STANLEY DANCER REFLECTS UPON THE CHASE OF TROTTING'S TRIPLE CROWN

On October 6, harness racing will observe the 32nd anniversary of Super Bowl's win in the Kentucky Futurity, a victory that gave the three-year-old a sweep of trotting's Triple Crown. Three days later, Windsong's Legacy will attempt to become the first horse since then -- and the seventh overall -- to accomplish the feat.

Windsong's Legacy has already won the Hambletonian and Yonkers Trot, the first two jewels in the Triple Crown. On Saturday he won the $901,290 Canadian Trotting Classic for trainer-driver Trond Smedshammer as he continues to prep for the October 9 Kentucky Futurity at the Red Mile in Lexington. For the year, Windsong's Legacy has won seven of 10 races and earned $1.49 million. His seasonal earnings are the third highest in trotting history, behind Malabar Man's $1.67 million in 1997 and Prakas' $1.61 million in 1985.

Since Super Bowl's triumph for trainer-driver Stanley Dancer, seven horses have won the first two jewels in the Crown but failed to complete the sweep. The most recent was Muscles Yankee, who finished fifth and third in his two Kentucky Futurity heats in 1998. There have been five pacing Triple Crown winners since 1972, including three in the last six years.

"You'd never think it would be this long, but it's happened that way," Dancer said about the trotting Triple Crown drought. "I don't really have any answer why it's been this long. The main thing is having a good horse and keeping them sound."

Dancer won three Triple Crowns during his career -- the first with trotter Nevele Pride in 1968, the second with pacer Most Happy Fella in 1970 and the final one with trotter Super Bowl. "It's always a big deal to win it," Dancer, 77, said from his home in Pompano Beach, Florida. "To win three, that was unbelievable. You think maybe you can win one, and then after the first one you think that you might be able to win two. But I never thought I would win three. That was just something extra."

Super Bowl was born on April 8, 1969 -- about three months after the New York Jets beat the Baltimore Colts in the NFL-AFL championship game, which for the first time was called officially the "Super Bowl." The late Norman Woolworth, co-owner of Stoner Creek Stud, the breeder of Super Bowl, said the horse got its named because all his kids talked about at night in bed was the football game.

Dancer bought Super Bowl for $20,000. "As a two-year-old he was a little slow getting going," he recalled. "He was a nice horse that did everything you liked, but it just took a little longer. He didn't make breaks or anything, so that wasn't it. I think it was just a matter of maturing. Once he got good, he was one of the best."

By August 1971, Super Bowl had rounded into form. He ended the year with 15 wins in 23 starts and was voted the best two-year-old colt trotter in North America. Dancer said Super Bowl "didn't have to improve a lot" to dominate the following year. Super Bowl won 23 of 28 races and became the first three-year-old to trot in less than 1:57, winning the Hambletonian in 1:56.2.

"You never want to be overconfident, but by all means Super Bowl should've won the Triple Crown that year -- and he did," Dancer said. "He was the best, but anything can happen in a race."

Sometimes "anything" can happen twice. In the first heat of the Kentucky Futurity, Super Bowl won despite having a tire go flat 120 yards before the finish after it was clipped by one of Songcan's hooves. In the second heat, the same thing happened, only this time it was three-quarters of a mile from the finish.

"That was the only time I was worried," Dancer said with a laugh. "That was just one of those things, it wasn't anybody's fault. I shifted myself in the sulky to take my weight off that tire. But he was the best, and he won."

Dancer said he never tinkered much with his horses between races, particularly during the Triple Crown series. "I didn't do anything differently," he said. "I never believed in that; I think that's bad. The way I looked at it, there was no sense messing around with success."