Article: Dave Briggs
Photo: Dave Landry
When Bar Hopping left Hambletonian winner Marion Marauder in his wake in the stretch of the $687,000 Canadian Trotting Classic (CTC) last September, the colt set off an explosive celebration in the Mohawk dining room at his connection’s table.
“There was wine and broken wine glasses everywhere,” said Lynne Katz, wife of Bar Hopping’s part-owner Marvin Katz of Toronto. “We were so excited.”
Apart from Bar Hopping, the same night Katz and fellow Torontonian Al Libfeld also finished first and second in the $363,000 Peaceful Way final for two-year-old trotting fillies with their undefeated homebred Ariana G and That’s All Moni, respectively.
“Nights like this are just pure exhilaration,” Marvin said.
It was a banner year for Al Libfeld and Marvin Katz, longtime partners who have assembled the most talented broodmare band in Ontario. Marvin and Libfeld were named the breeders of the year in both Canada and the United States and Ariana G’s dam, Cantab It All — who also produced 2016 stakes star All The Time — was named the top trotting broodmare in the United States.
Ariana Grande was voted the two-year-old trotting filly of the year in both Canada and the United States.
“This is a great filly,” Katz said after the filly won the Breeders Crown last October. “It’s been a long campaign and she’s been right on the top from the beginning of the season and to dominate the way she has and to win the Breeders Crown, I’m so proud of her… To have great, great fillies like Ariana and (Crown runner up) Princess Aurora, to breed them and have them come out of our system, I think it speaks to the program that we have developed over the years, the people that are directing it, and now we’re really starting to see some results.”
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