Speedy Crown's legacy as a sire is unequalled in harness racing in terms of money garnered by his progeny. With over $106, million in offspring earnings, this prolific sire, who passed away in 2000, is still regarded highly by most professional horsemen.
Harness racing's Hall Of Famer Howard Beissinger, who has since retired to a small farm in southwest Ohio, steered Speedy Crown to a Hambletonian victory in 1971, and then his son Speedy Somolli to a Hambo win in 1978, says he believes that Speedy Crown was one of the most honest horses he ever drove.
"Speedy Crown never made any mistakes or breaks in a race and was just as honest as he could be," Howard recalled. "He was originally named Headin And Heelin."
Speedy Crown was lightly raced as a two-year-old, winning four of eight starts and time trialng in 2:01.2. Standing just 15.3 hands tall, he was not thought of as a serious threat in the three-year-old stakes division in the spring of 1971.
"Speedy Crown was very sound at two," Howard said. "The only thing we did was in the spring of that year I had a splint removed. He was a nice-sized horse, but not overly big."
"When I first started to develop Speedy Crown, I never knew that he was going to be that great of a horse," Howard added. "I always trained him well within himself and never asked more of him than I thought he could give me. I always wanted a fresh horse and I was very careful in making sure that he stayed that way."
Beissinger's training methods paid off as witnessed by Speedy Crown's stellar sophomore season. The son of Speedy Scot, out of the Florican mare Missile Toe dominated his rivals in 1971, winning 15 of 24 starts and taking divisional honors as Trotter of the Year. He captured the Hambletonian in straight heats and set a world record for three-year-olds on a half-mile oval. In addition, he won the Leland Stanford Stakes, an American National, the Old Oaken Bucket, the Hanover, the Scioto Challenge, the Gay Acres T., and a heat of the Founders Gold Cup.
Speedy Crown scored his lifetime best mark of 1:57.1 at Lexington for Frank and Tom Antonacci's Crown Stable and was well on his way to being named one of the top trotters of all time in the sport.
