He was the first gelding and the first – and to date only – Canadian-bred horse to win the prestigious Elitlopp. His name was unusual – even in the trotting world. His background captured many hearts. But the gentle giant Billyjojimbob, Trotter of the Year in both Canada and the US, was at heart just the sweet baby of his owner Lori Ferguson.
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The first dam of three 2:05 trotters, her mating was the result of chance. Even though Nervolo Belle was never even trained, she went on to achieve fame as a broodmare and also produced one of harness racing’s biggest names in Peter Volo.
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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 French trotter, it is more a matter of facts than dominance. Though he officially never sired a single foal in France, it is now common knowledge operated in the shadows at Haras de Ginai and produced several top French trotters.
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He was champion stallion for many years, even after his death, in Norway. What many did not know is that he was initially considered a very good trotter in his crop in the US. Senator Ford was practically blind early in life, however, and for welfare reasons was not allowed to race. At stud, however, there was no stopping Senator Ford.
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She was the undisputed queen, not only of France but the whole world trotting. In fact, she was so superior that she was excluded from the betting in her 1967 Elitlopp elimination! Roquepine won races all over the world, at every track, distance and position. To top it off, she then gave birth to possibly the most influential stallion in French trotting history, Florestan.
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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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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.
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He is one of the most influential and best stallions of all times, and has been a breed changer for American trotting. It could easily have been very different, because Valley Victory was nearly lost to US breeders twice before he even started his illustrious stallion career. Sweden’s loss was North America’s gain as the super stallion proved to be a real breed changer despite poor fertility.
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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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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 want. Then he was refused to breed these mares to the stallions of his choice and had to settle for an untested and relatively cheap debut stallion. Despite all this, Charlie W Williams bred an undefeated superstar of his time in Axtell, who in turn sired one of the sport’s foundation sires.
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