Hot Hitter

Hot Hitter
Hot Hitter
Breed	Little Brown Jug (1979); Messenger Stakes (1979); Prix d'Été (1979); Adios Pace (1979);
Awards
	1979 USA 3 Year Old Colt Pacer of the Year
	Last updated on 29 September 2016

Hot Hitter (foaled 1976), a bay

Pacing Triple Crown races in 1979 while on his way to setting a single-season earnings record of $826,542 for a harness horse.^[1]

Purchased as a yearling by trainer Lou Meittinis for the bargain-basement price of $21,000, Hot Hitter eventually was sold to various investors for $6 million.[2]

Racing career

For his important races, Hot Hitter was driven by Harness Racing Hall of Fame inductee Hervé Filion. Racing as a two-year-old, he met with limited success, but at age three developed into the 1979 U.S. Champion three-year-old pacer.

Triple Crown races

On June 30, 1979 Happy Motoring nipped Hot Hitter at the wire in the first leg of the Triple Crown series, the

Little Brown Jug, the second leg of the Triple Crown and North America's most prestigious harness race for pacers. The Cane Pace winner finished a distant seventh in the Jug's eight‐horse field.^[4] On October 27 at Roosevelt Raceway, Hot Hitter easily won the third leg of the series, the Messenger Stakes.^[5]

World record performance

The

Montréal, Québec. His winning time of 1:54 in Canada's then-richest and most important race set a new world record for a 5/8-mile track.^[6]

While not a world record, Hot Hitter's win in the 1979 Adios Pace was another memorable performance. He won both heats, on a muddy track, in the process defeating Sonsam, who had set a world record for a one-mile oval in winning the July 19 Meadowlands Pace and was widely seen as invincible.

Stud record

Hot Hitter failed a fertility test that led to a $1.3 million insurance payment.^[7] As a result, he produced only a small number of offspring. Of his progeny, the best performance was by his gelded son Willie Mays, who won in a time of 1:53.2.^[8]

References

^ New York Times - October 28, 1979
^ Sports Illustrated - October 1, 1979
^ Sports Illustrated - July 2, 1979
^ New York Times - September 21, 1979
^ "Hot Hitter Easily Takes Messenger Stakes Pace". The New York Times. 28 October 1979. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
^ Montreal Gazette - August 27, 1979
^ United Press International, Inc. - October 31, 1983
^ Classic Families - Hot Hitter

[1] New York Times - October 28, 1979

[2] Sports Illustrated - October 1, 1979

[3] Sports Illustrated - July 2, 1979

[4] New York Times - September 21, 1979

[5] "Hot Hitter Easily Takes Messenger Stakes Pace". The New York Times. 28 October 1979. Retrieved 26 July 2018.

[6] Montreal Gazette - August 27, 1979

[7] United Press International, Inc. - October 31, 1983

[8] Classic Families - Hot Hitter

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