She was one of the most famous trotters around the time Hambletonian was born, but we don’t even know her name. In the mid...
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The first World War took an especially heavy toll on Ukraine as well as the Russian Empire as almost all horses perished. One US...
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The first world champion bred in California, Occident came out nowhere in the early 1870s and tied Goldsmith Maid’s...
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To many he appears to be an average American trotter bred to the first French trotting queen. However, the story of Great...
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The third horse to win the trotting’s Triple Crown, Ayres, was always an great talent, but at 2 there were question marks...
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His whole life is spectacular. He was the best trotter in his generation, even though his trainer was skeptical and at 2 felt the...
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Throughout history, several early favorites have missed out on the Hambletonian. In virtually all cases, though, it’s been a matter of illness or accident. That was not, however, the case with the super-talented Fireglow. Close to 100 years later the circumstances of his death are still shrouded in mystery. The question is, did somebody kill the “the greatest talent ever” just a few weeks prior to the Hambletonian?
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He had a downright weird racing career, not competing regularly until he was 15. There he showed glimpses of brilliance despite an injury that just kept getting worse. Kept at stud for most of his life, but relatively unsupported by his famous owner, Woodford Mambrino was one of the more impressive stallions of the 19th century America.
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The idea of crossing trotters and pacers is nothing new, and every so often a star trotter with this background emerges. In the 1970s the foremost trotter-pacer cross was Zoot Suit, bred by Norman Woolworth. His oddball pedigree meant he wasn’t an attractive stallion to US breeders upon retirement, but in Sweden he was welcomed with open arm and became a stallion sensation.
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The number of US-born stallions exported to Europe is staggering high, with very few horses going the other way for stallion duty. While some think European-born stallions in the US is a very recent thing, history shows that is not the case. In fact, the first European trotting stallion in the US arrived just a few years after the second World War. The story of Quel Veinard is both strange and fascinating, but more than anything also the story about an almost forgotten horse.
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He was discredited and a victim of manipulation of historical facts. As head of the family carrying his name, Henry Clay was the offer of malicious rumors, but did play a role in the development of both the American and French trotter.
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He was one of the best trotters the world has seen and went on to become an even better stallion before he died too soon. The story of Ready Cash is a fascinating tale of coincidences, but most of all the story of one of the most legendary trotters ever.
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He was the undisputed French emperor for several years, and only illness prevented him from winning an unprecedented five Prix d’Amerique-wins in a row. As tough off as on the track, Ourasi was a handful for those around him. He was actually more than a handful for his competitors, who simply couldn’t resist the complete package of strength, speed and an insane will to win. In one race the other competitors even colluded to prevent the chestnut superstar from winning, but Ourasi won anyway.
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In Sweden one horse is, above all, responsible for the growth of harness racing. According to famed trainer Stig-H Johansson, trotting in Sweden has Ego Boy to thank for its popularity. The horse was an unlikely superstar that came from nowhere to become one of the world’s top aged trotters before his unexplainable death while still at the top.
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He was the milk horse who turned into a world champion, but was treated badly as he was a tough cookie. Because of the treatment he received St Julien hated his trainer and driver, but the duo still worked well enough together to lower the world record three times.
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When the French studbook was briefly opened between 1987 and 1992, conservative French breeders generally nixed the opportunity to breed their mares to foreign sires. Some even went as far as claiming they “didn’t want to plant weed in their garden”, saying in no unclear terms that the American standardbred had absolutely nothing to offer the French trotter whose studbook had been closed since 1937 and only opened for five foreign-born stallions and a few other exceptions. Despite what the naysayers claimed, though, opening up the studbook took French trotting to a completely new level – and the best example of this is Coktail Jet.
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