STEFAN BALAZSI’S ORDER BY STABLE IS
BREEDER OF THE YEAR;
LADY ASHLEE ANN, SOUTHWIND SERENA PICKED
AS TOP BROODMARES
HARRISBURG PA – Marcus Melander, “to the manor born” in terms of
personal harness racing pedigree, went out in 2018 and made great
accomplishments with a small but talented collection of trotters, including the
two dominant two-year-old colts, in the process earning the Rising Star Award
in voting conducted by the United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA).
Also honored by USHWA were Order By Stable (Stefan Balazsi) as
Breeder of the Year, and two broodmares, trotter Southwind Serena and pacer
Lady Ashlee Ann, as their gait’s respective Broodmare of the Year.
Marcus Melander came from a rich trotting heritage in his native
Sweden, with perhaps the best-known of his family being his uncle Stefan
Melander, the Hambletonian, Prix d’Amerique, and International Trot winner, and
also noted for his photography as “Foto Tarzan.” Upon coming to the United
States, Marcus worked for Jimmy Takter, as fine an addition to a resume as one
could want, and then went out on his own.
2018 was the current peak of what is likely to be many more high
points in Marcus’s career. His 1-2 punch in the baby trotting colt ranks were
Gimpanzee, the undefeated New York Sire Stakes champion who then won his
Breeders Crown and divisional honors, and Green Manalishi S, second in the
Crown and like his stablemate a winner of over $500,000 in his freshman
campaign. (Other members in Melander’s 2019 sophomore arsenal may be Demon On
The Hill, who showed great potential, mostly in Pennsylvania, and Greenshoe, a
$330,000 yearling who showed promise in a brief freshman campaign.)
It’s not often that anybody wins a $1,000,000 race, especially a 26-year-old
sending a horse out for the first time, but that’s just what Melander did,
getting expatriate Cruzado Dela Noche from uncle Stefan before the
International Trot and then beating a group of the world’s elite trotters. In
another big FFA win, Crazy Wow, also recently added to the barn, turned in a
31-1 upset in the Maple Leaf Trot Final.
Named as Breeder of the Year was the Order By Stable of Stefan
Balazsi, which started in Sweden but now is one of the emerging major players
on the North American breeding scene. The breeding operation produced only 30
starters “on this side” during 2018, but still ranked twelfth in terms of money
won, with Order By’s offspring earning $2.4 million in Canada and the U.S..
The Hambletonian-winning, million-dollar earning sophomore filly
Atlanta, her division’s champion, certainly was the cream of the crop of Order
By’s produce in 2018. Not too far behind, though, was Gimpanzee, mentioned
above in connection with trainer Marcus Melander, who also was a divisional champion
and accounted for almost $600,000 in earnings himself.
The winning broodmares shared producing a three-year-old colt who
when at his best delivered blistering speed that left most of his generation
behind. Lady Ashlee Ann, a daughter of Camtastic owned by Winbak Farms for more
than twenty years, was the dam of pacer Courtly Choice, a son of Art Major who
sped to a 1:47.1 record, emerged victorious in the Empire Breeders Classic
Final, Meadowlands Pace and a thrilling Little Brown Jug, and earned over
$900,000. Lady Ashlee Ann was declared a “walkover winner” by USHWA’s Breeders
/ Broodmares Committee, so outstanding did they see the merit of her and her
son.
On the trotting side, Southwind Serena, a Varenne mare owned by
Steve Stewart, Black Creek Farm, and Andrea Lea Racing Stables Inc., was
recognized because of the exploits of trotter Tactical Landing. This Muscle
Hill colt, a full brother to the mercurial distaff Mission Brief, had been in
the spotlight since his sale for $800,000 as a yearling, second-highest price
ever, and for the better part of the next two years looked like a questionable
investment. But trainer Jimmy Takter (Stefan Melander’s earlier mentor)
exhibited tremendous developmental patience, and entering the Hambletonian with
five races lifetime and $14,000 on his card, the colt showed he “belonged” by
winning his elimination and finishing third in the final. This was the igniting
of a late-season surge than saw him take a mark of 1:50.2 at Lexington, sweep
his Breeders Crown races, and then defeat older horses handily in the TVG
Championship – while winning nearly $800,000 after the first Saturday in
August.
Marcus Melander, Order By Stable, Lady Ashlee Ann, Southwind
Serena and their connections will be honored at USHWA’s annual Dan Patch Awards
Banquet, celebrating the best and brightest of harness racing in the past year.
The banquet honoring the champions of 2018 will be held on Sunday, February 24,
2019 at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in Orlando FL, the climax of a weekend
that also finds USHWA holding its annual national meetings.
Tickets for the Dan Patch Awards Banquet are $175, with a filet
mignon dinner featured; “post times” on February 24 are cocktails at 6 p.m. and
dinner at 7 p.m. Tickets, and other Banquet-related information, can be
obtained through Dinner Planning Committee Chair Judy Davis-Wilson, at zoe8874@aol.com or 302 359 3630.
Hotel reservations for those attending can be made through USHWA’s
website, www.ushwa.org; a link to the hotel’s computer is on the front page of
the website. Those who would like to take out congratulatory ads for
awardwinners in the always-popular Dan Patch Awards Journal can do so by
contacting Kim Rinker at trotrink@aol.com
(the 2018 journal is online at the writers’ website).
