The horse who beat Goliath

In Sweden one horse is, above all, responsible for the growth of harness racing. According to famed trainer Stig-H Johansson, trotting in Sweden has Ego Boy to thank for its popularity. The horse was an unlikely superstar that came from nowhere to become one of the world’s top aged trotters before his unexplainable death while still at the top.

Ego Boy really grabbed the attention of the trotting world in the 1973 Elitlopp. The race was, for the first and last time, ran as a best-of-three-heats race. With Ego Boy winning the first heat two lengths ahead of Flower Child in 1.15,3 (2:01.1f), but the latter winning the second heat by a nose in 1.13,8 (1:58.4f), a final race off between the two was necessary. Flower Child’s trainer-driver Joe O’Brien paid tribute to Ego Boy before the final heat, saying that the Swedish-born trotter was one of the better he had seen and that he was more than capable of beating his own Flower Child.

The race-off is a classic, but not for it’s high speed. Olofsson used Ego Boy’s gate speed to take the lead and O’Brien let his star trail him as Olofsson killed the tempo altogether, realizing that his best bet was probably to gamble on Ego Boy’s short distance speed. The first quarter was concluded in a leisurely 35 seconds or so. When O’Brien and Flower Child finally attacked, Ego Boy still had a full tank of gas and easily held off the challenger, winning one of the most prestigious races in the world in 1.23,8 (2:14.4) (!)

To many it made no sense. Flower Child was one of the world’s top aged trotters. Ego Boy was just a small-time horse from the rural region Dalarna. The horse was a good old fashioned underdog with an, at best, average pedigree, likeable and down-to-earth breeder-owners and trained by the humble and unassuming small-track trainer Ingemar Olofsson. The trainer had also downplayed his chances before the race off, saying “The Americans are so used to heat races, so I doubt I can win.” It was a true David v Goliath setup in the eyes of most Swedes, and the win made Ego Boy even more of a cult hero in Sweden.

An accomplished trotter

Even though he was the underdog, he was by no means unaccomplished. After going 6-2-0 in his 3 year old season, Ego Boy was 17-5-1 in 24 starts in his four-year-old season. That year he won Fyraåringseliten (“the four-year old Elite”) at Solvalla, Swedish S:t Leger at Åby and was also third in Sprintermästaren (“the Sprint champion”) before winning 7 of 8 starts as a 5-year-old. 1973 saw him 18-2-0 in 21 starts and picking up wins in the Elitlopp, Scandinavian Championship, Swedish Championship, Hugo Åbergs Memorial and Grote Prijs der Lage Landen. Ego Boy had tremendous gate speed and won most of his races from the front.

Ego Boy was bred by the couple Tage and Berit Hedberg. They bred trotters and generally sold all of their foals. Ego Boy was one of the few horses they kept, though.

His pedigree is a collection of oddball stallions and unfashionable “back-alley” broodmares. His sire, Ego Hanover, a son of 1941 Hambletonian winner Bill Gallon, finished 2nd in the 1956 Yonkers Trot and 5th in the Hambletonian – won by The Intruder – and stood stud in the US before he was imported to Sweden in 1965. Ego Boy is from his first Swedish crop. Ego Hanover was actually Swedish champion stallion in 1973, in large part thanks to Ego Boy. Although he did produce some other good trotters none came close to his Elitlopp-winning son. Ego Boy’s German-born dam, Ankedorle, had also been imported to Sweden in 1965. His pedigree makes Ego Boy one of few trotters with both sire and dam linebred (3×4 and 4×4 respectively) on the excellent but underrated Dillon Axworthy, the Matron-winning stallion who started started his stud career at AB Coxe’s Nawbeek Farm before being bought to Hanover Shoe Farm in 1926.

A bizarre death

As Christmas 1973 came around, Ego Boy was 48-9-1 in 63 starts with the trotting world at his feet, a surprise loss at the Dutch race Prijs der Giganten notwithstanding – and so superior that in 6 of 21 starts in 1973 he was placed outside of the betting. After starting 1974 with 2 wins in 3 races he was expected to win the big race Åby Stora Pris but he tired early and finished far back. In the beginning of June that year, tragedy struck as he was found dead in his box with a broken neck vertebra. The injury was bizarre beyond belief and completely unexplained. To this date nobody have explained it and some still believe it was sabotage. But all that is largely forgotten now anyway. Nobody, however, will forget Ego Boy – the horse who made trotting big in Sweden.

The horse is buried in the winners’ circle at Rättvik racetrack in Sweden. For his accomplishments on the track, Ego Boy was admitted to the Scandinavian Trotting Hall of Fame in 2019.

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