Word: niatross
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Dates: during 1980-1980
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When Galbraith took his strapping (16 hands high) colt to the races, Niatross showed none of the gangliness of youth, winning his first six starts. Enter Stockbroker Guida, a Merrill, Lynch executive who dabbled in harness syndications as a sideline. In September of 1979, Guida bought half-interest in the colt for $2.5 million in cash plus performance bonuses. He quickly recouped that investment by selling 20 shares at $200,000 each...
...Niatross continued to dominate the pacing field as a three-year-old, finally running up a string of 19 consecutive wins. In July the agreement between the owners came unraveled-and so did the colt. Galbraith and Berger sued Guida, hoping to invalidate the sale. The central issue was where Niatross would stand at stud. Galbraith wants the horse at the Scottsville, N.Y., farm run by his wife. The purchase agreement stipulates that Niatross will go to a farm of Guida's choosing. For her part, Berger will say only that she wants her colt to remain...
While the owners feuded, Niatross faltered. He lost back-to-back starts, the only defeats of his 32-race career. Trailing in a race at Saratoga on July 5, Galbraith tapped Niatross with a whip. It was the first time the colt had ever been whipped. Startled, he bolted over the railing, sprawling with a sickening thud on the in field grass. Miraculously, he escaped with a bruise. Six days later, Niatross raced at New Jersey's Meadowlands and finished fourth...
Since then, Niatross has rolled on to eleven straight victories. He swept the Cane Pace and the Little Brown Jug-the first two legs of the pacing Triple Crown-setting a track record in one of them. In the weeks before the Messenger Stakes, he kept in trim by running a time trial alongside Thoroughbreds at Lexington, Ky. Head held high in the distinctive pacer's posture, his legs whipping a high-speed dressage. Niatross flew around the track in 1:49 1/5, smashing the world record for a pacing mile by 2 4/5 sec.-even bigger than...
Already lost is the dignity of the warring factions. One day before the Messenger Stakes, Guida won a court ruling that puts Niatross out to stud in 1981. But the bitterness remains, and Galbraith and Berger plan to appeal. Laments Berger: "He's such a regal animal. I hope that all this doesn't reflect on the horse." It couldn't. Niatross is the best that's ever been. -By B.J. Phillips Reported by Peter Ainslie/New York...