The queen of every racecourse

She was bought as a bit of a gamble, and let her nerves get the better of her in her European debut. It wouldn’t take long for the mare to be the darling of hew new country, however. Dutch trotting fans adored Speedy Volita, the mare who won a massive 99 wins in her new homeland and became so popular she even got her own song.

When Dutchman Piet Meyn bought the speedy, but unproven, three-year-old filly Speedy Volita in the fall of 1975 he had no idea what a gold ticket he had just bought. He knew she was fast, having trotted 1.14,8 (2:00:2) in a time trial in Lexington as a 2-year-old but she had not been tested against the best in her crop. But under the careful eye of Bruce Nicholls she won 8 out of 14 starts before being exported to Holland as a 3-year-old in the summer of 1975.

In her first European start, in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, she did not look like a golden ticket, however. Instead of a typical car starting gate a less common method called a band start (where horses start behind elastic bands) was used and Speedy Volita, sometimes a hothead, lost her cool and caused two false starts, thus being disqualified. She fared no better in her next start but in the third start she demolished the competition, winning by more than 15 lengths. 10 European starts as a three year old produced a 4-1-0 record. The next year, however, it all came together with her going 13-3-3 in 23 starts. Initially in the training of Jan de Leeuw, her owner moved her to young trainer Gerard Gommans in the middle of the season. In October 1976, Speedy Volita she became the fastest 4-year-old in Europe when she won the Prijs der Giganten in 1.14,7 (2:00.1) ahead of Dauga and Clissa.

The Christmas ad

In December that year a little controversy erupted when Piet Meyn ran ads in several newspapers on Christmas Eve, stating that Speedy Volita wished everybody a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. That was nice enough, but he also thanked everybody who had helped to vote her as the Trotter of the Year. That was a bit presumptuous, to put it mildly, given that the trotter of the year voting did not even close until Dec 31! This caused the owners of Kees Verkerk and Manza Buitenzorg, the other nominees, to threaten to withdraw but fortunately things calmed down quickly.

For the next couple of years Speedy Volita dominated Dutch trotting and several times she was given a starting handicap. Occasionally she gave herself a handicap by making huge breaks, but the queen often repaired to win. Speedy Volita would go on to win three successive Dutch Championships in 1977, 78 and 79, four Grote Prijs van Nederland (1976, 1978, 1979 and 1980), numerous smaller races and she was voted Dutch trotter of the Year in 1976 (yes, she won the vote mentioned above), 1978, 1979 and 1980. The Speedy Count-daughter was not only really good, she was also extremely popular and drew new people to the racetracks. So popular, in fact, that she even had her own song, “Run, run, Speedy Volita”, made in both a Dutch and an English version! From the English lyrics: “you are the horse with the most beautiful name, the queen of every racecourse. I’ll put all my money in your name, Please arrive first.”

A world record

The mandatory Dutch retirement age meant Speedy Volita could not start there in 1981 so she was shipped to the States to be bred to Lola’s Express, also owned Piet Meyn. But since she could still race in the winter and spring she was put in the training of Meyn’s American trainer Ted Taylor. Making six starts in the US that spring, the mare won four including a win in an Invitational at Pompano, winning in 1.13,6 (1:58.2), setting a world record for older mares.

When her career came to a final end in the spring of 1981, the daughter of Speedy Count and Lady Brookwood had 118 wins in 183 starts. 99 of these mills were on Dutch tracks, so it’s easy to see why Speedy Volita was so massively popular in her new home country. She failed to win against the very best European competition but absolutely ruled the roast in Holland and also did well in Germany, where she was 7-6-8 in 33 starts. As mentioned above, she could be hot-headed and at times a bit uncontrollable at the start. The band starts could be a problem, but a traditional starting gate wasn’t always better either, however, as she would occasionally make breaks there, too. For this reason she was occasionally held back a bit. However, her class usually more than made up for this.

The breeding to Lola’s Express produced the good trotter Speedy Voltaire who earned $180,495. 5 years later she produced the very good Super Darby (by Super Bowl) who, trained by Wim Paal, competed at the top European level in 92-94, qualifying for the 1992 Elitlopp final and finishing third in the Elite-Rennen the same year. Speedy Volita passed away in June 1998. She was inducted in the Dutch Hall of Fame in 2006.