The first Hambo favorite

While Guy McKinney gained fame as the winner of the very first Hambletonian in 1926, he was not the early spring favorite. That had been Hazleton, who instead became the first of several early Hambletonian favorites to miss out on the biggest of all three-year-old races because of illness. Exported to Europe, Hazleton instead gained legendary status as the first US-born winner of the Prix d’Amerique.

The speed Hazleton, a son of Lu Princeton, was bred by Barton Pardee of Atlantic City and trained by Walter Cox. Finishing second to Peter Maltby in the Junior Kentucky Futurity for two-year-olds and impressing at Red Mile, his speed was thought to give him an advantage in the 1926 Hambletonian. However, illness restricted him to only one start at 3, in Cleveland in July. The following year, however, he struck back, winning nine of eleven starts, including the Walnut Hall Cup, and set a personal best of 2:01 3/4 (1.15,7) in Atlanta, which turned out to be the Grand Circuit race record for 1927 (and, it seems, also the world record for 4 year-old-colts). Hazleton’s 1927 Grand Circuit earnings of $19,345 would only be beaten by Sam Williams’ $21,827. The following year he lowered his record to 2:00 3/4 (1.15,0) and in 1928 and 1929 he only lost one race before being auctioned off in the fall of 1929.

Off to Europe

When Hazleton was auctioned off at the Old Glory sale in Nov 1929 there was quite the bidding war between agents representing Bruno Cassirer and BJ Alkemade, both living in Germany. Cassirer also bought Walter Dear around the same time and was keen to add another superstar to his stable. It was, however, Alkemade who ended up getting Hazleton for $15,000. A few days later, Mr. Alkemade resold Hazleton to Daniele Palazzoli, Milan, Italy, and the horse would remain his property until he died. Palazzoli sent Hazleton to trainer Otto Dieffenbacher. The latter was born in present-day Austria in 1885 but had relocated his training operation to Italy in 1927 where he had his stable at the San Siro track. Dieffenbacher was a great trainer who worked tirelessly and seemingly forever: he won his last race in Austria in 1964 as a 79-year-old, and in 1960 he was champion trainer in Germany at the tender age of 75.

Hazleton was almost unbeatable in European races for several years – the only exception was races where he was given a significant handicap – and the only horse who had his number was Walter Dear. In the Graf Kalman Hunyady race in Vienna, for example, he was given a 120 meter (131 yards) handicap for a race over 3300 meters (slightly over 2 miles). Hazleton still won in 1.23,3 (2:14).

In Italy, Hazleton won most of the big races numerous times, one example is the Campionato Europeo in Cesena which he won both in 1933 and 1934.

In 1931, at age 8, Hazleton became the first non-French horse to win the Prix d’Amerique, a win he repeated the following year. At 11 he was second to Walter Dear and at 12 finished third behind Muscletone and Calumet Guy in the big race.

The legendary duel

Hazleton had some huge duels with Walter Dear, the best known probably being in Copenhagen in 1931. After fighting to the end, the German-owned Walter Dear won both heats narrowly. Hazleton’s problem was that Walter Dear could leave noticeably faster and the Lu Princeton-son always had to play catch-up. In Copenhagen, like everywhere else, Hazleton put in marvelous efforts. The few times he lost he still left a very good impression because of his speed, strength and gameness. In Copenhagen the owner also left quite the impression. Daniele Palazzoli put so much money on Hazleton to win that he paid almost nothing back, thus increasing the odds on Walter Dear. Although Palazzoli did not reveal the specifics, he is believed to have lost almost 15,000 Danish Kroner (DKK). Adjusting for inflation that is roughly 600,000 DKK, almost $100,000, in today’s money – certainly a substantial amount.

Good stallion, wrong time

Hazleton produced well at stud but failed to established a lasting sireline. The can be no question that the timing of World War II, though, hurt Hazleton at stud. His daughter Scrivia was a very good horse, winning the Campionato Europeo for Alexander Finn in 1942. His son Agrigento was one of the best Italian born horses toward the end of the 30s, winning races such as Gran Premio Italia, Giovanardi and Nazionale in 1938 before taking home Gran Premio d’Europa and Milano the following year. Another son, Arno, won the 1941 Gran Premio Unione Europea.

Regardless of this, Hazleton was one of the world’s best trotters in the decade prior to WW II and should be remembered as such. He passed away in Italy in 1949, 26 years old.