Franz Wolf back in America

Trenton, NJ — Franz Wolf finally made it back to America.

And this time, the 58-year-old harness racing trainer hopes it’s for good.

Born in the southeastern German town of Straubing, which lies 100 miles east of Munich, Wolf learned horses at an early age. Through an acquaintance, he came to America in 1989 to work with Jimmy Takter.

Returning to his homeland to fulfill some commitments after a year, Wolf planned on getting back to the U.S. shortly thereafter. Well, the “thereafter” part panned out, but it was not done shortly.

“Everybody talked me into staying home,” Wolf said. “All my life I worked with Standardbreds in Germany. My whole life I wondered what would have happened if I went back to America.”

At age 51 he finally decided to see what could happen, even if it was later than planned. As a divorcé whose daughter was out on her own, Franz had nothing to tie him down and in 2015 went to Florida to work with Ake Svanstedt. He remained with the Swede for four years, staying in Florida in the winter and racing at The Meadowlands and Yonkers in the summer.

In 2019, Wolf struck out on his own with one horse, a trotter named Levitation. He had two starts that first year, driving Levitation in both, resulting in one third-place finish for $1,500. In the following campaign, which was dulled due to COVID, Wolf drove Levitation in his first four of 15 starts. Overall, the horse picked up one first, one second, six thirds and $15,115.

Success increased markedly in 2021, as Wolf had six firsts, three seconds and four thirds for $56,245 in earnings in 30 training starts. He added a second horses in October, claiming pacer Undertaker for $10,000.

With Undertaker recently being claimed for $15,000, Levitation is once again his lone horse. This season, the 7-year-old trotter has one second in three starts for $3,022.

“He had a lot of health issues in the beginning,” Wolf said. “I bought him in September (2019), he made one start and got injured, and didn’t race for four or five weeks. At the end of (2020) he was OK, he won some money. He’s a nice horse. Last year he had 23 starts and made 45 thousand. He won at Yonkers in (1):55.2.”

It appears things are finally coming together for Wolf in America, but it’s been a lengthy process.

Franz started with horses at a young age but had no family connections to anything equestrian.

“No, absolutely not!” he exclaimed. “I started riding when I was 10 years old — show horses, jumpers just for fun. I had some girls I used to hang out with in school. They went to the racetrack riding in the afternoon for fun. That was how I first went to the racetrack. More and more, I got interested in it and started to make it a profession.

“I met somebody who trained racehorses. I went over to the racetrack and met the guy. He asked me if I wanted to help in the barn. More and more I got hooked.”

Wolf began working with different people around Europe, going to Italy, France, and several other countries.

“I was seeing different styles of training,” he said. “Everybody does it a little bit differently, so I learned some new things.”

In 1989 Wolf was hooked up with Takter by a trainer who knew he was looking for people.

“I learned a lot of new things from him,” Wolf said.

After he went home and his plans to return to America got short-circuited, Wolf went to work as a driver and trainer. He started as a second trainer for Wim Paal for several years before striking out on his own. Wolf had a stable in Bavaria before getting a call from Trabrennbahn Gelsenkirchen (also known as GelsenTrabPark), which was Germany’s largest Standardbred track.

“It’s like The Meadowlands over here,” Wolf said.

Franz stayed there for 12 years, went back to Bavaria for a spell and then stabled a bit in Austria.

He won more than 350 races as a driver and estimates he won around 1,500 as a trainer. But he wasn’t getting rich and was forced to take side jobs as a blacksmith or working at festivals and concerts serving food.

Because of that, his desire to get back to the States never waned.

“Standardbred racing is absolutely down over there,” Wolf said. “When I started in the ’80s, German Standardbred racing was pretty good, there were a lot of people coming to watch the races, they had good wagering. But it all turned around in 1990 when they opened sports betting for everything. People nowadays are betting on basketball, hockey or whatever.”

Wolf saw his opportunity to return when he suffered a training accident in Austria and broke his back. When he finally recovered, he knew it was time to relocate.

“I was starting over anyway, so I thought this was the right moment to go back to America,” he said. “I decided to go for the winter to Florida to find out if everything worked all right. Originally, I thought it might be better in warmer conditions. When it’s cold and you start working in it, I didn’t know how my back would work out, working with the horses and riding and everything.”

He stayed with Svanstedt — who he had met in Germany — for several years before finally stabling permanently in central New Jersey. Wolf is happy with how things are going for the most part but would like to start expanding his operation.

“I want to buy one or two, but I would need partners,” Wolf said. “I would take other owners’ horses to train too. That’s the goal, to put my own stable together and have some more horses.”

It has been his American dream for a while, and Wolf is happy to finally be pursuing it.

by Rich Fisher, for the USTA