The Buckeye Bullet
by Lisa Harkema
An exceptional racehorse at 2, BF Coaltown was then set back by virus infection a month ahead of hte Hambletonian which he seemingly never really recovered from. The Ohio-born stallion went on to exceed all expectations at stud when he became one of the best stallions ever seen in his home state.
The story of BF Coaltown starts in 1951 when his breeder Ben Falter bought the dam, Sis Rodney, for a moderate $1,500. Two years later she set a two-heat world record for freshman trotting fillies and won 13 of 14 career starts. When entering the breeding shed she was first bred twice to Darnley, then The Intruder, the latter producing the relatively good dual-gaited Replica Herbert before being bred to Galophone in 1959, with BF Coaltown – the “BF” comes from his breeder’s initials – born the next year.
Trainer Harry Short broke the youngster and at 2 he turned out to be a big and early talent. Winning the first division of the WN Reynolds Memorial on Jun 19, 1962, BF Coaltown set a track record at the Buffalo Raceway when he won in 2:08 (1.19,6), a time that was also a seasonal record at the time. Despite the date, there was no bad luck on Friday Jul 13, when BF Coaltown convincingly won both his elimination and final of the Challenge Stakes at Scioto Down. The latter win was the brown colt’s seventh in eight starts, and the winning time of 2:03.3 (1.16,8) was a seasonal best to that point.