Strike Out was foaled in 1969 at Castleton Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, and is by Bret Hanover out of the mare Golden Miss.
He was purchased at a yearling auction for $15,000 by Beejay Stables of Oshawa, Ontario, a partnership between harness-racing trainer/driver John Hayes and Montreal, Quebec, textile executives, the Shapiro brothers, Robert, Conrad, and Leo.
That year he went on to race in the United States, capturing the important Adios Stakes in a dead heat with Jay Time,[1] the Fox Stake, the Roosevelt Futurity,[2] the Beaver Pace and other major races all over North America, including the Prix d'Été at Montreal's Blue Bonnets Raceway.
Strike Out, was trained by Bruce K. Nickells for two months the previous winter, before he won the Jug with a time of 1:56.3 which set a world record for a three-year-old pacer on a half mile track.
On September 21, 1972, driven by Keith Waples, Strike Out became the first Canadian owned horse to win the Little Brown Jug.