Story No. 7… Hammerhead

Few trotters have ever burst onto the harness racing arena with the same impact as Hammerhead. Unbeaten in his first 18 months of racing, it wasn’t just the ease with which he won his races but also the margins he won by. He won one race at HP by 100 yards and was only in 2nd gear! For a while he looked as though he could become the greatest trotter this country had produced, but ultimately failed to live up to his early “boom”.

Owned by well known harness racing identities Sid and George Aiken and champion trainer/driver, Jim Caffyn, Hammerhead was by Light Brigade from Ronarin and was gelded early in his career. Hammerhead won his first 9 trips to the races. His first start, and only start as a 3yo, was in the NSW Trotters Derby at Menangle on 22-5-62 which he won easily by 48 yards. He returned as a 4yo, 11 months later on 2-4-63, and won again at Menangle. Three weeks later he won there again, the winning margin being 48 yards. A month later he won at Kembla by 80 yards with the 3rd horse 100 yards further behind! A week later, on 2-5-63, he raced at Hawkesbury on a very soft track. The area had been flooded by recent heavy rains and for a while the meeting looked in doubt as it was feared that access roads would not be re-opened in time. They were, just, and Hammerhead, from 36 yards, absolutely ‘flew’ over the wet turf, winning by 80 yards with a further 120 yards to the
3rd placegetter. Just as a bonus he ran a new race record. It was now quite obvious a trotter of exceptional ability had arrived.

In his first 5 races he was driven by Jim Caffyn’s son, Cyril, but when he stepped out for his 6th start Jim drove the horse himself. J.C.(Jim) Caffyn was one of the greatest drivers of the 1950’s and 1960’s, winning the driver’s premiership 6 times and was runner up 5 times and there was no better horseman with juvenile horses, or trotters, than Jim Caffyn. With his part owner driving him, Hammerhead won his 6th straight race and the final event of his 4yo season, and equalled the track record at Menangle in the process. He was unbeaten in one start as a 3yo and unbeaten in 5 starts as a 4yo.

Resuming on 15-11-63, he had his first start at HP, winning easily by 20 yards with a similar margin to 3rd. A week later he won an Invitation event there, again by 20 yards and the following week, still at ‘headquarters’, started at 1-8 and absolutely ‘blitzed’ the field, winning by an official margin of 100 yards. He had a short 2 month spell and resumed on 10-1-64 with a close 2nd to Bindaboo Major, the horse he had beaten by a 100 yards at his previous start! A month later he ran 5th in an Invitation and on the 10-4-64 ran a close 2nd again. He won his final 2 starts for the season by 30 yards and 25 yards. As a 5yo he had 8 starts for 5 wins.

Resuming as a 6yo on 10-10-64, he ran 3rd in a FFA to the champion, Gramel, and the following week ran 2nd to her again. Given a 6 months spell, he resumed on 2-4-65 with a close 2nd, from 48 yards, but the following week ran last in a FFA. In this race he was leading and looked all over a winner when he ‘broke’ and then broke a 2nd time. Five days later he was about to race to victory in another race at HP when he again broke and finished 3rd. All of a sudden he was developing a bad habit that was costing him races. However at his next start, off 24 yards in the HP Trotters Cup, he was on his best behaviour and won comfortably. At his final two 6yo starts he ran 3rd from 36 yards and 5th from 60 yards. His 6yo season saw 8 starts for just one win and the ‘boom’ was definitely off him now.

He never won a race in 5 starts as a 7yo. First he ran 2nd, off 60 yards, to the Inter Dominion winner, Yamamoto, and then 3rd behind Lucky Song and Gramel. Off 24 yards in the 1966 Inter Dominion Trotter’s Championship, he ran 7th in the first heat won by Maori Miss. She would achieve fame 9 years later as the dam of the ultimate trotter, Maori’s Idol. A week later he ran 4th behind Corop McElwin and in the final finished 8th to Yamamoto. He then ‘disappeared’ for 2½ years and it was thought that he had been retired, but then on 25-10-68, now a 10yo, he returned to the racetrack.

At his first start in 32 months he finished  4th, from 24 yards, at HP, and then travelled to Melbourne for the Australasian Trotter’s Championship. He won his heat on 23-11-68, and the following week easily won the final by 20 yards, setting a new track record. Three weeks later, back at HP, and off 84 yards, he once again won easily in record time and the following week won a FFA in record time. It seemed like the ‘old’ Hammerhead was back! He then went back to Melbourne for the V.L. Dullard Cup, on 4-1-69, but off 48 yards could only finish 6th. He had his last start on 17-1-69 in a HP FFA, finishing 2nd to Intangible Command. He was then retired. As a 10yo he had 7 starts for 4 wins, and his career record was only 34 starts, over 7 years, for 16 wins.

Hammerhead was an enigmatic trotter, promising to be ‘anything’ as a young horse but ultimately failing as a 6yo and 7yo, the years when he could have been expected to reach his peak. He was also, possibly, the lightest raced horse in history, having just 34 starts over 8 years, an average of just 4 runs a season. He may have been unsound, I don’t know, however I DO know that for a short time he was the most exciting trotter seen in NSW in a very long time.

By Jim Hogan