The champion stallion gelding

He was an incredibly talented but with a challenging temper and extremely unlucky with injuries. Hailing from an exceptionally strong family, the gelding Västerbo Prestige turned out to be an exceptional stallion who unfortunately had a very limited number of foals.

At 3, the start of his career was not without challenges. The chestnut colt had problems finding his feet, broke and did not make a single penny in his first three races. Though there was no doubting the talent, Västerbo Prestige turned out to be his own worst enemy.

“He had a very complicated temperament. If the tractor was on the track, for example, then it easiest to drive into the stable and wait until the track was clear, otherwise the would just break. He was not a horse that was easy to trained – he probably had too much Insert Gede in him – but his trainer Flemming always held the horse incredibly high. Västerbo Prestige just couldn’t stand other horses, or anything that could upset him,” says Jeanette Hansen, who owned the horse together with her husband Jens.

It slowedly came together and it was uplifting when the colt won his next race. However, then followed eight starts where the Insert Gede-son would alternately win then break and finish out of the money. In mid-June he finished fifth in the 4-year-old elite at Charlottenlund in Copenhagen. That proved a turn-around, and after two wins in July and August the owners had high hopes ahead of the upcoming Swedish Derby elimination. “Our ambitions ahead of the Derby were massive. We were going to Thailand, but had planned the trip so we would land on the same day as the elimination, because we wouldn’t want to miss that for anything in the world,” Hansen recalls. However, the dreams would soon turn to heartbreak as a suspensory injury caused the colt to miss the elimination and he wouldn’t return for more than a year.

Injury hell and impressive comebacks

After 13 months away the colt made a return to the track in September 2010, again breaking and finishing last. In the following outing, however, Västerbo Prestige won impressively at Åby. Even though the horse only had a winning record of 1.14,2 (1:59.2f), his trainer Flemming Jensen knew the horse’s real ability. “I think this will be my best horse”, the Dane said in the winners’ circle. The following month Jensen won a Swedish elite race with Local Conch and NJ Koster Memorial with the excellent mare Mathilde Trøjborg, both European elite trotters. However, Jensen was clear that Västerbo Prestige was better than both of these: “The best horse is at home in my stable.” The horse didn’t get a chance to prove his trainer right, though, as disaster soon struck. Days later Västerbo Prestige suffered a second suspensory injury.

The injury caused the 2011 season to be a complete write-off racing-wise. The colt wasn’t busy doing nothing, however. Knowing the exceptional talent, the owners were keen to try Västerbo Prestige with a few mares to see if he could pass on his tremendous talent. At the same time the couple received advice to castrate the talent.

“We hoped it would give him more peace of mind as he was stressed. We had asked the association if it was okay to use him for breeding even if he was neutered. They said yes to that, and then the decision wasn’t very difficult. Colts are much better off as geldings where they can go with a large herd,” Hansen points out. Thus Västerbo Prestige was gelded, but only after semen was collected. Two mares were inseminated immediately, the SJ’s Caviar-daughter Gossip Gal and the Lindy’s Crown-daughter Global Future. Toward the end of the year the gelding was ready for his comeback, and on New Year’s Day 2012 he looked good in a qualifier. However, not long after Västerbo Prestige suffered his third suspensory injury in less than three years. However, the owners didn’t want to give up the massive talent, and nine months later Västerbo Prestige finally made it to the races again.

After a second-place finish in his comeback, the Insert Gede-son impressed heavily when winning a Klass I elimination at Färjestad in Sweden, defeating German Derby-winner Indigious. After two losses because he went off-stride, Västerbo Prestige then won four in a row before the horse with diagnosed with yet another suspensory injury. After another nine months the horse requalified again, and then won – yet again – in his comeback race. However, four major injuries had left their mark and after two winless performances the gelding was retired in April 2014. At the end of his career, Västerbo Prestige had 14 wins in 29 starts, a record of 1.13,5 (1:58.2f) and earnings of 475,974 DKK, roughly $50,000.

Discovering an immense stallion

His racing career was a story of promises unfulfilled, but Västerbo Prestige was not done. The following year his two foals were ready to start their career – and what a start! Aron the Baron, out of Gossip Gal, finished third in the Danish Criterium while Awesome Annie, out of Global Future, won the Danish Filly Criterium. The owner couple had seen the signs and obtained permission to use some of the remaining frozen sperm, thus Gossip Gal and Global Future were again inseminated with Västerbo Prestige. The following year Aron the Baron was second in the Danish Derby, just a few months after his little brother Empire was born.

Aron the Baron was really good but his younger brother Empire was even better. In 2019, Empire won the Danish Criterium, and the colt racked up 12 wins in 32 games and won in 1.10,7 (1:53.4f) before his untimely death in 2023. In the same fashion, even though Awesome Annie was good, her four years younger full sister Eenymeenyminymoe was even better. At 3, the latter won the Jydsk 3-year-old Filly Grand Prix before going offstride, as the huge favorite, in the Filly Criterium later that year. Next year there were no such worries with Eenymeenyminymoe as won the Filly Derby. However, in the Derby, Empire, also the pre-race favorite, made a break but still finished fifth.

Västerbo Prestige had four more foals. Three started and all three were winners. His penultimate daughter, Holly Go Lightly born 2019, was the pre-race favorite for the E3 , the big race for three-year-olds in Sweden, and trainer Tomas Malmqvist told the Swedish press the mare trained better than his excellent filly Jazzy Perrine. However, Holly Go Lightly was not herself and finished out of the money. Despite this, of Västerbo Prestige’s eight foals, seven were starters, seven were winners and three were classical winners. While most stallions struggle to get one classical winner in 100 foals, Västerbo Prestige managed a wildly impressive three in eight.

The gelding super-stallion got sick in late 2020 and had to be put down because of kidney issues.