fresh yankee
A Hickory Pride-Pert Yankee-Titan Hanover foal, Fresh Yankee was bred at Charles Keller's Yankeeland Farm, Frederick, Maryland. She was purchased as a yearling for only $900 by Duncan MacDonald and Dorothy and Richard J. Logue, of Sydney, Nova Scotia. When she retired her lifetime earnings stood at $1,294,252.
Known for her fluid gait and outstanding consistency on the track, Fresh Yankee began her career as a two-year-old by winning four of her twelve starts, setting records over two tracks. Driven predominantly by Hall of Famer Joe O'Brien, Fresh Yankee was North America's first "million dollar" trotter and second in the world list only to the famous French mare Une de Mai. In 1969 Fresh Yankee set a world and season's record for older mares over a 5/8 mile track of 1:59, defeating world champion Nevele Pride. That same year she won the Elitlopp and the Grand Prize of Bavaria. In 1970 she lowered the record at Liberty Bell, trotting in 1:58.4f. Her mile race mark of 1:58 flat was also a world record when taken. She also won the American Classic Trot, the Roosevelt International and the United Nations Trot.
Fresh Yankee was the season or world champion for seven consecutive years and retired as the leading money winning American Standardbred of all time. She died at Hempt Farms, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania on August 9, 1991 at the age of twenty-eight.
Published in the Harness Racing Museum's 1999 Souvenir Journal
with Sanders Russell