Abercrombie (May 13, 1975 – November 14, 2000) was a

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Standardbred The Standardbred is an American horse breed best known for its ability in harness racing, where members of the breed compete at either a trot or pace. Developed in North America, the Standardbred is recognized worldwide, and the breed can trace i ...

world-record-holding pacer and winner of the E. Roland Harriman Award for

Harness Horse of the Year The Harness Horse of the Year is an honor recognizing the top harness racing horse in the United States. The award is selected by the United States Trotting Association and the United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA), which issues the an ...

in 1978, who went on to become one of the sport's leading sires.

Bloodlines

By Silent Majority out of Bergdorf by Duane Hanover, he was sold at the Tattersalls auction for $9,500 to Keith Bulen and Shirley Mitchell. Abercrombie's dam, Bergdorf, was a leading broodmare; although he was her fastest foal, 10 of her 12 foals made it to the races.

Racing career

Jerry Landess was his first trainer, and Cecil Peacock, a full-time school bus driver, succeeded Landess as Abercrombie's trainer for his two-year-old season. When his talent became apparent he was turned over to Glen Garnsey, his trainer-driver. In 20 starts as a two-year-old Abercrombie won seven times and finished second and third three times each, earning $49,379; his fastest time that season was 1:56 at

The Red Mile The Red Mile is a horse racing track located in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. The track hosts harness racing, a type of horse racing in which the horses must pull two-wheeled carts called sulkies while racing. It is one of harness racing's m ...

. Abercrombie won 22 of his 33 races in 1978, including the

Messenger Stakes The Messenger Stakes is an American harness racing event for 3-year-old pacing horses. It was organized in 1956 at Roosevelt Raceway in Westbury, New York (on suburban Long Island) to join with the Cane Pace and the Little Brown Jug to create ...

, the Prix d'Été, and the Adios Stakes, and earned $703,260. His best time for the mile was 1:53 (then a world record which stood for three years), set as a 4-year-old in August 1979 at the

Meadowlands Racetrack The Meadowlands Racetrack (currently referred to as Meadowlands Racing & Entertainment) is a horse racing track at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, United States. The track hosts both thoroughbred racing and harness ...

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At stud

Abercrombie retired in 1979 to become an important sire at

Castleton Farm Castleton Lyons near Lexington, Kentucky, is an American horse-racing stable and breeding business best known by the name Castleton Farm. History The farm was established in 1793 when Virginian John Breckinridge, a future U.S. senator and attorne ...

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(where he was syndicated for $3 million), helping to return the Adios line to prominence. As of May 2004, his offspring have won over $149 million. Abercrombie sired more than 1,700 foals; 11 of his offspring earned more than $1 million each (including

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, Harness Horse of the Year in 1992, who earned $3,085,083), and 432 have earned over $100,000. Among Abercrombie's other well-known progeny are Life Sign, Armbro Emerson, Anniecrombie, Missisippin, Misfit, Kentucky Spur, Goliath Bayama, Dontgetinmyway, Albert Albert and Armbro Dallas. His descendants have been successful both on the track and in the breeding shed; of his 1,574 offspring who have raced, 1,120 have paced below 2:00 and 403 have taken marks below 1:55.Abercrombie
Retrieved 2011-06-24. Abercrombie was inducted into the United States Harness Racing Hall of Fame in 1999. He died the following year, and is buried at the Castleton Farm horse cemetery.

References

{{Reflist 1975 racehorse births 2000 racehorse deaths Harness Horse of the Year winners American Standardbred racehorses United States Harness Racing Hall of Fame inductees Harness racing in the United States Messenger Stakes winners Horse racing track record setters