Harness: White Bliss to be bred to trotting mares in 2016

We haven’t seen White Bliss on the track since November and probably won’t for about another month, but co-owner Tristan Sjoberg announced via Twitter that the rare white standardbred has been approved for stud duty in Sweden and they will test the waters.

The now 3-year-old pacing colt is expected to be bred to trotting mares in Sweden according to Sjoberg. “We will breed him next season to two trotting mares in Sweden,” said the owner, who added that the inspiration came from the success of Googoo Gaagaa.

Back in 2012, Googoo Gaagaa caught the attention of the Harness world by winning the Earl Beal trot final at Pocono Downs in 1:50 4/5 despite being a son of pacer Cams Rocket and trotting mare Koras Trotter. The Richard Hans-trained colt won nine races for $624,700 in that 3-year-old campaign.

White Bliss will head from Florida to Legend Farm in New Jersey this weekend to prepare for his sophomore debut under the care of trainer Ake Svanstedt. The expectation is to qualify sometime in April.

As far as conditioning, Sjoberg reports that White Bliss has grown quite a bit. He still has high hopes for the colt, but is keeping his expectations tempered for the moment.

“He is doing very well,” said Sjoberg. “He is still a bit 'childish' . . . He just needs experience.

“It will be difficult to compete against the very top pacers, like Artspeak, but the tier just beneath is up for grabs.”

Should White Bliss succeed on the track, we have a very good chance of seeing more of him in the future.

“I am a firm believer of racing as a 4-year-old, so I anticipate he will race next year,” said Sjoberg. “We might very well do a Father Patrick and breed in New Jersey. It depends if there is any market interest in using him as a stallion.”

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