She was an aloof and difficult mare, preferring to be left alone even when she went blind. Medio is also one of the most...
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Considered the great broodmare of her time, Evensong may very well be one of the best broodmares of all times. Her temperament...
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A supremely fast trotter, he is most famous for stumbling shortly ahead of the wire in the Hambletonian with victory within reach...
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He had to wait until he was almost 40 before he had enough money to buy a horse, and ended up with broodmares others didn’t...
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He was the undisputed French emperor for several years, and only illness prevented him from winning an unprecedented five Prix...
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Some horses just make everybody, their owners, trainer, driver as well as the racing fans, go through the full spectrum of...
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She was voted the “Greatest of All Time” in an online poll in 2020, and for good reason: Moni Maker put in numerous memorable performances on two continents to forever cement her place as one of the best in trotting history. Her regular driver Wally Hennessy is certain: “She is the greatest trotter who ever lived.”
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When Googoo Gaagaa burst onto the Maryland scene many didn’t know what to think. A world record for 2-year-olds on a half mile track was impressive, but could he really be that good? As it turned out, at his best he was even better. Persistent injury problems caused an early retirement, but the hybrid-bred trotter then went from impressing on the track to impressing at stud.
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Volomite is generally considered one of the best stallions in trotting history. It’s important to remember, though, that Volomite was only the second best in his crop on the track. However, while Volomite proved his worth at stud in safe surroundings in the US, quite the opposite was the case with his superior, Walter Dear, who eventually was trapped in a war-torn Germany.. This is the story of the only Hambletonian winner in history whose fate is unknown.
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In 1989 Olav Christiansen, a farmer in the Norwegian village Åsenfjord, lost the right to let his sheep grace in the nearby mountains in the summer, so he decided to quit sheep farming and focus on harness racing. Trading his remaining sheep for a a yearling filly and an unborn foal, Christiansen made one of the most lucrative and one-sided deals in harness history.
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He was talented but a contagious virus ruined his three-year-old season. Being sold to Europe got Bulwark’s career back on track but it was as a stallion he became truly legendary. Despite a relatively limited number of foals, the colt completely dominated the stallion ranks in his new home country.
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While Hambletonian is forever immortalized in the history of trotting, what could possibly have turned out been his best son at stud is largely forgotten. One of Hambletonian’s very first foals, Alexander’s Abdallah was a spectacular sire whose life tragically ended way too early during the Civil War.
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At 7 he was still a highly average trotter, clearly below the best in France. However, a Dutch trainer thought he saw something in the picturesque colt and purchased him for one of his owners. Willem Geersen needed no time in turning Hairos II from highly average to world class, and thus started one of the most spectacular fairytales in the world of trotting.
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You have horses with great pedigrees, then you have those really blue-blooded horses … and then there is Florestan. Despite being a son of the world’s best stallion at the time and possibly the best race mare in history, the brown colt was effectively stateless and a bit of an outcast in his time. The French changed their mind about him, though, and gave him the chance at stud, a move which started the French trotting revolution.
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Grey trotters have always caught the attention of the public, Greyhound naturally being a big reason. Of the thousands of stallions which were at stud before 1900, very few were successful sires of speed – and almost no grey ones. One exception, though, was Pilot Medium who sired Peter the Great. Pilot Medium’s grey coat is inherited from his damsire, Pilot Jr, who was a famous horse in his time and widely acknowledged as the best horse in “the Pilot family.”
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The first world champion bred in California, Occident came out nowhere in the early 1870s and tied Goldsmith Maid’s absolute world record in 1873. It was very different to a few years earlier when he was living a life of abuse and ill-treatment. Later he would play a key role in the development of both picture technology but also our understanding of horse gaits.
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