The forgotten Queen

While the first French trotting queen, Uranie, was wholly French-pedigreed, her successor was a great early example of the potency of mixing one French and one American parent. The winner of the 1930 and 1933 Prix d’Amerique, Amazone B, born 1924, combined the strength and endurance of her sire Passeport, a stereotypical French trotter and a late bloomer, with the raw speed of her dam, the American mare Anna Maloney, imported first to Belgium in 1921 and then taken to France.

Anna Maloney was born in 1912 in White Plains, New York and bred by William Deveson. She was timed in 2:09 (1.20,2) when she finished second to David Guy in the second heat in a race in Poughkeepsie on August 23, 1918. Anna Maloney received quite a bit of attention in media for an accident in the third heat, when she caught her foot in a boot in the home stretch and threw Deveson, who fortunately escaped injury. In the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on May 4, 1919, it was reported that “Anna Maloney 2:18 1/2 (1.26,1), owned by William Deveson of White Plains, NY, is being liberally staked this year, both on the large and small rings. She was second last year at Poughkeepsie to David Guy and has a great flight of speed.” Just two weeks later it was said about her that she “started five times last year on the half mile tracks and did not win any heats, her previous record being 2:18 1/2, but her entry here is assumed to mean that she has speed hidden about her carcass.”

The speed is found everywhere in Anna Maloney’s pedigree, most notably from the legendary Nancy Hanks, her great-grandam. Anna Maloney’s dam Nanceala is in fact inbred 3×2 on Nancy Hanks as the latter is not only Nanceala’s grandmother, but also the grandmother of Nanceala’s sire Vice Commodore. Nanceala’s dam Markala was the blue-blooded daughter of Peter the Great and Nancy Hanks.

Later that year, in 1919, she lowered her record to a very credible 2:10 (1.20,8) clocking and was timed in 2:06 1/2 (1.18,6) when losing by a nose to Britton Forbes at Toledo on Jul 22. It was a really good time and indicative of her ability, but she usually drove drivers, trainers and bettors crazy with poor manners and erratic performances. On Oct 23, 1919, “Hyde drove Anna Maloney in the 2:19 trot and Anna did a lot of jumping, running nearly the whole mile in the third heat. The mare has all kinds of speed when straightened away, but she seems to like running better than trotting.”

With this in mind it is not surprising that the Boston Globe on Nov 10, 1919, sarcastically wrote that “Pop Geers is out of luck – he is to have Anna Maloney” and later referring to the mare as “the loose-brained Anna Maloney.” At the end of 1920 the speedy mare was sold to Europe, Anna Maloney ended up in France going through Belgium and was immediately bred to Passeport. Her second foal, born in 1924, was Amazone B, the second French trotting queen.

The queen

Amazone B had her dam’s smaller body as she only measured 157 cm (slightly below 15.2 hands), and unfortunately also got some of her dam’s inconsistent and erratic behavior. The mare was a bit of a late bloomer and only won 1 of 11 races as a three-year-old, the Prix de Creuilly on Christmas Day, but improved steadily and at four was already a very good horse. In September she even beat the trotting queen Uranie, though the latter in fairness had a 150 meter (!) handicap. Amazone B was one of those trotters who excelled at all distances, and in addition to winning two Prix d’Amerique trophies she was undoubtedly also the best sprinter in France at the time. In 1931 she set a track record at the newly opened La Croise-Laroche with 1.18,2 (2:05.4) over one kilometer (5/8 mile), through this record was shattered to pieces by Muscletone five years later. Her ordinary record otherwise was 1.19,1 (2:07.1), set at Enghien in 1931, a French record in its time.

Visiting Austria in 1929, Amazone B won the Grand Prix of Vienna and the Graf Kalman Hunyady trophy. The following year she won her first Prix d’Amerique. As the field approached the top of the Vincennes uphill, the ruthless trotting queens Amazone B and Uranie attacked the leading Sam Williams and quickly moved around him before pulling away from the field. The American-born star was left in the dust as the only one who managed to keep up with queens was the very good Benjamin III. Even though Uranie was pushing her hard down the final stretch, Amazone B held her off to take her first win in the Prix d’Amerique. In 1931 she lost to Hazleton, but won the Prix d’Europe and the Prix de Buénos-Aires at Enghien.

In 1933 she won another Prix d’Amerique, this time in record time and in extremely impressive fashion. Given a 25 meter handicap because of her win in 1930, the race was expected to be won by one of three US born trotters trained in Italy: either Guy Fletcher, Net Worth or Plucky. But Amazone B started at a high speed and quickly caught up to the field. Instead of taking it easy, she immediately started to go around her opponents and down the final stretch she pulled away to win by five lengths ahead of the trio mentioned above with Austrian trotter Heinrich taking fifth place. 1934 was a disaster as she finished last and in 1935 she would only manage fifth place herself when Muscletone won. Still, in six starts in the Prix d’Amerique from age 6 to 11 she placed 1-2-5-0-1-5.

Always driven by her breeder and owner Theo Vanlandeghem (and co-owned by his wife Marie), Amazone B was 54-19-8 in 131 starts and earned 1,617,340 French francs, equivalent to 246,561 euros. Like Uranie, Amazone B often had to overcome long handicaps in many races. For example in the 1931 Prix d’Angleterre she started 75 meters (65 yards) behind two opponents and 100 meters/90 yards behind the rest … but still won. Sometimes, though, it became too difficult even for her. Amazone B was described as an exceptionally fast trotter but also with strength to fall back on. She could, however, be temperamental and capricious. Although she generally behaved well, there were a few races where she supposedly quit for no good reason early on in the race – and it’s easy to draw comparisons to her “loose-brained” dam.

A massive legacy

Amazone B had three foals, but none stood out on the track or left a legacy. However, the lasting impact of the French family started by Anna Maloney is massive. As it turned out, the fast yet unreliable Anna Maloney turned out to be an amazing broodmare, surely one of the better the world has seen – and one which continues to leave a mark today.

Year	Name	Sire	Career	Other info
1923	Bella Maloney (f)	Louvois
1924	Amazone B (f)	Passeport	131: 54-19-8 1.19,1 (2:07.1) €246,561
1925	Dauphine (c)	Kentucky	1.31,1 (2:26.3)
1926	Emeraude VIII (f)	Enoch	1.30,0 (2:24.4)
1927	Fauni Boy (c)	Kentucky
1928	Geomine B (f)	Passeport	1.32,0 (2:28)
1929	Heroine B (f)	Passeport	1.27,1 (2:20.1)
1931	Jessie B (f)	Passeport	1.22,1 (2:12)	Stolen during WWII and taken to Austria by a high-ranking Nazi.
1933	L’Amazone B (f)	Passeport	1.22,3 (2:12.2)

Amazone B’s full sisters Heroine B, Jessie B and L’Amazone B were themselves terrific trotters, while her younger sister Emeraude VIII, by Enoch, is the dam of Nebuleuse V – winner of the 1943 Prix d’Amerique. (Technically, because of the war the race was called Grand Prix d’Hiver in 1943, but it is for all purposes the same race.)

Emeraude VIII’s grand-daughter Illusion H was imported to Sweden, giving birth to Cassiopeja. This is the third dam of Mr Lavec. Another branch from Illusion H is the maternal origin of Anna Mix – and how ironic isn’t it that this spectacular mare, winner of the 2016 European Championship for Mares, descends from Anna Maloney? If one has to pick one “loose-brained mare” from the last decade, who else than Anna Mix could it be? The French mare had a mind of her own and did exactly what she wanted, regardless of who was the driver. She was eventually barred from all races with a walk-up start at Vincennes because she caused havoc in multiple starting attempts and had to be taken out for everybody’s safety (something she also did behind the regular starting gate in Sweden). It doesn’t take a huge leap to see Anna Maloney in Anna Mix. Yet another branch from Illusion H descends to one of the absolute best four-year-olds in Europe of 2024, the excellent Koctel du Dain.

L’Amazone B, born 1933, won the 1938 Prix Marcel Laurent, the 1939 Prix Doynel de Saint-Quentin and was second in the Prix de Belgique the same year. She was also one of three French hopes in the 1939 Prix d’Amerique against foreign stars Probst and eventually winner DeSota. Heroine B won, among other races the 1933 Prix Marcel Laurent and the 1934 Prix de la Haye. She would later be an excellent broodmare as the dam of the very fast Tais Toi, winner of the 1946 Criterium des 5 ans and 1948 Gran Premio Duomo in Italy.

Heroine B’s lasting influence came though another very good daughter, Sonate, by Gael. Her grand-daughter Dragonne is dam of three important mares: Jonque, Keel and Lama. The latter was exported back to the States by Delvin Miller and gave birth to Big Lama who in turn was exported to Sweden and where he was a good trotter and decent stallion there (and is the damsire of double Elitlopp-winner Copiad). Keel is the dam of Dekeel, the sire of Quadrophenio, in turn the sire of Orlando Vici. But it’s Jonque that truly left the biggest impact. Her daughter Samos PM was a decent trotter and became the dam of Dimitria, the 1976 Elitlopp-winner. Through Une Crown, Dimitria is the grandam of Etta Extra, a mare whose impact rival Anna Maloney. Etta Extra gave birth to two euro-millionaire daughters, Mara Bourbon and Qualita Bourbon, multiple group 1-winners. Through another daughter, Kamera Bourbon, she is the great grandam of Face Time Bourbon (who has Anna Maloney 11 generations back on his maternal line).

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