, he drove 23 Triple Crown winners. He was the first trainer to campaign a horse to $1 million in a career, Cardigan Bay in 1968 and...

, a man whose accomplishments transcended his sport, and was compared with like Cassius Clay and Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth
George Herman Ruth, Jr. , best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935...

, reflected back on the gelding's last year of racing and made an eloquent remark. "At the end he was going on heart alone.....what a mighty heart it must have been".

The New Zealand Post Office
New Zealand Post Office
The New Zealand Post Office was a New Zealand government department.As a Government Department, the New Zealand Post Office or N.Z.P.O., previously the Post and Telegraph Department or P & T, had as the political head the Postmaster General who was a member of Cabinet, and, when it was a separate...

 issued a postage stamp in 1970 to recognise Cardigan Bay's achievements.

See also

  • Bret Hanover
    Bret Hanover
    Bret Hanover was an outstanding American Standardbred racehorse. He was also one of only nine pacers to win harness racing's Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Pacers and achieved a fine career total of 62 wins from 68 starts...

  • Harness racing in Australia
    Harness racing in Australia
    Harness racing, also colloquially known as trotting, is an important spectator sport in Australia, with large amounts of money wagered annually with bookmakers and the Totalisator Agency Board . In Australia there are 91 harness racing tracks, which hold over 1,900 meetings annually...

  • Harness racing in New Zealand
    Harness racing in New Zealand
    Harness racing in New Zealand is more often called trotting in the "old school" rather than the more fashionable name of "harness racing". The sport is long standing with events being held as early as 1864...

  • New Zealand Trotting Hall of Fame
    New Zealand Trotting Hall of Fame
    The New Zealand Trotting Hall of Fame is an organization created to recognise and honour those whose achievements have enriched the New Zealand Harness racing industry. The Hall of Fame's first group of honorees were inducted in 1998...

  • Meadow Skipper
    Meadow Skipper
    Meadow Skipper was a Standardbred racehorse foaled in 1960 by Dale Frost out of Countess Vivian by Kings Council. He earned $ 428,057 as a racehorse....

  • Overtrick
    Overtrick
    Overtrick was a champion U.S. standardbred racehorse who was memorable for his breaking of many existing world records and his classic duels with champion pacer Meadow Skipper....

  • Stanley Dancer
    Stanley Dancer
    Stanley Franklin Dancer was an American harness racing driver and trainer. He was the only horsemen to drive and train three Triple Crowns in horse racing. In total, he drove 23 Triple Crown winners. He was the first trainer to campaign a horse to $1 million in a career, Cardigan Bay in 1968 and...


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK