Cranbury, NJ --- Fred Hertrich III says he isn’t a seller or a buyer.
“I’m a trader,” said Hertrich about his activities surrounding any horse sale. As the owner of Allamerican Harnessbreds, Hertrich’s yearlings go to auction every year and sell fairly well.
“We had a great sale this year,” Hertrich said.
In 2009, after his yearlings had sold, Hertrich stayed a while longer to attend the Harrisburg mixed auction that included racehorses and breeding stock. From that large group he was able to come away with a $20,000 purchase by the name of Two Steppin Sally.
“I liked the pedigree. She was from a Winbak Farm family that had done well. Robert Tribbett looks at all of the mares for me and he thought she had a solid family and stood correctly,” Hertrich recalled.
By Western Hanover, Two Steppin Sally was out of the Direct Scooter mare Happy Doris. She had completed her racing career with a 1:55.2 mark taken at two with earnings of $44,910. Western Hanover leads all sires in Breeders Crown earnings with $7.2 million.
“I own shares in about 90 percent of the major pacing and trotting stallions,” said Hertrich, who left Tribbett in charge of selecting the right stallion to match with his newly acquired mare.
Two Steppin Sally’s first foal is Breeders Crown 3-year-old pacing filly finalist Major Dancer. A $47,000 yearling purchase by Casie Coleman for her clients West Wins Stable, Mac Nichol and Adriano Sorella, Major Dancer was lightly raced as a 2-year-old but blossomed this season, finishing first or second in 13 of 18 starts leading up to Friday’s $593,750 final. Major Dancer’s career earnings to date are a healthy $284,934.
Major Dancer has shown the ability to tough it out and she may get a lot of that from a strong maternal line where a large majority of the foals blossomed into hard-hitting raceway stock.
Two Steppin Sally was next bred to Bettor's Delight, keeping the mare’s foals eligible to the rich New York Sire Stakes program. Trainer Joe Holloway had to pay $70,000 to bring home Bettor Be Steppin for his ownership team of Ted Gewertz, Rojan Stable and Val D’Or Farms, but much like Coleman’s purchase the year prior, that price appears to be a bargain.
Holloway liked the filly from the start, and was hoping to take it easy with her early in the season and keep her primed for a long and prosperous campaign. The plan has worked out well with Bettor Be Steppin, a finalist in Saturday’s $500,000 Breeders Crown for juvenile filly pacers.
“She was really sharp at Hoosier (Kentuckiana Farms Stallion Management Pace) and raced very well at the Red Mile,” said Holloway. “I wasn’t happy with her race in the Matron but I believe she choked down in that race. Sometimes it takes a few races to get over that.”
With $238,643 banked in 2014, Bettor Be Steppin appears to have a very bright future that could exceed her half-sister.
“I think she’s in the top three or four fillies in the country,” said Holloway.
Interestingly, Two Steppin Sally’s third foal, a Roll With Joe colt named Roll With Fred, sold earlier this month at the Harrisburg Sale and created quite a stir.
“He was a very good looking colt,” said Hertrich. “Probably the best looking Roll With Joe (of the ones I saw),” Hertrich stated.
The bidding was fast and furious when Roll With Fred came into the ring and by the time the horse was ham