| Groovy | |
|---|---|
| Sire | Norcliffe |
| Grandsire | Buckpasser |
| Dam | Tinnitus |
| Damsire | Restless Wind |
| Sex | Stallion |
| Foaled | 1983 |
| Country | United States |
| Colour | Chestnut |
| Breeder | Marshall T. Robinson |
| Owner | 1) Edith Libutti 2) Theodore V. Kruckel 3) Theodore V. Kruckel & John A. Ballis 4) Lone Star Stable 5) Prestonwood Farm |
| Trainer | 1) Edward J. Yowell 2) Mervin Marks 3) Heliodoro Gustines 4) John B. Adams 5) Kimberly Hardy 6) Petro Peters 7) Howard Crowell 8) Jose A. Martin |
| Record | 26: 12-4-1 |
| Earnings | US$1,346,956 |
| Major wins | |
| Forever Casting Stakes (1985) Ancient Title Handicap (1986) Firecracker Stakes (1986) Forego Handicap (1986, 1987) Spectacular Bid Stakes (1986) Tom Fool Handicap (1986, 1987) True North Handicap (1987) Vosburgh Stakes (1987) |
|
| Awards | |
| American Champion Sprint Horse (1987) | |
| Horse (Equus ferus caballus) | |
Groovy (1983–2006) was an American Thoroughbred Champion sprint racehorse known for his love of jelly donuts.[1] As at 2011, he is the last horse to break the 130 Beyer Speed Figure having accomplished that milestone in his first two starts of 1987. In the Roseben Handicap at Aqueduct Racetrack he earned a 131 rating and then a 134 in the True North Handicap.[2]
Bred in Texas by Marshall T. Robinson, Groovy was out of the mare Tinnitus and sired by 1976 Canadian Horse of the Year Norcliffe who was a son of U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee, Buckpasser.[3] Groovy was purchased at auction in February 1985 for $81,000 by Edith Libutti, the daughter of agent, Ralph Libutti. Two months later, she sold the colt to New Jersey banker, Theodore V. Kruckel.
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Mismanaging by his owner resulted in Groovy being handled by several trainers during his race conditioning period and then during his first season of racing. Trained by Jack Adams, who determined that Groovy was not able to compete at distances of more than seven furlongs, he was soon replaced by the owner who dreamed of running in the mile and a quarter Kentucky Derby.[4] As a result, Kimberly Hardy saddled the colt in his racing debut on September 2, 1985 and won the Forever Casting Stakes at Meadowlands Racetrack at a distance of six furlongs. With Adams back as trainer, Groovy raced four more times that year with his best results at Belmont Park where he ran second in both the Grade I Champagne Stakes and the Futurity Stakes, However, in each of these races Groovy took the lead from the start but then tired badly including the Champagne in which he finished second but still 9¾ lengths behind winner, Mogambo.[5]
Making his 1986 debut at Florida's Gulfstream Park on January 8, Groovy won the Spectacular Bid Stakes at six furlongs.[5] Before his next start, Houston, Texas real estate developer John Ballis paid $1 million for a half interest in the horse but again. [4] Groovy was shipped from Florida to New York where under Petro Peters, his sixth trainer, he lost three straight races but ran third in the Wood Memorial Invitational Stakes.
Trainer Peters was replaced by Howard Crowell and his owners sent him to run in the Kentucky Derby where the colt again immediately took the lead and held it for the first three-quarters of a mile before tiring badly and finishing sixteenth and last, some 49 lengths behind winner, Ferdinand. Nonplussed, his owners entered him in the mile and three-sixteenths Preakness Stakes. Once again, the distance was too much and he struggled home sixth in a seven-horse field. He did not run him in the mile and a half Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the U.S. Triple Crown series.
In June 1986, a month after his poor showing in the Preakness, Groovy's owners turned his race conditioning over to the very capable Jose Martin who had trained Lakeville Miss the American Champion Two-Year-Old Filly of 1977 as well as Wayward Lass the 1981 American Champion Three-Year-Old Filly. Martin accepted the job on the understanding that he would decide which races and what distances the colt would compete in. As such, Martin entered him in the July 4 Firecracker Stakes, a six furlong sprint at Belmont Park which he won easily by 2¾ lengths.[6] On July 20, Groovy next won the seven furlong Tom Fool Handicap, a Grade II event at Belmont Park. He followed this up with another Grade II win in the seven furlong Forego Handicap at Saratoga Race Course. Stretched to one mile (8 furlongs) in the Jerome Handicap, Groovy could do no better than fourth. Now firmly fixed as a sprint horse, he was shipped to California to prepare for the November 1, 1986 Breeders' Cup Sprint. In a tune-up, on October 15 he won the six furlong Ancient Title Handicap at Santa Anita Park in the impressive time of 1:08 1/5.[7] On the same track and at the same distance, Groovy was sent off as the overwhelming favorite to win the Breeders' Cup Sprint but finished fourth, some 2½ lengths behind winner, Smile. Following another inexplicable fourth place finish in the November 15 Sport Page Handicap at Aqueduct Racetrack, X-rays revealed Groovy had a bone chip in the right knee that required surgery.
At the end of Groovy's 1986 racing campaign, John Ballis bought out his partner's half interest in the horse for $950,000 and would race under the name, Lone Star Stable. Recovery from surgery saw Groovy out of racing for nearly seven months but he came back with a vengeance, winning his first start by 4¾ lengths on June 6, 1987 in the Roseben Handicap at Belmont Park and received a Beyer Speed Figure of 131. In the ensuing June 21 True North Handicap at Belmont Park, while carrying high weight, Groovy established a track record of 1:07 4/5 for six furlongs on dirt and earning a Beyer Speed figure of 134 on a muddy track.[8] Groovy then competed in and won the July 5 Breeders' Cup Stakes at Farmington, New York's Finger Lakes Race Track, setting another track record for six furlongs on dirt with a time of 1:09 2/5.[9] After winning the July 18 Tom Fool Handicap for the second year in a row and his fourth race in four 1987 starts, John Ballis sold Groovy for $4 million to the Prestonwood Farm of brothers Jack, Art and J.R. Preston. For his new owners, Groovy went on to win his next two starts including the Grade I Vosburgh Stakes on October 10.[10] Undefeated for the year, Groovy was again the heavy favorite to win November's Breeders' Cup Sprint , hosted in 1987 by Hollywood Park Racetrack. In what would be his last race, for the second straight year Groovy was upset in the Breeders' Cup Sprint, finishing second by four lengths to the filly, Very Subtle.[11] A leading contender for American Horse of the Year honors, Groovy's loss very likely cost him the title but he was voted the Eclipse Award as the 1987 American Champion Sprint Horse.[12]
Groovy stood at stud at Prestonwood Farm in Kentucky for eleven seasons and two more for the farms new owners who operate as WinStar Farm. He sired more than 220 winners of which 18 were stakes winners. The top earner among his progeny at $636,664 was Brutally Frank (b. 1994) whose wins included the Grade 1 Carter Handicap.
Groovy was pensioned in 2001 due to neurological issues and on January 26, 2006 at age twenty-three was humanely euthanized at WinStar farms due to infirmities of old age.[1]
| Sire Norcliffe |
Buckpasser | Tom Fool | Menow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gaga | |||
| Busanda | War Admiral | ||
| Businesslike | |||
| Drama School | Northern Dancer | Nearctic | |
| Natalma | |||
| Stalina | Stalino | ||
| Boscabell | |||
| Dam Tinnitus |
Restless Wind | Windy City | Wyndham |
| Staunton | |||
| Lump Sugar | Bull Lea | ||
| Sugar Run | |||
| Dors | Corporal | Court Martial | |
| Carmen | |||
| Cathy | Challenger | ||
| Flag Trick |
