Hall of Fame - Cash Call

Original article written by Nathan Klein posted 3 years 2 weeks ago

Cash Money Honey is arguably the greatest female Standardbred Trotter ever to trot onto the track. But one of the few horses that could compare to her was her father Cash Call. Cash Call was a champ for sure but his pedigree did not suggest that he would be a champion. His pedigree was not impeccable but had tons of potential. His father was not a good sire he would not produce any other stakes winners besides Cash Call in his lifetime. He would be bred to Moni Maker. A mare who had never sired any progeny prior to this. What came out of it was an average looking bay colt who barely stood 15 hands. So not a looker but when they put him on the track they realized his dams name rang true. At the start he would be towards the back dropping back to 7th place. However, with a quick burst of speed he went through on the rail and managed a late 1 length victory. There he would defeat future stakes winners Yachtsman and Gold Digga. Gold Digga in particular would face off with Cash Call 9 times. Gold Digga was the Alydar of the trotting world managing the odd achievement of finishing second in all 3 jewels of the Trotting triple crown.

But for now they were humble 2-year-olds at this point. The two would meet for the second time in the Stewards Crown Juvenile Trot. Leading up to the race Gold Digga took the Marron Junior Trot by a clear 2 lengths. Meanwhile Cash Call would take the Speedy Scot and Strong Yankee Trot. The race started with a very clear lead by Poppin The Plugs who led the race by 4 1/2 lengths at the most. But he faded giving Gold Digga the lead for a short while. But on the rail, the accelerating Cash Call was coming up and as usual, was simply too fast late game no one could match his stride and he went on by to win by 1 1/2 lengths. That year he was the easy winner of the Simmy for Standardbred Trotter Champion Two Year Old Male.

Going into the Triple Crown nothing really changed as Gold Digga would stalk the leaders pass them but simply not have enough to handle the late closing beast that Cash Call. He was so dominant that he scared off most of the competition for the Yankee Trot only having 3 opponents including with Gold Digga being his only threat if you could call him one. As predicted he dropped very far back and flew late to catch Gold Digga and win the first jewel. He would get more horses to face off in the second jewel the Emotonian. The race would go just as normal with him 5th out of 9 runners but with less than a quarter of a mile he decided to turn on a new gear. He very likely would've caught Gold Digga again but he decided to go above and beyond zooming forward passing him and then opening up 4 3/4 lengths. He would go even further in the Meadowlands Futurity with only 4 challengers he passed them all and decided to give the crowd a show blasting forward and showing his true speed in less than a quarter of a mile he would open up 6 lengths. Winning the race by a margin that has not even been matched by half. The second-highest margin of victory in the race was 2 3/4 lengths by Lifeaholic another triple crown winner.

He would only run 2 times both of them would be won by half a length over Gold Digga. His last race the Steward's Crown Classic Trot would be his 11th and final career victory. It would close out an impeccable career. He would easily go on to win Standardbred Trotter Horse of the Year and Standardbred Trotter Champion Three Year Old Male. After that in he was retired to stud to produce legends such as fellow Hall of Famer Cash Money Honey. Gold Digga in his absence would win 5 of 7 races at the age of 4. Including the grade 1 Steward's Crown Open Trot. Winning the Simmy Award for Standardbred Trotter Champion Older Male. Although Cash Call is a legend it does sometimes make you wonder if he hadn't been around would Gold Digga be a Triple Crown winner. Very likely it just goes to show that in a normal year Gold Digga would be the best horse that year. but not when you have a legend like Cash Call running with you.

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