The blue collar worker

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.

A son of Kool du Caux out of an unstarted mare by Rite on Line doesn’t sound like the traditional successful pedigrees. However, John Backlund was immediately interested. “Kool du Caux was a big personal favorite on the track, so I was very interested in that particular foal. I also knew that Monrovia had ability, but was known to be a bit crazy. Furthermore, I liked the extremely low inbreeding. If I’m going to take a chance on something that doesn’t have a super pedigree, I either want to go for an extremely low inbreeding or, on the contrary, a highly inbred individual.”

Getting what he characterized as “a good deal” from breeder Eva Eriksson, Backlund contacted friends and family, and managed to put together group of ten owners, half of which were strangers to him at the time. The project got off on the right foot as soon as Monrovia dropped her foal. “When he was born and it turned out to be a big black colt, we were quite pleased. He stood out from the others early on as he was very tall and large. He was much larger than the other foals and used to chase them around the paddock,” Backlund recalls.

A studdish talent

When it came time to trot, the Kool du Caux-son continued to stand out, but eventually he lost focus. Going to Estonia as a yearling to be broken in, “Piraten”, simply “the Pirate” in English, impressed his first trainer Natalia Abdalla. When returning to Sweden at 2, the colt became too studdish and the decision was made to geld him. After a short stint with Erik Lindegren, the youngster was sent to Hans R Strömberg, who trained the horse for the remainder of his career. “After a workout at 2, Erik said immediately afterwards that the horse was bound to be in the Kriterium final the following year. Hans didn’t say much at the time, but later he told me that he immediately felt that it was the best horse he had trained, and that his conformation was almost perfect. So the feeling in the group was that it was a really good horse, but that he would be as good as he turned out – well, none of us dared to believe that,” Backlund points out.

Winning in his debut, On Track Piraten won three of his first four starts before he finished out of the money twice. Then came his first real test, the E3 race in Sweden. Finishing second to Showtime F in his elimination, few believed On Track Piraten would play a factor in the final. Sitting third along the rail, he was boxed in until midway through the final turn. By then, frontrunner Brad de Veluwe had left the field, but having room to move On Track Piraten finished strongly down the final stretch. A second-place to an unbeatable horse – Brad de Veluwe was 9-1 in 10 starts at 3 – was like a win for the ten owners, Backlund remembers: “We were hopeful, but he exceeded our expectations that way, and the E3 was a breakthrough. It was then that we really understood how good he was! We felt that Brad de Veluwe was invincible, so we celebrated as if we had won.”

As predicted by Erik Lindegren, the gelding qualified for the Kriterium final by virtue of a second place behind Perfectly Enough in his elimination. However, as Pato cruised to a win in the final On Track Piraten finished out of the money. At the end of the year the gelding won the E3 Revanschen, his biggest win of the season. The hopes were high ahead of his four-year-old season, but for a long time it was a matter of “close, but no cigar.” In two legs of the Solvallaserien he finished second, in the Derby elim he was third while he finished out of the money in both Fyraåringseliten and Fyraåringsstjärnan. However, it all changed with a trip to Germany for the Grosser Preis von Deutschland, at the time an international group 1-race, in October 2012.

An international breakthrough

The trip happened after encouragement by Klaus Koch, then married to breeder Eriksson. “Honestly, I didn’t know too much about the race, and we went there because of Klaus Koch, who worked at the track in Hamburg. He helped us and fixed a lot, which he did later, too. I only have good things to say about him. Going to the race, we didn’t have any big ambitions and just hoped to be finish second to Brad de Veluwe. When Piraten and Jos Verbeeck shadowed Brad de Veluwe going into the last turn, I still didn’t think about winning – I was almost more worried he would tire and lose second place. But when he went by the Finnish horse down the final stretch, that was total euphoria,” says Backlund, who also, for the first time, got to experience what it’s like owning a foreign guest at a big international race, “it was the first time going abroad with Piraten, and the whole experience was fantastic. For the first time we got to experience what it was like to be VIP guests for real. They were marvelous hosts, and how they took care of their guests was something out of the ordinary. Compared to the other tracks, Germany was several levels above – except for the US, who plays in their own league.” Returning to Sweden, he finally won a leg of Solvallaserien before finishing second in Solvalla Grand Prix and Super Lights lopp, then finished off the year with a third-place finish in Frances Bulwarks lopp.

Again the owners had high hopes before the coming season, but again it didn’t go according to plan in the beginning. “The 5-year-old season didn’t start at all as we thought, he was difficult to get going after the winter training. That probably led to Hans opting to race regularly without any long breaks later in his career. Besides, Piraten loved to train and race, and wasn’t too keen on any rest periods.” After five disappointing starts, where a third-place in Berth Johanssons Memorial could not make up for bleak performances in two Olympiatravet eliminations and a race in Norway, On Track Piraten started to turn things around with a win in Victory Tillys lopp at Solvalla in mid-June. Five starts later he picked up his next win, in the prestigious C Th Ericssons Memorial at Solvalla in August. Piraten was never at his best in the summer, though, but the pieces always fell into place later in the year. At 5, he wrapped up the season by winning the Swedish Championship and the C.L. Müllers Memorial. It was the first of the black gelding’s two Swedish Championship wins in as many attempts.

Getting a reputation

Going down to France at January at 6, he picked up two second- and one sixth-place finish. However, the following year he notched a big win there, too, winning the Prix du Luxembourg with Erik Adielsson at the reins. As usual, the summers would yield less wins, though he put in numerous good performances, as attested by two second places in Sundsvall Open Trot plus another one in Grand Prix de Wallonie, two third places in Norrbottens Stora Pris and another one in Jämtlands Stora Pris, as well as fourth places in Hugo Åbergs Memorial and the UET Trotting Masters final in Belgium in 2015. When the temperatures were more moderate, however, the horse was more than a handful for his competitors: from October 29, 2016, to March 11, 2017, he won nine races in a row, giving the owners reason to celebrate – something they were really good at. “You know, we were new to having a horse who competed at that level, and we were partying and celebrating quite hard the first few years. It was a lot of fun, but I guess we also got a reputation,” Backlund admits.

What Backlund remembers best, though, were the three trips to the US. In 2015, the gelding finished out of the money in the Yonkers International Trot, and the following years he finished fourth and fifth, respectively. “To me, even though the results were not what we hoped for, I value the three trips to the International Trot most of all. The experiences and how we were received as their guests there was absolutely amazing. Those memories will never be forgotten. I should add, though, that winning the Prix du Luxembourg in 2015 was also a real highlight. He won easily and, personally, I think that is the best he has even been. In terms of capacity and form he was as good as he could be that day. A third highlight, of course, the first invitation to the Elitlopp in 2015. That was big for us and it felt a bit unreal at the time,” adds Backlund.

Excelling at everything

What was big, and certainly a bit unreal, was also the career as a whole. The big gelding won his last race, Super Lights lopp, age 12 at Dec 28, 2020. The following year he went winless in 25 starts, but put in several good performances. The highlight was when he was third in the Monte (RUS) Elite during the Elitlopp Sunday at Solvalla. There, On Track Piraten trotted in 1.10,7 (1:53.4f) under saddle in the 184th race of his career. That versatility and toughness is what characterized the black beauty. He could leave quickly and control everything from the front, cover a lot of extra ground by going two or three-wide, or attack late from cover. Moreover, he won over distances from 1 to 2 miles. Rarely injured, when he was sidelined by a pulmonary hemorrhage later in his career, he fought back and recovered fully, even though the veterinarians had stipulated the probabiliy of a successful comeback to be “maximum 5 percent”.

On Track Piraten finally retired on Jun 25, 2022, aged 14, by finishing out of the money in a race at his home track Rättvik.

However, the Kool du Caux-son was not one to quietly hang around his paddock passing the days. Upon retirement he was given to Martina Jonsson, his groom for the last four years. Knowing the retired superstar liked to stay active, she’s introduced the trotter to show jumping and dressage. The versatile superstar also showed he could handle anything thrown at him when he lead processions in his home town on St Lucy’s Day, a Scandinavian tradition. Backlund sums up the black gelding “To me, he’s a blue collar working kind of trotter. He always did his best, come rain, sun or snow. Until he got sick he never put in a bad performance. He always did his best with a good attitude and never complained.”

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