Harness: Bettor's Delight is better than ever and shattering the myths

It was said that stallions shouldn’t be moved and that was long before the term shuttle stallion became in vogue. It was said stallions should not be overused as it will eventually impact their ability to maintain siring excellence. It was said the downfall of stallions occurs when their daughters are old enough to be bred to the next generation of rival stallions.

Apparently, nobody told Bettor’s Delight any of these old “old wives tales” as at the ripe old age of 21, the son of Cam’s Card Shark leads all pacing sires in the category of all-age money winners.

In addition, one son, Tall Dark Stranger, will finish out the year as the second leading money-winning 2-year-old pacing colt while 3-year-old son Bettor’s Wish is not only the leading money-winning 3-year-old but is the leading money-winning pacer of any age in 2019.

When Hanover’s Lawrence B. Sheppard was asked by Delvin Miller when he should deliver the farm’s newly purchased stallion Adios, who had been standing at Miller’s Meadowlands Farm in Western Pennsylvania, Mr. Sheppard replied, “leave him where he is, we’ll send the mares to him”. That was before the advent of artificial insemination and shipped semen.

It was long thought that the reason Niatross declined following two exceptional opening crops was his relocation to Pine Hollow Stud in New York. While that remains a possibility, just about every other Albatross stallion started brilliantly, only to falter in later years. At this point in time, the Albatross male line is virtually non-existent in this hemisphere, though there may still be minor vestiges Down Under.

Bettor’s Delight stood stud in New York from 2002 before being unceremoniously moved to Ontario in 2012 to make room for newly retired full-brother Roll With Joe. Thereafter he stood in Pennsylvania in 2013 and 2014 but was returned to Ontario in 2015 and has been there since.

Bettor’s Delight has probably bred more mares than any other stallion in history given the shuttling he’s been doing all these years. In 2007 he covered 345 mares in New Zealand and another 80 in Australia before returning to New York where he covered 183 mares in 2008. Prior to shuttling South, he covered 180 mares in New York during the 2007 Winter-Spring breeding season.

Only once has Bettor’s Delight covered less than 150 mares in a Northern Hemisphere breeding season, that being 126 in 2006. For the record, Bettor’s Delight covered 172 mares in Ontario during the 2019 Winter-Spring season of which will be foals of 2020.

And, he probably had his best year ever at the races in 2019 as 3-year-old Bettor’s Wish could be named Horse of the Year. Another 3-year-old son, Best In Show (Put On A Show), won The Meadowlands Pace and was right there in some other classics. His 2-year-old son Tall Dark Stranger (Precocious Beauty) won The Metro and Breeders Crown Classics and will either be the top 2-year-old pacer or runner-up to Papi Rob Hanover. His 5-year-old daughter Caviart Ally (All American Cool) will be runner up to Shartin N for aged pacing mare honors. And his 4-year-old son (by Down Under Standards) Ultimate Sniper swept the coveted Inter-Dominions championship series.

Interestingly, despite standing stud since 2002, Bettor’s Delight has yet to be considered a sire of sires as only Betterthancheddar has had a degree of moderate success. However, that could change quickly as his son Betting Line (Heather’s Western), a foal of 2013 and 3-year-old champion in 2016, averaged $59,148 and $52,561 with his impressive first crops at Lexington and Harrisburg this year. At Lexington, Betting Line’s average eclipsed that of Bettor’s Delight by over $10,000.

Then there’s his son Lazarus N, considered the best Down Under import since Cardigan Bay, who’s now a shuttle stallion in his own right, expected to cover 225 mares in Australia after covering 136 mares in his first season at Deo Volente.

Bettor’s Wish (Lifetime Star) is expected to breed in the vicinity of 40 mares in 2020 while still in training and undoubtedly Tall Dark Stranger (Precocious Beauty) will wind up in stud duty somewhere down the road.

Another son, Stag Party (My Lady Day), an O’Brien award and Metro winner at age 2 in 2018, will join Betterthancheddar at Winbak of Canada for the 2020 breeding season.

Thus far Bettor’s Delight’s daughters have yet to eclipse his siring prowess as only Ellie Blue Chip and Darlin’s Delight have produced million dollar winners, they being The Real One ($1,252,788) to Mach Three and Darlinonthebeach ($1,068,648) to Somebeachsomewhere.

There may be arguments pro and con as to whether Bettor’s Delight is the greatest pacing sire of these times, but he undoubtedly is the most prolific!