Quality trotting bloodlines now in Great Britain

The trotters have seen a giant uptake in harness racing competitor numbers in Great Britain over the last ten years. At the heart of this has been the evolution of TROTBritain, securing race sponsorship for Trotteur Français from LeTROT in 2014, becoming the National Governing Body for Trotting Horseracing in 2022 and now gaining full UET (European Trotting Union) membership in 2024.

The growing stability for the trotters in Great Britain has been mirrored by the growing confidence of British breeders to breed their own trotters or more specifically Trotteur Français and nothing highlights this more than the strength in depth now found in the British Trotting Stallion ranks.

Airport [FRA] (Love You – Pivoine by Cygnus d’Odyssee)

The Group II winner has total earnings of 260,300€ and a 1’13”0 record. He currently has 32 horses racing in France who have so far collected over 400,000€ in prize money.

This striking chestnut brings his good looks but more importantly the Love You sire line to Great Britain. Love You (Cocktail Jet o/o Guilty Of Love) a winner of 22 races and €1,416,537 has maybe done more for the global appreciation of “Franco Breeding” than any other horse. He has been available to Southern Hemisphere breeders since 2006 and since then Love You’s have managed to win all their best Group 1 races for Trotters despite never having the largest crop of foals.

Closer to home in Europe ‘Nahar’ the Swedish son of Love You went on to win the 2013 Elitloppet, whilst in France, Love You’s pure Trotteur Français progeny have so far won the Grand Prix d’Amérique twice, Royal Dream in 2013 & Belina Josselyn in 2019. And then comes his most unlikely success story, if you’re thinking of racing for the big bucks as a juvenile in North America it’s understandable that your first thought at the yearling sales might not be to buy a colt from a French sire, after all North American breeding has been focused around two- and three-year-old speed for generations.

For Love You to sire a major juvenile winner in North America should have been mission impossible but that’s not what happened. In 2020 at Woodbine Mohawk Park in Canada it was Venerate that won the $1,320,000 Mohawk Millon, the richest race in North America and the richest juvenile race in the world. Add to this the success of International Moni who won an elimination of The Hambeltonian in 2017, Love You has truly proven himself to be a global player.

Black d’Avril [FRA] (Oceano Nox – Olivia d’Avril by Extreme Aunou)

A Group I Winner in his native France with 541,720€ in total earnings and a 1’10”9 record, Black d’Avril is both the richest and fastest trotting stallion to stand in Great Britain. Whilst he represents a sire line that hasn’t had many opportunities outside of France, his third dam (Halte a la Biche) has produced Quadrophenia, who is the sire of Orlando Vici, a stallion who has had great success as a sire across Europe and more recently in the Southern Hemisphere.

Black d’Avril’s 27 progeny that are already racing, have so far earned over 400,000€ in prize money and have made a good start to 2024 with Just Black and Jasmin Danover winning at Agen & Vincennes respectively. Incroyable Black has so far been the standout performer for his sire collecting 132,850€ in prize money and managing to compete at Group II level as a 2y/o. Black d’Avril’s elite racing record is surely a welcome addition to British Trotting Breeding.

From 2 Stallions that are still relatively at the start of their Stud career we move onto one that is at the twilight of his:

Power Jet [FRA] (Ganymede – Delmonica Jet by Tarass Boulba)

This Group III Winner has total earnings of 396,663€ and a 1’11”7 race record and brings to British breeders quality genetics being by Ganymede who is the sire of “Cracks” including Elitloppet winner Dijon, Prix de France & Prix de Paris winner Ampia Mede SM and NZ Trotting Free For All Winner Peak amongst others. As impressive as Power Jet’s sire line is, the true strength to his pedigree is maternal. His second Dam is Ambro Glamour [CAN] making his dam Delmonica Jet a half-sister to super sire Coktail Jet.

This maternal line repeatedly delivers Group I winners such as Quaker Jet, Charly du Noyer and Hanna des Molles. So far Power Jet has 101 horses that have qualified to race, that have collected 3,531,281€ in prizemoney and is now proving his worth as a broodmare sire where his daughter’s offspring have so far earned 314,680€ in prizemoney from 18 foals to race so far, including Hetre d’Ourville, who has banked 119,205€ and has a 1’12”8 race record.

And then we have the stallion that paved the way for aforementioned three

Renier [FRA] (Goetmals Wood – Justesse by Big Prestige)

Renier is a winner of 10 races and 257,000€ in Prizemoney with a 1’13”3 record who also placed in a Group III race. These solid racehorse credentials are assets he appears to be passing on to his French progeny with his best so far being Herkalion Desbois who has a 1’12”4 record and has collected 113,610€ in prize money to date.

Renier is a son of Sire of Sires Goetmals Wood out of Justesse (by Big Prestige). Goetmals Wood is a winner of 894,190€ and his sons include successful sires Singalo, Express Jet, Prodigious & Sam Bourbon. On the maternal side Renier’s third dam (Scala) is a sister to influential sire Tarass Boulba, highlighting the depth to his pedigree. Renier’s oldest British crop are now 2-year-olds and the reports from the trainers that have handled his youngstock are very positive.

by Michael Evans, for TROTBritain