A very good trotter and world champion, he was initially deemed not good to stand stud at Hanover Shoe Farms and sold to Europe. When his Italian buy failed to pay, Star’s Pride was given a small opportunity at stud at the famed nursey. Despite the lack of confidence and not being given the best mares, the colt immdiately showed himself as a spectacular stallion – maybe the best in history.
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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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Being first usually carries prestige and being the first Hambletonian winner carries a certain immortality to it. The massive $73,451.32 purse – more than five times the 1926 Kentucky Futurity purse ($14,000) – attracted 14 hopefuls to the mile track in Syracuse. While Hazleton was the pre-season favorite, Guy McKinney was not considered to have much of a chance. A new trainer turned the colt around, however and Guy McKinney went on to have a great three-year-old season.
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When Greyhound, by many regarded as the best trotter of all times, retired, his owner, EJ Baker, was looking for other interesting prospects. In 1943 he found The Grey Ghost’s successor when he bought the horse almost everybody thought would break all trotting records. However, less than a year later that horse had passed away. The untimely death of Volo Song has been called one of the greatest tragedies to befall trotting.
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He had a fantastic pedigree and came off a two-year-old season in which he set a world record. That did not prompt the owner to keep him: given that Calumet Farm was converting to a thoroughbred operation, the colt was put up for auction at the end of that season. Not surprisingly, Calumet Chuck became the most expensive sale at the auction. However, his three-year-old season was winless and full of frustration – but he got some revenge at stud.
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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 import survived, however, and after the war gave birth to one of a good trotters who turned out to be one of the best stallions ever seen in Eastern Europe. While he was very good on the tracks, as a stallion Gildeets dominated Soviet trotting for many years.
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Even though Hambletonian is universally regarded as the founding sire of the standardbred there have been others that looked to be great sires but now are largely forgotten. The most important of these is probably the Indiana bred Blue Bull, a pacer whose get were primarily trotters. Outperforming the legendary father of trotters, Hambletonian, back in the day, Blue Bull is almost completely forgotten and has now slipped into obscurity.
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From humble beginnings, he became one of the best three-year-olds, then went on to dominate as an aged trotter. In was at stud he established himself as one of the true legends of trotting, though, but it was a stroke of luck that Speedy Crown wasn’t lost to American trotting after his two-year-old season.
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Notoriously lame and struggling with unsoundness in his two seasons on the track, San Francisco was a tremendously talented trotter whose bravery and willingness to run through pain and lameness left a huge impression. In his debut, blood was dripping from his hooves with every step yet the Californian trotter finished faster than anybody else.
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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 McKinney is that of a good horse who just needed a bit of time and then flourished in the US before he was sold to France. Together with French trotting queen Uranie he produced two talented trotters who turned out to be excellent stallions with a big legacy.
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