Harness: Multiple award-winning trotting mare Joviality retired
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Swedish-bred Chapter Seven mare Joviality, who was a Dan Patch Award winner at age 3 in the United States and then went on to further success in Europe, has been retired.
Owned by Anders Ström's Courant Inc. and bred by his AM Bloodstock, Joviality was prepping for the Prix d'Amerique and finished fifth in the Prix Doynel de Saint-Quentin at Vincennes on November 30. Sights were then set on the Prix Tenor de Baune, which was held on December 22, but she was not entered and scans turned up an injury that led to the decision to end her racing career.
"She has a small fissure in her right hind fetlock, and the injury unfortunately spoils the plans for the (Vincennes) Winter Meeting," said trainer Sabine Kagebrant. "I'm relieved we got a chance to really check her up with an MRI now when she was a bit cold. With normal x-ray and ultrasound, we couldn't see anything. Now, we could stop in good time before - worst-case - she got lame. The healing can now proceed with promenades and paddock as normal."
Joviality earned just under $2 million in North America as a freshman and sophomore. Among her victories at 2 were the Breeders Crown and Goldsmith Maid, and she came back at 3 to take the MGM Yonkers Trot over the boys and the Delmonica Hanover at Pocono. She was also a two-time New York Sire Stakes champion and won a host of NYSS legs in both 2021 and 2022 and the Empire Breeders Classic in 2022.
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In Sweden, Joviality won both the 4-year-old female trotter of the year and Mare of the Year awards in 2023. She captured the Group 1 Swedish Trotting Derby and the Group 1 Queen Silvia's Cup that year for Kagebrant and then was third in the Prix d'Amerique in January of 2024.
"Her dam Pasithea Face was also bred as a 6-year-old. I would have loved to see Joviality race in Paris again and perhaps another season, but luckily, we now have another great option for a future career for her, said Ström. "No (breeding) partner has been decided yet, but since she is stabled in France, it will most likely be a French sire.
"I would like to thank everyone involved in the success of Joviality, and especially the horse herself; she is really something extra. I will be looking forward to seeing her offspring."