The queen’s terrible demise

She was a really good youngster in the US, winning the Hambletonian Oaks and Kentucky Futurity filly, and blossomed into one of Europe’s best aged mares. After a race in Italy on Boxing Day 1993 the speedy mare Park Avenue Kathy, who previously had equaled the world record for aged mares, was caught in a fire with no opportunity to escape.

Trained in the US by Bruce Nickells, Park Avenue Kathy was good from the get-go although she didn’t win any big races at 2. She finished third in the Breeders Crown at Pompano Park, behind Peace Corps and Armbro Hinter. Although Peace Corps was considered the best filly in the 1986 crop, Kathy wasn’t too far behind her. In addition to winning the Kentucky Futurity for fillies and the World Trotting Derby for fillies, Kathy also won the Hambletonian Oaks after a race-off win against Peach Pit and Maralie Lobell. In the Breeders Crown she again finished third, this time to Peace Corps and Peach Pit.

The Hambo Oaks win came after Bruce Nickells surprised many with an equipment change ahead of the race. “Before the race-off in the Hambletonian Oaks, I switched shoes on Park Avenue Kathy. I went from a steel shoe to an aluminum shoe in the paddock right before the race. A lot of owners wouldn’t have appreciated a switch like that before a big race without telling them. But Lou understood I was doing what I thought was best as his trainer.”

Sold to Europe

Bought by Berne Gustavsson of Sweden and put in the training of Göran E Johansson, Kathy went to Europe as a 4-year-old. Like some others she struggled a bit when going up against older trotters for the first time and she did not win any of her 7 starts as a four-year-old. The gap was particularly visible in the Fina Cup, one of the biggest races for aged fillies in Europe at the time, at Biri in Norway. Despite finishing third, she quite couldn’t keep up with Peace Corps and Nealy Lobell, the latter setting a new world record for aged mares with 1.11,8 (1:55.3f).

During the year, she had also gotten to know her new groom, Jeanette Jakobsson, who formed a special bond with the highly fickle mare: “She was very kind to me because she got to decide a lot. Kathy was extremely clear about how she wanted things, for example when we went for a walk she choose a path and I would walk at least 3 meter behind her with a longer line. If her foot was itchy, for example, she just stretched her leg towards me to tell me it was my job to scratch. I also remember she didn’t like interval training. She could go four intervals at most, then she stopped and refused to turn for another. There are so many great memories and she taught me so much.”

But one year to acclimatize was all she needed and although she started the 1991 season a bit slowly, Kathy got better and better while traveling more than a busy salesperson – though this didn’t set her back, on the contrary. “She loved to travel abroad and really enjoyed it when I only had her to look after. My best memory is Hilversum in Holland. I think she sensed the atmosphere too, she agreed to wear a blanket and laurel wreath without getting mad. That was not common, but if anybody tried to put a blanket of wreath on her on the track she could kick. However, there were people everywhere and she just stood still,” recalls Jakobsson. Starting in five different countries, Park Avenue Kathy was 10-3-4 in 21 and picked up wins in like Grote Prijs der Giganten in the Netherlands, Färjestads Jubileumslopp, Ådalspriset and Algot Scotts Minne in Sweden and Grosser Preis der Stadt Gelsenkirchen in Germany. However, Fina Cup once again proved elusive as she finished fourth while Peace Corps won.

In 1992 she started a further 23 times, finished 10-4-2 and winning races such as Gran Premio Freccia d’Europa in Italy, Grote Prijs der Giganten in the Netherlands again and – finally – Fina Cup in Norway. Her ability to leave very quickly was her trademark, and she won a lot of races by getting to the front and Johansson controlling everything from there – though in the US she had often come off cover to win. Her gait was so natural and fast others had big problems matching her speed bursts. The daughter of Mystic Park and out of Loving Look, a sister to Super Bowl, was a dream horse for trainer Göran E Johansson: “A fantastic horse. We started in the Elitlopp three times and made the final each time. In 1993 we finished third with everything left.”

Equaling the world record

She made a further 25 starts in 1993, finishing 8-7-1 and winning Gran Premio Palio dei Comuni, Gävle Stora Pris, Fina Cup and Gran Premio Ivone Grassetto. There was one win, however, that made Göran very annoyed: “The Fina Cup win was one of her easiest, but had I known that Kathy was so close to the world record I would have asked a little more of her.” When Park Avenue Kathy won the 1993 Fina Cup in 1.11,8 (1:55.3f) she equaled Nealy Lobell’s world record performance – and those in attendance had no doubt that the only reason she didn’t lower it was simply because Johansson simply did not realize how fast was she was going. “She was good that day. By the way, I remember the first thing she did when we unloaded her at Biri in 1993 was to take a bath in the lake next to the track. She remembered that from the year before and insisted on going in – and after I had to call Göran and ask him to bring a new front shoe. It is still somewhere on the bottom of the lake,” smiles Jakobsson.

Like some other Scandinavian horses at the time, Kathy spent some time in Italy toward the end of the year as there were more race and better money at that time of year down there. On Boxing Day 1993 she finished sixth in the Gran Premio Gaetano Turilli in Turin, finishing well behind fellow Swedish trotters Meadow Prophet and First Sid who finished one-two.

The tragedy

After the race the three trotters were put on a bus and started driving towards Bologna. The interior of the bus had been temporarily rearranged to accommodate for 4 horses and a lot of equipment. Caretakers and trainers were keen to get back to Bologna to ready the horses for a return to Sweden the next day. Joining the Swedish trio was the Giuseppe Guzzinati trained Columist, the son of Speedy Crown who had finished third in the 1990 Kentucky Futurity before being exported to Italy.

After 5 hours on the road, just 30 kilometers north of Bologna, other motorists made the driver aware of a problem with the bus. Pulling over they saw black smoke come out of a roof hatch and what they were about to find out was that some hay in the middle of the bus had caught fire. That the horses had not been frightened and made a lot of noise was probably because, as the subsequent investigation showed, a lot of gases, including carbon monoxide, had formed and this probably dulled them.

When they opened the door to let the horses out, oxygen flowed in and fed the fire which took on an explosive character. Columnist stood closest to the door and was rescued first, followed by Meadow Prophet. First Sid and Kathy were further from the door but they managed to get First Sid out. Park Avenue Kathy, however, was stuck in her halter and could not be rescued out of the blazing inferno. In the end, however, the other three horses had to be put down because of the injuries they had sustained. They had hopes for Meadow Prophet’s survival but, according to part-owner Lars Gustafsson, “he fought for his life a whole week. But his heart couldn’t take any more in the end. He slumped to the ground all exhausted and I know it was over.” The tragedy is still with Jakobsson: “Part of my heart is missing though lives goes on. She will never be forgotten in the hart of both me and Värmland.”

The investigation could not pinpoint what started the fire but managed to exclude most possibilities and in the end the most commonly believed theory is that a cigarette thrown from a passing car started the blaze. Dennis Funke of the Swedish trotting association who visited Italy and examined the burnt out bus saw only two possibilities: cigarette or sabotage. The Italian trainer Lorenzo Baldi believed it was an failed assasination attempt on him or some of his horses. But speculations are exactly that; speculations – and not facts.

What is a fact, however, is that a wonderful career and life was over. Unfortunately, one of the best aged mares in the world at the time did not get a chance to pass on her genes to a future generation.

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