When Juhani Lagerstam started the Laukko trotting stud farm at Vesilahti in Finland he needed a few stallions to use on his many...
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He was designated as a wedding gift to circumvent export restrictions after WWII, then caused despair when he refused to train...
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The expression “Who’s your daddy?” is often used as a claim of dominance. In the case of the 1938 foals of Gäel, a champion...
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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...
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When Jean-Baptiste Bossuet looked at the yearling in September 1986, he wasn’t particularly impressed. There just was no...
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He was a war foal who rose to the top of the French elite in the 1920. The first and only horse to be disqualified from a win in...
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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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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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He competed for 12 seasons, won numerous big races through his 199 career starts and retired only to excel in show jumping dressage and everything else thrown at him. On Track Piraten won in several countries, over distances from one to two miles over ten seasons.
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Ask somebody to name a horse with 30 straight wins and they will probably be able to do so: pacing fans will probably answer Bret Hanover, French and European trotting fans will probably answer Tenor de Baune while Coldblood enthusiasts will undoubtedly bring up Järvsöfaks. Most likely only Canadian trotting fans bring up A Worthy Lad, whose exploits unfortunately have already started to be forgotten.
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Having won the Hambletonian twice, in 1930 with Hanover’s Bertha and 1937 with Shirley Hanover, the Hanover Shoe Farms’ Lawrence Sheppard had no obvious Hambletonian candidate in 1938. However, he got the success he wanted when he bought the winner shortly before the big race. McLin Hanover turned out to be a spectacular trotter – in fact so good he had to leave the continent.
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By many considered to be the best trotter in history, he was so popular that his name was even put forward as Foreign Minister of Italy at some point. Though he may have been the greatest trotter of all time, even after his career had started several people doubted that Varenne would amount to much on the track. He would prove them woefully wrong, however, and took both his young Finnish trainer and young Italian driver on a spectacular journey.
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He had been a really good trotter in Europe and moved with his trainer to the US. At first some questioned if an 8-year-old European trotter they barely had heard of could compete with the best North Americans. But, as the trotting world quickly realized, the question was rather how the best North Americans could compete with the European speed demon. As it turned out, when Sebastian K was at his best, they simply didn’t stand a chance.
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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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He may just be the American horse imported to Europe who has left the biggest and most impressive stamp on trotting history. He was dominant on the track and despite relatively few foals left a lasting legacy. There was only one drawback with Sam Williams: he didn’t like the hill at Vincennes. That is a minor thing in the big picture, though, considering his massive influence on European trotting.
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Maybe the best trotter ever bred in the Hoosier state, Cresceus went from being the best ever seen on the snow in Toledo to the best the world have ever seen. A rather plain trotter with bulldog determinaton, he didn’t take kindly to being mistreated.
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