Volstead: One of the best-kept secrets in Ohio

The dual-hemisphere stallion Volstead (Cantab Hall) has emerged as one of the best kept secrets in the Ohio harness racing breeding ranks of 2023.  Bred by Arden Homestead Stable and Adelaide J. Skoglund, this earner of $729,716 who was foaled on May 9, 2011, at Gettsyburg, PA, has, from just one crop, produced two of the top 2-year-old trotters in North America.

Dean Miller, who owns Volstead under the moniker Euro Stall, says he is not surprised by the stallion’s strong start.

“I had followed Volstead from the day he sold as a yearling when Stefan Melander bought him,” Miller confirmed. “I loved his confirmation and followed him his entire career through Europe where many of his races for the most part were distance races. He raced on the outside and never saw the rail and it didn’t bother him at all to be parked a mile or a mile and a quarter and still win. He wasn’t a typical Cantab Hall because most of them, if they get parked, they give up pretty quick. It’s not in their nature to fight like that.”

Volstead spent his entire racing career in Europe for Melander, trotting to a career victor of 1:51.3 on a five-eighths mile oval, capturing 23 of 73 races, including the Sweden Cup, and also had ten seconds and a pair of third-place finishes.  The Euro-Group 1 winning Volstead was the third foal out of the Yankee Glide mare Madame Volo 2, 1:56.4 ($32,504) and sold for $50,000 at the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale on Oct. 3, 2012. He is a full brother to High Bridge 3, 1:54.3f ($327,544) and to Malmo 3, 2:00.4f ($7,040) and has a half-sibling in Mcattee (by Andover Hall) 3, 1:57.1f ($63,699) and Explosive High (by Explosive Matter) who earned $24,330.

“His dam’s side is loaded with champions,” Miller stressed. “I tried three years to buy the horse and there was always a resounding ‘No.’ And then one day, Stefan finally said yes.”

Volstead’s dam, Madame Volo is herself out of the Armbro Goal 3, 1:54.3 ($1,442,022) mare Missy’s Goal 3, 1:56 ($28,252) and is a full sister to the mares Missy’s Goalfire 3, 1:57.1h ($329,939) and Have You Ever 3, 1:55.2 ($204,280). She also has a half-brother in Private Pennant (by American Winner) 7, 1:55.2f ($177,887).  Missy’s Goal is out of the Speed Bowl 3, 1:56.2 ($805,282) mare Missy Hadagal 3, 2:04.4h ($12,517), who produced such standouts as Lassie’s Goal (by Armbro Goal) 3, 1:54.2 ($596,739) and Lear Jetta (by Lindy Lane) 3, 1:54.1f ($469,410).

Miller purchased Volstead for an undisclosed three-figure sum on April 30, 2019, and shipped the horse immediately to Australia and then New Zealand.

“He was in Sweden when we bought him, and we sent him directly in Australia to Pat Driscoll’s Yabby Dam Farm. We shuttled him two seasons, breeding mares there prior to the 2020 North American breeding season. The Australia and New Zealand seasons run from September 1 through January 31, and he bred a good book of mares over there,” Miller explained.

Volstead bred 46 mares in 2020, 47 in 2021, and 37 in 2022 at Dublin Valley Farm, located in Fredericksburg, Ohio. He stands for a fee of $4,500.

“It was what I expected,” Miller said of Volstead’s initial low numbers in this country. “Most Americans don’t follow anything in Europe or Australia or New Zealand in terms of racing, so when you bring a stallion here that didn’t race in the U.S., most folks won’t look at him seriously. Even the major breeding farms don’t follow harness racing outside of North America. I figured until we got foals racing that he wouldn’t get a big book here.”

That all changed after the 2022 fall yearling sales.

“This year (2023) we had to turn a number of mares away,” Miller confirmed. “That was based on how his youngsters looked and sold at last fall’s yearling sales.”

As of Aug. 29, 2023, Volstead is tenth in average earnings per sire this season, with an average of $22,015 earned per foal, with total foal earnings of $396,272.

One of his top freshman performers include the filly Sugar Instead 2, 1:56f ($181,125), who has won five of seven starts with a pair of second-place finishes, that entails a clean sweep of all five legs of the Ohio Sires Stakes for her age, gait, and gender.  Virgil Morgan, Jr., conditions the filly, who is out of the unraced Windsong’s Legacy 3, 1:53 ($1,744,644) mare Sugar Pop. Sugar Instead was acquired for the bargain price of just $11,000 at the Blooded Horse Sale on Aug. 23, 2022, and is currently third on the list of top earning trotting freshman this season, according to USTA statistics.

Another solid performer is the homebred filly Jurassic Hattie, 2,1:56.2f. She is a $96,444-earning daughter from the prolific Striking Sahbra 3, 1:56 ($217,492) mare High Gear Sahbra 2, 2:01h ($46,518). Jurassic Hattie is the tenth foal out of High Gear Sahbra who races for breeder Jerry Welch of Waterford, Ohio, and is a half-sister to Tamar (by Cash Hall) 6, 1:54.1f ($192,477) and High Gear Speed (by Ilooklikemymom) 6, 2:00h ($78,679), among others.

“We chose Dublin Valley Farm to stand Volstead for a number of reasons,” Miller explained. “First of all, owner Robert Hershberger and I are distant relatives, and looking at the bigger picture of the stallion rosters in Ohio, I was hoping to help move the farm forward to a higher level. The facility and the people who run the operation at Dublin Valley are a strong and steady group and do a terrific job managing the stallions there.”

A Volstead colt, Swanstead, out of the Swan For All 3, 1:54.1f ($309,986) mare Swan Mama,2, 1:57.2 ($27,925) captured a non-winners of one at The Meadows on Aug. 17, in rein to trainer-driver Tyler Stillings, clocked in 2:00. The youngster was bred by Kentucky’s Laurence Leinbach and was a $25,000 yearling at the 2022 Buckeye Classic Yearling Sale by Mark Goldberg of Washington, PA.

“We bred 125 mares this year to Volstead,” Joe Yoder, Dublin Valley’s Client & Marketing Manager confirmed. “His yearlings really made a difference in what folks were able to see about this horse. Volstead is big, 16.1, 16.2 hands, and he has tremendous confirmation and passes that off to his offspring. And what makes it nice for our stallion manager is that he’s extraordinarily fertile. He also has a smart head on his shoulders and passes that on to his youngsters as well which is why I think he’s had such a tremendous start this season.”

One of the mares Volstead was bred to this season was Dashing Muscle 2, 1:56.1s ($230,742), a daughter of Muscle Mass 2, 1:53.4 ($229,000), out of the unraced Donato Hanover 3, 1:50.1 ($2,998,777) mare Delmonica.   Dashing Muscle has a Father Patrick suckling at her side currently. She was a gritty performer on the Ontario Sires Stakes circuit as a freshman, capturing the $190,000 ONSS Final on Oct. 17, 2020, at Woodbine.

“Volstead has the American pedigree with an international racing career,” Yoder stressed. “This fact alone has changed the scope of the people that we here at Dublin Valley talk to now.  We definitely struggled the first couple of years getting people to breed to him because he wasn’t well known here.  I was constantly telling people to come look at him and really had to push for folks to acknowledge what a great a horse he was. When he did so well at the sales, that spurred folks on to breed to him.”

Mission Valley, a daughter by Enterprise, who also stands at Dublin Valley, was a solid performer in the Buckeye Stallion Series last year for trainer-driver Ronnie Gillespie, and also won the $40,000 Ohio Fair Championship at Northfield in 1:58 and numerous Ohio Fair Stakes, and at Welson on June 14, 2022, where she won by a whopping 21¼ lengths. She rounded out the season with $70,752 and a mark of 2, 1:56.3h and was just beginning her 3-year-old campaign when she was injured.

“Mission Valley was bred by Dublin Valley and so when she came here, it seemed a natural fit to bred her to Volstead,” Yoder said. “Enterprise is a son of Chapter Seven, so that should make for a very strong cross.”

Of Volstead’s yearlings from his first crop, 17 sold at the Ohio Sales last fall: eight in the Buckeye Classic Sale; six in the Ohio Select Sale; and three in the Blooded Horse Sale. Overall, his yearlings averaged $36,235 from $616,000 in total sales.  His colts averaged $31,555 from $284,000, while his fillies averaged $41,500 from $332,000. Those in the Ohio Select Sale brought the highest dollar amounts, with a total of $404,000, while those in the Buckeye Classic brought at total of $163,000, and those at the Blooded brought a total of $50,000.

Interestingly, the highest priced ($170,000) yearling from Volstead’s first crop, Volana, out of the Triumphant Caviar 4, 1:51.4s ($796,794) mare Rose Run Ida, ($3, 2:00.1h ($64,736), has just $640 in her pocketbook this year at two, while the stallion’s least expensive yearling ($11,000), the aforementioned Sugar Instead, has the most money on her card ($181,125), from all of his progeny. Also, the lone homebred and previously mentioned Jurassic Hattie, captured a $5,288 Ohio Fair Stake on Aug. 28 at Caldwell, trotting in 2:01.2 and winning by 17 lengths for driver Brady Clemens, adding another feather to her cap. She now has two wins and two seconds in just four lifetime starts.

Other Volstead progeny just beginning their careers are Globalllyattractive, a $70,000 Ohio Select yearling out of the Andover Hall 3, 1:51.3 ($870,510) mare GLoballyblamourous 2, 1:58f ($69,179), and a member of the Burke Brigade who made his first qualifying attempt at The Meadows in June. Volaris, a $65,000 Ohio Select yearling out of the unraced Dream Vacation 4, 1:52 ($616,257) mare Turquoise Sweetie, has been hitting the Ohio Fair circuit for trainer Chris Beaver, amassing $4,394 to date with a mark of 2, Q1:03.3f. Toby’s Gavel, a $55,000 Ohio Select purchase out of the unraced Muscle Hill 3, 1:50.1 ($3,273,342) mare Foxcatcher, is just starting his career for trainer Tim Twaddle at The Meadows, while Papa Nordin, a $30,000 Ohio Select yearling out of the Angus Hall mare Twin B Alibi 5, 1:56.3f ($111,583), has been racing in the Buckeye Series for trainer Danny Collins and owns a qualifying record of Q2:00.4f.

Whisky Peddler, who sold for $25,000 at the Buckeye Classic, has a bankroll of $13,249 and captured an Ohio Fair Stake at Urbana on Aug. 10 in 2:03.2 for trainer Mark Winters and driver Jeff Nisonger. This gelding is out of the Jailhouse Jesse 4, T1:53.3 ($256,350) mare Big Girl Pants, 4, 1:57f ($26,979).

Another Buckeye Classic yearling and $24,000 purchase who is making his presence felt is Sir Cactus Jax, a winner of $19,273 to date for trainer Rosy Weaver. This youngster has been hitting the fair circuit like gangbusters and captured a $4,556 Ohio Fair Stake on Aug. 21 for Don Irvine, Jr., in 2:07. This gelding is out of the Trainforthefuture 3, 1:55.3 ($235,944) mare Rose Run Nellie 5, 1:55.3 ($240,732).

Chipstead, a $23,000 Buckeye Classic yearling, is out of the Chip Chip Hooray 3, 1:53.3 ($1,442,303) mare Smartchip 4, 1:56.2 ($91,376), and has earned $9,902 from two wins and three seconds in nine starts this season for trainer Steve Carter, racing at the fairs and in the Buckeye Series. He took a mark of 2:05.2, winning by nearly ten lengths in an Ohio Fair contest at Wilmington on June 10.

Dublin Water Girl, who sold for $14,000 at the Ohio Select Sale, hails from the unraced Chapter Seven 4, 1:50.1 ($1,954,966) mare Fire N Flood. This filly has just begun her career for trainer Brian J. Miller, and most recently was fifth in a $40,000 Ohio Sires Stakes at Northfield on July 9. She has $3,040 in her coffers.  Smokeitsteady was a $12,000 Buckeye Classic purchase and is out of the Chip Chip Hooray mare Rompaway Jazzy 3, 1:58.2h ($23,864). This gelding is a winner of $14,106 in his brief career, with four wins in six starts and a mark of 2:05.1h taken at Bucyrus on July 19 for trainer driver Tye Loy.

To summarize, of his 17 yearlings sold at auction last year, all but five of Volstead’s youngsters have begun their racing careers. As well, several homebreds are also making their debuts, including Super James, a gelding out of the Neely Dunn 4, 1:55.4f ($108,846) mare Super Lily 4, 1:55h ($120,234). This youngster has three wins in six starts and $15,027, having captured a trio of Ohio Fair Stakes for trainer Wes Hershberger.  Solomon Seal is another homebred from Orrville, Ohio-based Riceland Acres. This gelding is out of the Dontyouforgetit 3, 1:52.1f ($598,049) mare Forget You 3, 2:00.1h ($24,516) and has earned $4,645 at the county fairs for trainer Daniel Miller.

Below are two stories on foals by Volstead winning downunder.

Volstead filly wins $50,000 QBred Final – Harnesslink

Volstead fillies quinella $150k Next Generation Final – Harnesslink

by Kimberly Rinker, for Harnesslink