The orphan in the $1 million International Trot

The Danish-born Get A Wish is one of ten harness racing horses aiming for glory in Saturday’s $1 million International Trot at Yonkers Raceway.

A five-year-old son of Wishing Stone, Get A Wish was an orphan who experienced a rough start in life. With the unlikely help of a difficult yearling filly things changed from bleak to promising, and in the last two years the colt has blossomed into one of Europe’s better horses.

For breeders Per and Dorthe Christensen the journey started with despair. They are thrilled to see their little baby maturing into a top trotter.

“It has been absolutely fantastic, like taken out of a dream. We never imagined this”, says Dorthe Christensen.

She can still clearly remember the fateful day of June 11, 2018. She was away while her husband Per was at home. As Get A Wish was born, his mother Amanda Vang suffered an internal rupture. Things went south very quickly and just as the veterinarian arrived at the farm, Amanda Vang passed away after giving birth to her one and only foal. The foal, however, was full of life.

“There we had with a vigorous foal but a dead mare, thinking it was a totally impossible project. But he was a fighter from day one. As his mother laid dead on the ground, he was already standing up ready to eat. 1,5 liters of colostrum was milked from the newly diseased mare and fed to the hungry foal.”

A search for a foster mare was unsuccessful and the couple was left with the tough task of raising their orphan foal. As the tiny colt – who is still relatively small, measuring 15,2 hands – was to be fed every two hours, the husband and wife split the feeding duties between them and chose to live apart, occupying separate wings of their house, so they could each get enough rest in between the feedings. For a few days, Get A Wish was bottle-fed, but that changed as the couple received crucial advice from the local thoroughbred farm Hjortebo.

“There was a concern that he might become dominant or learn bad habits, which can easily happen in such a situation. Fortunately, that never happened. We were told to feed him using a pail and to not cuddle him. We gave him milk, turned around and left,” Dorthe Christensen said.

“That was really hard, because the instinct is to spend some time with the young horses and cuddle with them. However, we just turned our backs and walked away. The idea was for him to be a horse. We probably did that for three or four months, before he ate enough on his own. The first times were very demanding,” she explains.

At the same time, they were very concerned that the little foal is not alone. The yearling mare Flash of Love had already shown an interest in the foals at the farm and the couple got the idea to put Get A Wish together with the yearling filly. Against all odds this worked out perfectly, and paradoxically this completely changed Flash of Love as well.

“We absolutely did not want him to be alone and that mare proved to be a saviour. Flash of Love was really interested in the foals but was also very difficult and uncooperative. Per had the idea to put them together, but it was a shot in the dark. She and the foal were first kept in a box for a few days before they were released into a small garden.

“Almost miraculously,” Dorthe Christensen explained. “She took on the role of a foster mother. Get A Wish was with her for a while before he was let into the herd. From then on it was the herd that raised him. And as for Flash Of Love, she became sensible and manageable from mothering him. She never made it to the races because of an injury, was then bred and has actually become a really, really good mother.”

The experience and situation Get A Wish went through is also the inspiration for the horse’s name.

“The name had to be “Get A Wish” because we had a simple wish. We just wanted him to survive and become something. Not that he was going to be a star, we just wanted him to survive and come out of it as a fine horse.”

Well, the wish has certainly been granted – and more. They sold Get A Wish at yearling auction for 95 000 Danish Kroner, less than $15,000 dollars. At four, last year, the son of Wishing Stone and Amanda Vang won the Danish Derby, giving Christensen her third Danish Derby as a breeder. On Saturday, Get A Wish can top that by winning the $1M International Trot.

Racing begins at 12:15 p.m. Saturday at Yonkers. For free Yonkers programs, visit the Standardbred Owners Association of New York website here.

Following is the International Trot field with morning-line odds, driver/trainer, and country:

1-Vivid Wise As (Yankee Glide) Matthieu Abrivard/Alessandro Gocciadoro), 4-1, Italy

2-Etonnant (Timoko) Anthony Barrier/Richard Westerink), 3-1, France

3-It’s Academic (Uncle Peter) David Miller/Ron Burke), 7-2, United States

4-Fashion Frenzie (Archangel) Louis-Philippe Roy/Nancy Takter, 20-1, Canada

5-Hierro Boko S (From Above) Hannu Korpi drives and trains), 8-1, Finland

6-Get A Wish DK (Wishing Stone) Bo Westergaard drives and trains), 15-1, Denmark

7-Aldebaran Zeus A (Muscle Hill) Chris Alford/Brent Lilley), 15-1, Australia

8-Bengurion Jet IT (Maharajah) Alessandro Gocciadoro drives and trains), 15-1, Italy

9-Jiggy Jog S (Walner) Dexter Dunn/Ake Svanstedt), 8-1, Sweden

10-Venerate (Love You) Brian Sears/Marcus Melander), 12-1, United States

For complete race entries, click here: US Trotting results.

by Lisa Harkema, for Harnesslink