precious bunny
Bred by Alfred Ochsner, Jr., 1991 Horse of the Year and Little Brown Jug winner Precious Bunny was foaled on May 6, 1988 at Windhaven Farm in Cranbury, New Jersey. Purchased in 1990 by R. Peter Heffering of Port Perry, Ontario, Precious Bunny was trained by Bill Robinson and driven by Jack Moiseyev. He raced from 1990-1991 and had a lifetime summary of 39-21-5-4.
As a two-year-old, Precious Bunny had 14 starts, winning a New Jersey Sire Stakes event and finishing the season with a mark of 1:57.2 and $63,920 in earnings.
In 1991, three-year-old Precious Bunny won 20 of 25 starts, including the North America Cup, Meadowlands Pace (setting the stakes record in the second fastest race mile in harness racing history and fastest mile ever under the lights – 1:49.4), Art Rooney Pace (stakes record), Adios (tying the stakes and the world record for fastest mile by a Standardbred on a 5/8-mile track and setting the world record for a second heat by a Standardbred on a 5/8-mile track - 1:50.4), Little Brown Jug (in straight heats with an electrifying start in the first), Cleveland Classic (stakes record), NJSS final and Windy City Pace.
With his Cleveland Classic victory, Precious Bunny became only the second Standardbred in North America (Beach Towel 1990) to earn over $2 million in a single season ($2,217,222). He was the first to win two $1 million races in one season (North America Cup and Meadowlands Pace), and the first to win the Little Brown Jug, North America Cup, Meadowlands Pace and The Adios in the same year. Precious Bunny was voted Horse of the Year and Three-Year-Old Pacing Colt and in both the U.S. and Canada. At the time of his retirement, he ranked as the number one single-season moneywinning Standardbred of all time and the fifth-leading moneywinning pacer of all time.
Precious Bunny stood at Castleton Farm in New York from 1992 to 2000. He has sired North American winners of over $50 million, with 181 in 1:55, 141 $100,000 winners and 3 millionaires, including 2001 Horse of the Year and Hall of Famer Bunny Lake p,6,1:49s ($2,843,476), Stout p,6,1:49.2 ($1,506,390) and 2001 O’Brien Award winner Precious Delight p,3,1:51.1 ($1,096,981).
Precious Bunny was exported to New Zealand in September 2000. He was elected to the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2004 and currently is enjoying his retirement at Empire Stallions in Victoria, Australia.