rum customer
Bred by R. C. Larkin of Poplar Hills Farm, 1968 Pacing Triple Crown winner and world champion Rum Customer (1965-1995) was the first North American-bred pacer to earn $1 million. Owned by Lloyd Lloyds and trained by Hall of Fame Immortal Billy Haughton, Rum Customer showed his durability early in his career. After shrugging off a minor injury, he started 25 times at two, earning a respectable mark of 1:59.3 at Springfield.
During the off-season, owner Lloyds (Kennilworth Farm) traded half-interest in Rum Customer to Connie and Louis Mancuso in exchange for a small airplane. In his sophomore year Rum Customer finished on the board in 22 of 24 starts with 15 wins. Victories included the Messenger Stake, Cane Futurity, Little Brown Jug (completing the Triple Crown), Horseman Futurity (in a world-record 1:56), Hanover-Hempt, Westchester, Battle of Saratoga and Geers Stake. He was the leading moneywinning pacer of the year with $355,618, the fastest Standardbred at 1:56, and was voted Three-Year-Old Pacer of the Year.
Rum Customer thrived under the rigors of the aged pacing wars, battling it out with the best of the breed in 1969 and being named the 1970 Aged Pacer of the Year.
In 1971 Rum Customer remained in training in hopes of reaching the $1 million earnings mark before heading to stud at Lana Lobell Farms. On Yonkers Raceway’s closing night, he finished sixth in a $25,000 handicap pace, leaving him stuck at $998,861 - painfully short of becoming the first American‑bred pacer to top seven figures. Then, on Dec. 27 at Aurora Downs near Chicago, he resurfaced in a snowy $5,000 race and won by a nose for Del Insko in 2:06, finally pushing him over the milestone.
Only the second pacing Standardbred to earn over $1 million (Cardigan Bay), Rum Customer retired as the leading moneywinning pacer of all time, with $1,001,548 in earnings. He was exported to New Zealand to continue his breeding career, and died in October 1995 at the age of 30.