Sons of guns set to carry on trotting sire dynasty

Chapter Seven and his champion son Walner have outdistanced all other trotting stallions in North America for the past few years in every age group and category.

Chapter Seven took out the trotting sires’ premiership in 2021 and 2002 before relinquishing the title to Walner last year. Chapter Seven looks certain to claim his third championship this year.

The father-and-son siring duo both have only one son available to ‘down under’ breeders this season in Helpisontheway (by Chapter Seven) and King Of The North (by Walner). 

Both can be accessed through Llowalong Farms, Kyabram (Vic.), King Of The North by fresh chilled semen and Helpisontheway via frozen semen.

The pair were both in the top flight as racehorses and are set to become breed changing horses in Australia and New Zealand, as the sireline has been America.

King Of The North was the leading stakes-winning two-year-old male trotter in 2021 with $657,140 and one of the fastest with a record of 1:52.8. He won six of his 10 starts including the $640,000 William Wellwood Memorial, $293,450 Peter Haughton Memorial and the $200,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes Final, and received the Dan Patch award for 2YO Trotting Colt of the Year.

As a three-year-old he won three of his last four starts, including the $200,000 Carl Erskine Memorial and elimination and final of the $800,000 Breeders Crown at Woodbine Mohawk Park in 1:50.6, a new lifetime mark and a fresh stakes, track and Canadian record.

King Of The North retired with earnings of $1,370,242 and is the richest ever son of Walner.

Like King Of The North, his sire Walner and grandsire Chapter Seven were both world champions and Breeders Crown winners.

On his dam’s side, King Of The North comes from a family which has made a real impact on the American breeding scene. His dam Check Me Out, a Breeders Crown champion herself, earned $1.9million and took a record of 1:51.4 and left four winners from five foals, while his great grand-dam No Nonsense Woman banked $1.2million and was the top trotting mare of her day.

King Of The North served 70 mares in Australia and 74 in NZ in his first season at the stud in 2023. He was fully booked for his first two seasons in Canada. 

King Of The North, who has terrific fertility and a wonderful temperament, is the ideal cross for the numerous mares in Australia by Sundon.

As a special initiative for breeders from Llowalong Farms, the progeny of King Of The North this season will be eligible for two $100,000 bonuses if they can win the Vicbred Super Series finals as two-year-olds in 2028. This $100,000 cash bonus is also applicable to the Sires Stakes Program in New Zealand.

A winner in 1:55.8 at two, Helpisontheway was among the top bracket of three-year-olds of his year, winning nine of his 16 starts for $574,058 and taking his record of 1:51.8. Among his successes were the $225,000 New York Sires Stake Final, John Simpson Memorial, The Circle City and Tompkins Geers Stake, while he finished second in the Yonkers Trot and Carl Erskine.

Retired to stud, Helpisontheway has sired the winners of $5.7 million, with 20 in 1:55 and 64 in 2:00 from only three racing crops. He was the leading sire in the Indiana Sires Stake program with his first crop in 2022.

On the score of blood Helpisontheway lacks nothing. His sire Chapter Seven (1:50.2) was a champion with stake earnings of $1.9 million and has been one of America’s top sires for some time. He figures as the sire of two of America’s greatest trotters in Atlanta 1:49 ($3.5 million) and Gimpanzee 1:50 ($2.7 million).

Porque, the dam of Helpisontheway, won $272,000, took a record of 1:56.6 and produced five sub 2:00 winners from seven foals. She was by the Speedy Crown line horse Plesac ($2.5 million) from Hornby Michelle, by A Go Go Lauxmont (son of Balanced Image) from Hornby Tora, by Dream Of Glory, the sire of eight-time premier Australian trotting sire Red Coach Glory.

An upstanding stallion, standing 16 hands, Helpisontheway should prove an ideal outcross for mares boasting Muscles Yankee, Sundon and Angus Hall blood. 

Helpisontheway is standing for a fee of $5,500 including GST. Please don’t hesitate to contact the team at Llowalong Farms.

by Peter Wharton, for Harnesslink