Abercrombie - Champion Standarbred Harness Race Horse

Abercrombie
Bay horse, foaled May 13, 1975 at Walnut Hall Farm
Silent Majority-Bergdorf-Duane Hanover
p,2, 1:56; 3, 1:54.3; 4, 1:53 ($984,391)

Foaled in Lexington, Kentucky, the young colt by Silent Majority would go on to become one of harness racing best known and most well-loved sires of modern times. Though he passed away on November 14, 2000 at age 25, Abercrombie's legacy carries on today in his many sons and daughters who still grace North America's racetracks and breeding facilities.

Abercrombie sold for a measly $9,500 as a yearling at the Tattersalls to owners Keith Bulen and Shirley Mitchell and was given to Jerry Landess to train. Later Cecil Peacock, a part-time horse trainer and full time school bus driver would take over his conditioning for his two-year-old season. When it became evident that the colt was something special, he asked well-known trainer-driver Glen Garnsey to take over the handling of Abercrombie. The colt had a modest freshman season, earning $49,379, but scored a 7-3-3 record from 20 starts and took a record of 1:56 at the Red Mile.

At three Abercrombie's talent really shined, as he scored 22 wins from 33 starts, winning the Messenger, the Adios, the Bluegrass, Queen City Pace, and Prix d'Ete, among others and finished second in the Little Brown Jug and Meadowlands Pace. He earned $703,260, which was a single-season mark for that time, and was named Horse of the Year for 1978.

The following season, as a four-year-old, Abercrombie did no less than become the fastest racehorse of the time, pacing in 1:53 at the Meadowlands. He ended his racing career that fall at The Red Mile, with credentials that showed him winning 36 of his 72 lifetime starts with $984,391 in career earnings. He was syndicated in 1979 by Castleton Farm for $3 million and stood his first season at stud (1980) for a fee of $7,500.

As of May 2004, Abercrombie has sired the winners of over $149 million dollars, ranking him as one of the top sires of all time. He has sired 432 pacers who have earned $100,000 or more, and many of his sons and daughter have gone on to prove nearly as prolific as their famous father in the breeding shed. From 1,574 starters sired by Abercrombie, 1,120 have paced faster than 2:00 while 403 have scored marks below 1:55.

Some of Abercrombie's top progeny include: Artsplace, p,4, 1:49.2 ($3+ million); Life Sign, p, 3, 1:50.3 ($1.9 million); Goliath Bayama p, 5, 1:48.1 ($1.5 million); Armbro Emerson p, 4, 1:51.4 ($1.4 million); Anniecrombie, p, 5, 1:52.3 ($1.4 million); Dontgetinmyway, p, 8, 1:50.2 ($1.4 million); Kentucky Spur p, 1:52 ($1.3 million); Misfit p,7, 1:49.4 ($1.1 million); and Albert Albert p, 3, 1:52.1 ($1.2 million).

Abercrombie's dam, Bergdorf, was one of harness racing's top broodmares for many seasons. He was her third and fastest foal, and all but two of her 12 foals made it to the races. Besides Abercrombie, she foaled Bruce Gimble, a son of Most Happy Fella who won 17 races and $203,655 with a three-year-old mark of 1:54.4.