Harness: Southwind Tyrion to miss rest of 2021 season

The Hambletonian journey of the fastest 2-year-old trotting colt in history has come to an end after x-rays revealed the beginnings of a slight hairline fracture on one of Southwind Tyrion's knees.

"I can now, unfortunately, confirm that Southwind Tyrion will miss the Hambletonian and the rest of the season with an injury," said co-owner Tristan Sjoberg of Knutsson Trotting. "The prognosis is very good for continued racing as a 4-year-old given sufficient time and rest."

Southwind Tyrion was one of the top rookie trotters in the sport last year, posting a 7-5-1-1 record and earning $280,797. His 1:51 1/5 victory in the International Stallion Stakes at The Red Mile was just three-fifths of a second off the filly Mission Brief's 1:50 3/5 North American 2-year-old record set in 2014. The son of Muscle Hill, bred by Southwind Farms, also captured the $160,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes final and $60,000 Garden State at The Meadowlands, as well as finishing second in the $406,600 William Wellwood Memorial at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

For the ownership group of SRF Stable, Knutsson Trotting Inc., Brittany Farms and Riverview, and Ake Svanstedt, who also trained the colt, Southwind Tyrion qualified twice in June of 2021 -- finishing third both times -- but never made a pari-mutuel start.

Whether Southwind Tyrion returns to the races has yet to be decided according to Sjoberg.

"Although the prognosis is good, the connections are also investigating retiring to stud. As the fastest 2-year-old colt in trotting history he would obviously appeal to a lot of breeders looking for early speed," said Sjoberg. "No decision has been taken one way or the other as we need to let this sad and unexpected news sink in for a few days."