Remarkable Dams

This foundation family did not come from Kentucky, like so many others. And in fact, it got famous even before it moved to Kentucky. The family of Miss Copeland comes from New York State and starts with a mare the Copeland mare. She and her dam, Lydia, was bred by Burt C. Copeland of West Fort Ann, New York. This Copeland mare was mated with Almont Star and in 1887 she foaled Miss Copeland. Miss Copeland was a fast mare with the speed in her genes and she took a pretty good record in pacing. She also passed these genes of speed on to her foals but the one to carry the family on, Expectation, never got a decent record since she met with misfortune in her training. She did however, show extreme speed and she was a natural trotter. Expectation, by Autograph, was sent to be a broodmare at young age and she and her dam, Miss Copeland, was now owned by W.E. Spier.
The first foal of Expedition in 1897 was a gelding named Major Delmar, by Del Mar. Major Delmar was a champion trotter for several years and he was in fact the first trotting gelding to break the two-minute barrier.

In 1899 Expedition foaled a filly named Fruition, by Adbell. It was this filly that was going to carry this maternal family on. But after the death of W.E. Spier, Expectation and Fruition went separate ways. Expectation was first sold to T.W. Lawson of Boston, Massachusetts but she ended up at Dromore Farm at St. Clair, Michigan where she continued to produce great foals like Justice Brooke (f.1908), by Barongale.

Fruition was purchased by John H. Shults at Parkville Farm on Long Island. She was then bred to Axworthy and in 1906 she foaled Fruity Worthy. In 1908 Fruition had another foal, this time by Guy Axworthy. This foal was Fruity Guy, but even though she had some good foals it was through Fruity Worthy the family lived on.

In 1909 Fruity Worthy was bred to Toddington and the result was a filly named Claire Toddington. Claire Toddington never took a record and like Expectation, she was sold to Dromore Farm. Fruity Worthy was sold to Walnut Hall Farm when Mr. Shults sold his horses and here she produced a filly named The Real Lady, by Moko, in 1914. The Real Lady was a great trotter and she lowered the trotting records both as a two-year-old and as a three-year-old. But Fruity Worthy's foal from 1922, Fruity Volo, by Peter Volo and the foal from 1925, Lexington Maid, by Peter Volo, was going to become more important to this maternal family then The Real Lady.

Fruity Volo is to be found in the pedigree of Oil Burner (p), while Lexington Maid is found in the pedigree of Sampson Direct (p). From Lexington Maid comes a lot of great trotters like Speedster, Speedy Rodney, Speed, Flirth, Madison Avenue and Crysta's Crown.

The third link in this great family is to be found in Claire Toddington. After being sold to Dromore Farm she was bred to Justice Brooke and in 1915 she produced a filly named Justissima. Justissima became the dam of Nibble Hanover and Calumet Butler but she is also the grandam of Titan Hanover, another star of his time.

Miss Duvall

This family starts when Colonel R.P. Pepper at South Elkhorn Stock Farm in Kentucky bred Miss Duvall in 1868. She was by Duvall's Mambrino, a son of Mambrino Chief 11, and out of a mare by Paddy Burns 4935. This family is unique since it has only produced good pacers and no trotters and it was quite unknown until it started to expand around 1930 with the two sisters Romola (f.1929) and Nora Adele (f.1931). They were both sired by The Senator, a son of Peter the Great, and out of the mare May Dodge. May Dodge was foaled in 1924 and her sire was the Bingen-son, Joe Dodge. Her dam was Klata Thorne, a mare foaled in 1906 by Klatawah 30785.

May Dodge was five generations away from Miss Duvall and she is traced back to the Miss Duvall-daughter Grisette, who was foaled in 1877, by Crittenden 433. But it was not until the sixth generation that this maternal line started to show it's potential.

The pacers from the branch of Romola had their glorious days in the 1960th, while the Nora Adele-branch is the strongest one today. From Romola came a great broodmare, Romola Hanover, by Tar Heel, and she had nine foals that took a record of 2:00 or better. Four of her daughters helped to spread the genes and she also had four sisters, which made this branch strong. You find names like Romeo Hanover (p), Romulus Hanover (p), Romalie Hanover (p), Chairmanoftheboard (p), Misty Raquel (p), Efishnc (p) and Robust Hanover (p) in the Hall of Fame of this branch.

From Nora Adele came pacers like Life Sign (p), Naughty But Nice (p), Leah Almahurst (p), Nadia Lobell (p), Tucson Hanover (p), Fan Hanover (p), Central Park West (p) and Too Much Trouble (p).