Hall of Fame

 



albatross

Year of Induction: 
1996
Year of Birth: 
1968
Immortal: 
Yes
Election Into Living Hall of Fame: 
1996
Year of Death: 
1998
Gait: 
Pacer
Record: 
p,4,1:54.3f
Earnings: 
$1,201,470
Sire: 
Meadow Skipper
Dam: 
Voodoo Hanover
Sire of Dam: 
Dancer Hanover
Biography: 

A Meadow Skipper-Voodoo Hanover-Dancer Hanover foal, Albatross was the winner of 14 of 17 starts at two for earnings of $183,540 and a mark of 1:57.4. He was owned by Bert James of Windsor, Ontario and trained by Harry Harvey, the 1953 Hambletonian-winning driver. Albatross was syndicated early in his three-year-old season for $1.25 million - a record for a horse at that point in his career. In the Stanley Dancer Stable in 1971, Albatross won 25 of 28 starts and $558,009. As a four-year-old, he started 26 times, winning 20 and earning $459,921, bringing his lifetime earnings to $1,201,470. In April 1972, Albatross was re-syndicated for $2.5 million. The Hanover Shoe Farms, where Albatross began his stud duties in 1973, held a majority interest in him.

World champion at two, three and four, Albatross was voted Two-Year-Old Pacer of the Year and Horse of the Year at both three and four (1971 and 1972). In total he was the winner in 59 of 71 starts and retired as the all-time leading moneywinning pacer. Through 1998 Albatross' 2,546 sons and daughters have earned $130.7 million and taken 1,174 2:00 records. At age 30, he had 61 yearlings and was bred to 85 mares. At the top of his list of progeny is Niatross, also a two-time Horse of the Year (1979 and 1980) and 1997 Living Horse Hall of Fame inductee. Niatross was the first Standardbred to break the 1:50 barrier (1:49.1 time trial at Lexington). Albatross' daughter Fan Hanover p,4, T1:50.4 is the only filly to win the Little Brown Jug, in 1981, the year she was also named Horse of the Year. Albatross also sired Little Brown Jug winners Jaguar Spur, Merger and Colt Fortysix.

Albatross, who was inducted into the Living Horse Hall of Fame in 1996, spent his final years at stud at the Hanover Shoe Farms, Hanover Pennsylvania. He died August 5, 1998 at age thirty and is buried in the farm's cemetery.

 Hanover Shoe Farms, Hanover, PA

Published in the Harness Racing Museum's 1998 book, The 1998 Immortals