On December 6, 1986, at glorious Champlain Raceway in Dieppe, Jigtime Buddy and Barry Fagan sailed into the harness racing record books. Over a distance of a mile and one-sixteenth, Jigtime Buddy set a new world standard for a five-eighths mile track of 2:07.4, lowering the former record of 2:15 set by Rich Rob at Sportsman Park in Chicago in 1956.
That record has stood
the test of time. (For a list of all
current North American records, please click http://standardbredcanada.ca/content/stats/north-american-race-records.html.)
For the record, Jigtime
Buddy sat last while Heel’s Lad set early early fractions of :29.2 and a half
in :58.4 before ranging up on the outside at the three-quarters in 1:30.4 and
ahead at the mile in 1:59.4. Worthy Gift
finished three and one-half lengths back in second ahead of Stoneriggs El
Patron, Heels Lad and Beth Seelster.
Jigtime Buddy last
raced in May 1990 and ended his career with a record of 1:57f, $85,031 in
lifetime earnings and 28 career wins.
The son of Angels Wave
– Bon Flash is a full-brother to Maritime champion Angels Shadow, Jigtime
Knievil and Jigtime Rambo and all were bred by Blaine and Donna Hannay of Upper
Rexton.
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| ANGELS SHADOW |
The Hannay’s are
typical hobby breeders in New Brunswick whose operation over the past 35 years
or so, somewhat reflects what has happened to the industry. Running a small breeding establishment had
become more difficult recently and a decision to leave an industry in dire
straits was about to be made.
And then hope came along in the form of a
successful horse, Honey Do Jigtime, the top Maritime three-year-old filly in
2011. The next year Honey Do Jigtime became
the fastest New Brunswick-bred mare of all time when she paced Woodbine in
1:51.4, lowering the old record by two-fifths of a second that my own mare,
Spudland Sierra, had set in 2004.
Honey Do Jigtime went over the $200,000 in lifetime earning.
Prior to writing this
blog, I contacted Donna Hannay about Jigtime Buddy. In an email to me she articulated her
thoughts so well about her love affair with harness racing - and perhaps spoke
for many hobby horsemen - that I knew I couldn’t have expressed her thoughts any
better with my own words.
The following was
written by Donna Hannay.
In 1976, in the backstretch at the Moncton
racetrack, Murray Wade asked Blaine if he would be interested in having a
4-year- old mare. He had raced her for a year or so. She took a mark of 2.09.3 and made little
money ($846) and he didn't want to spend any more time or money on her. He did, however, want her to have a good home.
The only stipulation was that he wanted
us to raise a colt for him in the future sired by a stallion of his choice. Little did we know, that when we loaded Bon
Flash onto our trailer and brought her home, that this gift of horse would be
much more than that. She was a big bay
mare with a mind of her own. But she
became the foundation mare of our little breeding operation that has weathered
the industry successes and storms ever since.
She was sired by Flash About, who did not rate as a sire of much
importance in anyone's book, and she was out of a Mac Primrose mare, which
again, meant little in the breeding industry. But “Bonnie”, as she was affectionately
nicknamed by us, was a gift beyond measure. Not only did she give us numerous memorable
offspring, she gave us a lifetime of "lifelong friends made and
kept", a passion for a sport that has given us so much enjoyment as a
couple, and memories beyond measure.
With stars in our eyes, and dreams in our heart of a
"stakes" champion, we bred her the first three times to Crafty
Shadow. The stars faltered and the
dreams were put on hold as none of these three made it to the races or earned
any money. Next time around, Murray
decided that he wanted to breed her to his own stallion, a diminutive, black
horse by the name of Angel's Wave. The
resulting foal was named Angel's Shadow, and our journey with Bonnie had truly
begun. Angel's Shadow was bred and
foaled here at our farm and spent the first three months of his life with us
before going to Charlotte's Ranch. The
cross between Bonnie and Angel's Wave became a "magical" thing. She was bred four more times to him, with
three stud colts and a filly being the result. The filly never raced. The other stud colts were Jigtime Buddy,
Jigtime Rambo and Jigtime Knievil. Buddy
set a World Record. Rambo and Knievil
both took good sub two minute marks and made good money for the time. Interesting to note here is how the stable
name came about. The three first foals
that we raised out of Bonnie did not carry the Jigtime moniker. Then Murray named the" Shadow". When Buddy was due, our best friends from
Saint John wanted to be here at foaling
time, but the gentleman in question was due to work...so he "jigged
time" to be here and the resulting foal, Jigtime Buddy, got his name from
that incident and for our best friend's name, Buddy (Mac Gregor). We liked the Jigtime part so much, that we
registered it as our stable name, and since that time, we've raised 36 horses
that have carried the Jigtime banner.
As is the case for any breeding farm, we've had our share of success
and our share of shattered dreams. But through it all, we've always believed in
the industry and have done everything in our power to be positive when things
seemed bleak. For a small breeding
establishment - and that would mean that
we have had only one or two mares at one time - with the exception of one year
when we had three mares, we feel that we have had our share of success. Along the way, our broodmares pedigrees
improved. We've had a Precious Fella mare, Seltzer, the dam of Seltzer Blue, a
Bret Hanover mare, a Tarport Ervin mare, a Knightly Blue Chip mare, Class N
Jigtime (our homebred out of Bon Flash) and the last mare that took up
residence here is Gold Luck, a daughter of Camluck. She is the dam of Honey Do Jigtime and
presently she has a yearling stud colt by Articulator. Throughout the journey, we've raised such
horses as URA Jigtime p.6, 1:56.3f ($80,981), Jigtime Silencer p.4, 1:58.3h
($27,926), Jigtime Smokey
p.5, 1:57.1f ($24,938), etc., to name a few.
When Honey Do Jigtime came along and the industry in such dire straits, we decided that the time
had come for us to finally make our exit from the breeding part of the game. We
had spent a lifetime devoted to that particular part of the industry, we were
both getting older and it was becoming increasingly difficult to be able to get
away even for a few days of vacation. How the horse racing Gods must have
smiled at that decision, because once Honey hit the track, that decision was
history. We have yet to decide who Goldie will be bred to this year, but she
WILL be bred. Retiring will have to wait a few more years, and I guess we are
both good with this decision and yes, even happy about it.
Have we ever regretted saying "yes" to Murray Wade. Not
once, not ever! Bonnie was the best present Blaine and I could have imagined in
relation to the horse industry. She was the beginning of an endeavor that has given us memorable moments galore,
moments captured on tape for us to relive over and over again, an endeavor
that has given us a lifetime passion
that we both enjoyed and an endeavor that has given us friends that will last a
lifetime!
THE MAGICAL CROSS / ANGELS
WAVE – BON FLASH
ANGELS SHADOW
p.2,2:08.1h; 3,1:59.3h; 4,1:57h; 5,1:56.4f ($222,577)
Lifetime record: 106-45-18-17
Owner: Murray Wade
Trainer: Marcel Barrieau
Homebred
Career Highlights
At 2,
- First lifetime start
finished fifth for Gilles Barrieau on September 21, 1983
- First career win for
Marcel Barrieau in 2:08.2 on October 22
- Won five in-a-row
from October 22 to November 16
- Season totals: 2:08.1h 8-5-1-1-$1,685
At 3,
- Won his first seven
races of the season. During this streak
he became the fastest Maritime-bred on Maritime soil, winning in 1:59.3 in an
early closer at Sackville Downs
- First loss came
against Winners Accolade at Saint John on June 9 in a leg of the Labatt Blue
Crown Series. It was his first start
against Invitational pacers
- Second to Pearls
Falcon (1:59) in Gold Cup and Saucer Trial #1 at Charlottetown
- Third to Pearls
Falcon in Gold Cup and Saucer final
- Won Miss ANE Pace in
2:00.2 at Saint John
- Fifth to Winners
Accolade in Provincial Cup VII at Saint John
- Season totals: 1:59.3h 25-14-2-4-$25,588
At 4,
- Second to Gemini Risk
(2:00.2) in the Alexander Memorial at Saint John
- Won an Invitational
at Truro in 2:00.2
- Won Governor’s Plate
(1:59.1) at Summerside in track record time
- Won Gold Cup and
Saucer Trial #1 (1:59) at Charlottetown
- Second to Winners
Accolade (1:57.3) in Gold Cup and Saucer final
- Won Cruickshank
Memorial (1:58.2) at Sackville Downs
- Won Provincial Cup
VIII (1:57) at Saint John to establish a new all-age track record and became the fastest Maritime-bred of all
time
- Season totals: 1:57h 32-12-7-7-$86,375
At 5,
- Fourth to Witsends
Gypsy (1:54.2) in the Monctonian at Champlain Raceway in Moncton
- Won Gold Cup and
Saucer Trail #2 (1:59.3) at Charlottetown
- Second to Rev Your
Engine in Gold Cup and Saucer final in a thrilling stretch duel
- Won provincial Cup IX
(1:58.1) at Saint John in track record for aged horses
- Won in 1:56.4f at
Champlain Raceway on September 13, 1986 – lifetime record and breaking his own
record for fastest Maritime-bred of all
time
- Atlantic Post Calls Horse of-the-Year
- Seasons totals: 1:56.4f 35-11-6-5-$90,025
At 6,
- Missed most of season
because of injury starting late in season at Blue Bonnets in Montreal
- Seasons totals: 2:00.1f 17-3-3-1-$17,904
At 7,
- Retired on February 27, 1988 going
ceremonial last mile at Champlain Raceway
Stood stud at
Hollylaine Island Farm and sired 12 foals, 7 winners, 2 in 2:02 including
Island Maxwell p.3,2:00.4h and Second Shadow p.3,2:01h. Angels Shadow died in December 1993
JIGTIME BUDDY
p.6,1:57f ($85,031)
Lifetime record: 129-28-29-15
Owner: Barry Fagan
Trainer: Barry Fagan
JIGTIME KNIEVIL
p.5,1:57.2f ($31,044)
Lifetime record: 152-41-25-20
Owner: Seawinds AMG Ltd.
Trainer: Wayne Mahar
JIGTIME RAMBO
p.4,1:59h ($51,528)
Lifetime record: 225-46-33-41
Owner: Marlene Mooney
HONEY DO JIGTIME (CoasttoCoast
Yankee-Gold Luck)
p.4,1:51.4s ($255,257)
Lifetime Record: 138-23-22-16
$3,000 purchase at NSPE
Yearling Sale in 2009
Owner: Morah Kerr & Phonsie MacEachern
Trainer: Clare MacDonald
Career Highlights
At 2,
- Winner Atlantic Sires
Stakes at Charlottetown and Saint John
- Winner Williamson
Memorial at Fredericton, PEI Colt Stakes at Charlottetown
At 3,
- Winner Atlantic Sires
Stakes at Truro, Summerside, Northside Downs, Inverness and Charlottetown
- Winner Maritime
Breeders elimination and final and Atlantic Breeders Crown final at
Charlottetown, Ruby Chappell Stakes at Summerside, MacKenzie and Stanfield
stakes at Truro, Bill Quigg Memorial at Fredericton
- Atlantic Canada
three-year-old filly of –the-Year
At 4,
- Winner in 1:51.4s at
Woodbine to become the fastest New Brunswick-bred mare of all time
I would like to acknowledge the contributions of Patrick Eastwood to
this blog.
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