Supercolt Outruns Controversy

By B.J. Phillips

While his owners squabble, Niatross keeps on winning

In the long history of harness racing, there has never been a horse quite like the big bay colt called Niatross. Winner of 30 races in 32 trips to the post, he is the Secretariat of his sport. The fastest pacer ever to pull a sulky, Niatross holds world records for both the racing mile and a mile in a time trial. Last weekend, he won the Messenger Stakes at New York's Roosevelt Raceway by two lengths on a rain-soaked track to capture the Triple Crown for pacers.* Niatross thus became only the sixth pacer in history to win the Triple Crown and assured his place among the super-horses of any breed.

As befits a colt of his stature, Niatross was syndicated last year for a record $8 million while still a two-year-old. The horse quickly acquired a slew of proud parents: 26, to be exact, including the 71-year-old woman who bred him, the trainer-driver who has shepherded his development since he was a weanling, the securities executive who put together the syndicate to manage his stud career and 23 investors. Unfortunately, it is not one big happy family. Niatross's various owners have slapped one another with lawsuits, attempting to gain control over the colt's future. On one flank are Breeder Elsie Berger and Trainer-Driver Clint Galbraith; on the other is Stockbroker Louis Guida, manager of the Niatross syndicate. At issue is which breeding farm will have the benefit of his prestigious services.

When he was foaled at Hanover Shoe Farms in Pennsylvania in the spring of 1977, it seemed unlikely that the son of Albatross, one of the first megabucks harness sires, would end up in a broken home. Galbraith, 43, and the septuagenarian Berger had been informal partners for nearly a quarter of a century. When he was 19, Galbraith came as an apprentice to the woman's stables in Grand Island, N.Y., and over the years trained many of her top pacers. After Berger moved her breeding operation to Hanover Shoe Farms, she continued to use Galbraith as a trainer and, occasionally, offered him joint ownership of selected horses. Niatross was among them. Says Berger: "We've always been friends. He's trained my horses, and from time to time I've given him a horse. Clint is family."

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 in New York State. As for Guida: "Niatross deserves a stud farm that is first class in every respect, from a mahogany stall to full-time veterinarians."

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 the margin by which Secretariat shattered the Belmont Stakes record in his 31-length victory in the final leg of the 1973 Thoroughbred Triple Crown.

Such performances further enhance his value as a stud, but Galbraith and Berger are eager for him to continue to race. Says Berger: "I want to see him race as a four-year-old. God put breath in this horse so that he could bring excitement to the people." Guida disagrees: "What if he takes a false step and is injured? Right now, he's worth $40,000 per breeding. But the risks are great, and everything could be lost."

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

* The pacer is differentiated from another standard-bred racer, the trotter, by the distinctive pacing gait: front and hind legs on each side stride together.

With reporting by Peter Ainslie

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