Hall of Fame


speedy somolli

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Speedy Crown
Sire of Dam: 
Star's Pride

Foaled on April 17, 1975, trotter Speedy Somolli was bred by Robert Mumma of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. At foaling, he was registered and raced under owners Ann Beissinger and Barbara Mumma. He was trained and driven by Howard Beissinger. At the end of his successful two-year-old season, Speedy Somolli was syndicated and raced in the name of Lana Lobell Farm of New Jersey, William Rosenberg, Ann Beissinger and Barbara Mumma.

1978 Trotter of the Year and a world champion at both two and three, Speedy Somolli won 20 of 36 lifetime starts. He finished off the board in only five races. At retirement, he had total earnings of $427,550. Speedy Somolli was a speed demon who sired speed and is ranked as one of harness racing’s most influential stallions, both as a sire and a broodmare sire in North America and Europe.

As a two-year-old, Speedy Somolli won 10 of 16 starts, including the Castleton Stake at DuQuoin, in a then sensational time of 1:57.2. This effort made him a world champion. The son of Speedy Crown and the unraced Star’s Pride mare Somolli, Speedy Somolli was voted 1977 Two-Year-Old Colt Trotter of the Year. That year he won the Review and Hoosier Futurities, Arden Downs Stake, a Pennsylvania Sire Stake and the Ohio Standardbred Stake.

At three, Speedy Somolli won the 1978 Hambletonian Stake. He took the first heat in a world record 1:55 and the final in 1:57. That year, he also won the Yonkers Trot, Founders Gold Cup, Review Futurity and two Pennsylvania Sire Stakes. He was voted Trotter of the Year for his performance as a world champion and fastest race trotter in history (setting a world record of 1:58.1 on a five-eighths mile track).

Speedy Somolli has sired winners of over $39 million. He is responsible for 97 $100,000 winners, including the millionaires Baltic Speed 3,1:56 ($1,271,764), Go Get Lost 4,1:54.3 ($1,197,467) and Alf Palema 3,1:54.3 ($1,106,842), as well as 1986 Hambletonian winner Nuclear Kosmos 3,1:55.4 ($985,687) and international star Mr. Lavec 3,1:54.3 ($947,321).

As a broodmare sire, Speedy Somolli produced 305 in 2:00 and 147 $100,000 winners including seven millionaires: Deweycheatumnhowe 3,1:50.4 ($3,155,178), Legendary Lover K 3,1:54.4 ($1,716,136), Pine Chip 4,T1:51 ($1,710,858), CR Kay Suzie 4,1:52.3 ($1,611,131), Supergrit 6,1:53.1 ($1,487,118), American Winner 3,1:52.3 ($1,302,451) and Giant Force 4,1:54.2 ($1,144,432).

Speedy Somolli stood at Lana Lobell Farm for eleven years before being sold to European interests (Speedy Somolli Hb, of Sweden) in 1989. In 2003 he was inducted into the Living Horse Hall of Fame. Sadly, Speedy Somolli died in obscurity in Germany in 2007.

Published in the Harness Racing Museum's "The 2006-2009 Immortals" (2011)