This month’s column will not be
dedicated to a special topic, but I
have a couple of interesting items
to share with the fans in North America.
We are in the peak of the breeding
season over here, however it varies a bit
between north and south Europe due to
weather conditions. In the southern part
of the continent (mainly Italy) the breeding
season begins in late February, while
the Scandinavian countries in the north
wait a month or so after that before they
cover the first mares.
    Most foals are born from the middle
of April through the end of May. This
variation from south to north creates the
possibility to physically use a stallion in
both parts of the continent during the
same breeding season. There aren’t
many taking advantage of this, but it
happens, and when it happens with one
of the best Standardbreds of all time, it
seems sensational.
    Varenne, with $5.6 million in career
earnings, will work in both Italy and
Sweden during 2008. At the end of April
he changed from his home barn near
Torino in Italy to the famous Swedish
Menhammer Stud, where he is now the
stall neighbour of Mack Lobell.  
    The change had an impact on the
traditional Varenne birthday party on
May 19, but the stallion was celebrated
in advance, and 25 Italian fans even
made the trip to Sweden to celebrate
their idol on the proper day, less than
one week before the famous Elitlopp,
which the son of Waikiki Beach (by
Speedy Somolli) won twice earlier in this
decade.

     Some of you might ask why the
farms don’t just send frozen semen
between countries. Well, first of all,
according to European law, a stallion is
only allowed to cover 150 mares in
each country. Secondly it is an expensive
business to handle frozen semen
and third it is said that the quality of
the frozen semen is less than the fresh,
and actually, as you may know, many
stallions cannot be used with frozen
semen at all.
    Those are also the reasons why only
the most popular North American stallions
(Andover Hall, Angus Hall, Conway
Hall, Donato Hanover, Muscles Yankee,
Tom Ridge, Yankee Glide, etc.) are used
with frozen semen by Scandinavian
breeders. And in spite of the high costs,
I can promise you that every drop of available semen from these stallions is being used over here.
    Now to something completely different:
Harness Racing in Russia. This
once very active harness racing nation
seems to have vanished totally. Is it really so? And if so, why?
    During the reigning decades of the
Czars, the Russian horse, the Orloff trotter (named after a famous Russian count) developed into both a good working
horse and a very skilled racehorse (trotter). Most horses were grey, a colour
which remains in many western
European bloodlines even today.  
    As Standardbred racing was introduced
in Germany, France and Denmark
in the 1870s Orloff trotters were used in

the breed, in order to achieve strong and
fast horses on the track, which succeeded.
However, the North American
Standardbred trotter seemed even more
attractive, and in time less and less
Russian blood was used. Some revivals
occurred, in the 50s and mid 60s, when

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