Keystone Ore was an American

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 trac ...

horse, who was the son of

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. He was trained and driven by

Stanley Dancer Stanley Franklin Dancer (July 25, 1927 – September 9, 2005) was an American harness racing driver and trainer. He was the only horseman to drive and train three Triple Crowns in horse racing. In total, he drove 23 Triple Crown winners. He ...

, and was honored as

United States 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 1976. In 1976, Keystone Ore won the $200,000

Cane Pace The Cane Pace is a harness horse race for standardbred pacers run annually since 1955. The race was first run as the William H. Cane Futurity in 1955 at Yonkers Raceway in New York. In 1956 the race joined with the Little Brown Jug and the Mes ...

held on August 21 at

Yonkers Raceway Yonkers Raceway & Empire City Casino, founded in 1899 as the Empire City Race Track, is a one-half-mile standardbred harness racing dirt track and slots racino located at the intersection of Central Park Avenue and Yonkers Avenue in Yonkers, New Y ...

, in front of a crowd of 24,458 fans, with his time of 1:57.2 in the mile distance setting the record for a 3-year-old pacer at that distance. Raven Hanover, driven by George Sholty ¾ of a length behind the lead, with

Windshield Wiper A windscreen wiper, windshield wiper, wiper blade (American English), or simply wiper, is a device used to remove rain, snow, ice, washer fluid, water, or debris from a vehicle's front window. Almost all motor vehicles, including cars, truck ...

1¼ lengths behind second. Keystone Ore won the Little Brown Jug, the second leg of the

Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Pacers The Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Pacers consists of these horse races: #Cane Pace, held at the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, New Jersey #Messenger Stakes, held at Yonkers Raceway in Yonkers, New York # Little Brown Jug, held at t ...

, with a time of 1:57.4 in a raceoff against Armbro Ranger, who had won the first division of the race at the half-mile track at the Delaware County Fairgrounds in front of a crowd of 39,709, the second-largest attendance at the event. Keystone Ore had won the second division in a time of 1:57 for the mile, and the combined time of 3:54.4 broke a record for age, sex and gait on a half-mile track that had been set by

Bret Hanover Bret Hanover (May 19, 1962 – November 21, 1992) was an outstanding American Standardbred racehorse. He was one of only nine pacers to win harness racing's Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Pacers and won 62 of 68 starts. He was the firs ...

in 1965. Heavily favored to win 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 th ...

and sweep the Triple Crown, Keystone Ore fell to Windshield Wiper, who finished three-quarters of a length ahead of Keystone Ore. Both Keystone Ore and Windshield Wiper had started in the second tier of the 11-horse race and were hemmed in on the rail. On the backstretch for the second time, both horses found room to the outside around the stretch turn with Windshield Wiper pulling away in the last 50 yards. Keystone Ore had beaten Windshield Wiper in 13 of their races, but lost when the two competed against each other at

Freehold Raceway Freehold Raceway is a half-mile racetrack in Freehold Borough, New Jersey, and is the oldest racetrack in the United States. Horseraces have been taking place at Freehold Raceway since the 1830s. The Monmouth County Agricultural Society was fo ...

in a race held two weeks before the Messenger Stakes. Keystone Ore finished the season with earnings of $469,302, and a win in the Messenger would not only have earned the Triple Crown but would have put the horse just short of the single-season harness horse earnings record of $558,009 set by

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in 1971.Looney, Douglas S
"Wiping Out A Clean Sweep"
''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twice ...

', November 8, 1976. Accessed February 19, 2009.

References

{{Reflist 1973 racehorse births American Standardbred racehorses Harness Horse of the Year winners American Champion harness horses Little Brown Jug winners Cane Pace winners