Nobody could see anything promising in that solid black colt that was plain, thin, and gangly. The champ had new owners, but they wanted him left at Harlinsdale under the same management. So there he lived out his years. In 1962, he left home for his last personal triumph at the Celebration. He paraded with 7 other former grand champions, including his old rival, Merry Go Boy, and drew more applause than any.
Nobody knows yet what two horses to breed to get a certain champion.
No skilled trainer-rider can make a champion of just any horse he rides. Instead of Roan Allen in both lines, he had Hunter's Allen on the dam' s side and some of the stoutest trotting blood of his ancestors' day. Midnight Sun's sire, Wilson's Allen, was on a pedestal when he died, for among his get was Strolling Jim, Grand Champion of the first Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration in 1939. They liked the smooth, early maturing ones such as H-Boy. There was a scramble to get him.