Harness: Walner could spark the next generation of trotters

There are few certainties in the breeding business. At the same time, there are those who have studied the trotting breed for generations and appear to have more clues than others on how to create the newest and fastest horses. It is with this in mind that a closer look need be taken at second-year stallion Walner. The son of Chapter Seven serviced a full book of 140 mares in 2018 and the resulting foals that will spring up in the next few months may in fact be the generation that breeders were looking for.

For Walner’s second act could prove even more important than his first, a racing career cut short way too early yet nevertheless leaving many speechless with his physical presence and impressive speed.

Given the depth of mares bred to him in 2018, it was clear to every important breeding operation in North America and beyond that Walner’s characteristics and bloodlines could serve as a stepping stone to the future.

There are many breeders who believe it important for generational extension of a particular line. In the case of Walner it is his grandsire Windsong’s Legacy that would appear to be the catalyst towards a breakthrough. The Triple Crown champion of 2004 would have only three realistically full books make it to the races before his untimely passing. Despite his on-track accolades, Windsong’s Legacy was not met with the greatest class of broodmares yet nevertheless with limited opportunity produced two standout racehorses and current stallions in Lucky Chucky and Walner’s sire Chapter Seven.

Chapter Seven has only had three crops make it to the races but already it’s become apparent he has the ability to hit home run after home run. Hambletonian winner Atlanta was part of his second crop that only had 72 registered foals. His third crop with only 49 registered foals produced both juvenile champions in the undefeated pair Gimpanzee and Woodside Charm.

So in three years Chapter Seven has already far surpassed his sire’s limited performance and it is clear that breeders are hoping to push further into the next generation as the 2017 juvenile champion Fourth Dimension has already closed a full book in Sweden for 2019.

In North America it will be Walner at least first in the list of Chapter Seven’s sons to create the next generation, and given the depth and quality of the list of mares he’s been bred to, there’s every reason to believe he will come out firing in 2021.

Muscle Hill of course has long been regarded as the premier trotting stallion in the sport. Year after year he shows up with colts and fillies with the impeccable gait and speed required to win the big ones. In Walner’s first crop he was bred to 28 mares sired by Muscle Hill, that’s exactly 20 percent of the entire class. Topping the list of Muscle Hill broodmares is Mission Brief, the near $1.6 million winner with 1:50 speed as a juvenile, scheduled to have her second foal after dropping a Father Patrick filly in 2018. Earn Your Wings, Mission Brief’s Credit Winner half-sister, was also bred to Walner looking for her first foal. Of course there is no hotter immediate family with Mission Brief’s full brother Tactical Landing commencing his stallion career in 2019.

There are three Hambletonian Oaks winning mares bred to Walner in his first crop, with 2016 champion All The Time (full sister to Ariana G), 2009 winner Broadway Schooner (dam of Broadway Donna) and 2014 champ Lifetime Pursuit hoping to produce just her second living foal.

The now 18-year-old Gala Dream is one of trotting’s best producing dams with the million-plus earning brothers Pastor Stephen and Father Patrick to her credit both by Cantab Hall. This would be her tenth foal and it’s the first time she’s been bred to this stallion line.

Second behind Muscle Hill-line mares bred to Walner was Donato Hanover with 18. Perhaps the most interesting of the 18 is Dunk The Donato, the 100 percent producer with two foals of racing age including world champion Plunge Blue Chip (1:49 4/5 with $1 million earned in her first two years on the track). Then there is Check Me Out, the $1.9 million winning daughter of Donato Hanover looking for her fourth foal. Again the breeders changed course with this former champion, veering off the Muscle Hill line after consecutive tries in favor of this son of Chapter Seven. Check Me Out has two winners from her first two old enough to race, both fillies.

Without a doubt all breeders are in the “futures” business in that they must invest and hope to be correct in their analysis many years down the road. Perhaps no racing/breeding operation has been doing that for a longer time than the Antonacci family. It’s not surprising that the Antonaccis have bred solely or in partnership some 19 mares to Walner in his first year as a stallion. It hardly seems 30 years ago that I first spoke with Guy “Sonny” Antonacci, the patriarch of the family, about his ideas on bloodlines. At the time Sir Taurus, an unsung rival to Mack Lobell, was the stable star. Sonny spoke of the B F Coaltown mare named Viola Hill and her full sister Viva Hill that started what would be generations of champions. Looking at Walner’s paternal side through Chapter Seven, its presence on the maternal line is striking. La Riviera Lady, the dam of Chapter Seven, is a product of that blood on both her maternal and paternal sides.

Lindy Of My Dreams and Lunar Dream OM are two direct descendants of this family and they are part of the first class of broodmares mated to Walner.

To say the Antonaccis have a lot riding on the success of Walner would be an understatement. Perhaps no legacy could be more important to the family than that of the International star Moni Maker. Given they have bred five mares directly related to Moni Maker to Walner is proof of that. But don’t be surprised if a mare like Ready To Ignite (a sister to Explosive Matter and Woodside Charm) provides the Antonaccis the champion they are looking for.