Harness: Will crossbred NJ champion pave a new wave for the future?

In every sense of the term, That Woman Hanover and Six Pack make for strange bedfellows. In what world does a pacing mare with a 1:50 lifetime mark end up being bred to a world-class trotter like Six Pack?

The answer is a global society where a breeder from Sweden who had seen the success from the freaky-fast Googoo Gaagaa and elected to take a chance. After all, experimentation is the mother of invention and clearly the combination of a Somebeachsomewhere mare with the $1.93 million winner Six Pack was the perfect genetic makeup to produce a New Jersey Sire Stakes champion with an unlimited future.

"We made a plan to find a fast pacing mare with a good pedigree and race time to breed to a fast trotter. That's why the decision was Six Pack, as we also have a share in Six Pack," said Jan Petter Hansen, who is the listed co-breeder under Nordic Horse Farm Ab.

In just three career starts, Nordic Catcher S, the product of the unlikely mating, has already out-earned each of his pacing-acclimated quartet of brothers and sisters with $138,750 in the bank. Perhaps even more amazingly, his 1:53 3/5 mark set at the Meadowlands is almost as fast as any of his siblings could accomplish in their first years of racing.

So how did a Swedish born colt with American breeding end up back in the United States? That is easier to explain as co-owner and trainer Ake Svanstedt not only conditioned Six Pack during his career but also remembered the mare.

"I was looking at the [Swedish] sales catalog and I found a Six Pack. I saw that it was a Somebeachsomewhere mother That Woman Hanover, and she trained at Joie De Vie farm, which is a neighbor to us, so I knew her well," said Svanstedt. "He had a very nice video and my sons looked at him in Sweden, and they said he looked good and was nice and friendly; he seemed to be a smart horse. So then I told them to bid on him and I was on the phone."

Despite the unusual breeding, Nordic Catcher S, who Svanstedt purchased for $34K USD at the Solvalla yearling sale, has been the perfect gentleman in terms of training down, settling into a trot without issue for the veteran trainer.

"He is not pacey. He is a normal horse," said Svanstedt.

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Indeed Nordic Catcher S has looked super on the track, winning one of two baby races and owning two wins and a second in three career starts. The colt's most recent success came on August 3 at the Meadowlands when Svanstedt lined him up behind cover and he exploded in the stretch with a 27 1/5 final quarter to win by 3 1/4 lengths in 1:53 3/5 in the NJSS final.

Whether or not he can reproduce that success on the Grand Circuit against open competition as Googoo Gaagaa was able to accomplish remains to be seen. That Maryland-bred from a pacing stallion in Cam's Rocket and trotting mare Kora's Trotter went undefeated in his home state as a 2-year-old and won the $500,000 Earl Beal and $500,000 Colonial in his next year of racing. He finished his career with 15 wins from 23 starts and earnings of $665,339 before ultimately becoming a strong stallion in Sweden.

While we are more than 10 years removed from Googoo Gaagaa's on-track exhibitions of speed and there haven't been any crossbred standouts since, there are a few notables currently racing who have displayed at least some signs of ability.

Doc's Boo Boo has won 19 of 43 starts for $284,121 racing in Ohio and is still active. The daughter of Downbytheseaside out of DW's Jasmine had some success in Ohio Sires Stakes and Buckeye Stallion Series action.

Believe In Tom is a 2-year-old by Ohio trotting stallion Long Tom out of pacer Believe In Waco, who traces back to a pretty nice stallion from the 1990's named Stand Forever. The rookie gelding owns 6-2-2-1 record and has won $18,571 with a 1:53 2/5 mark at Scioto in 2024.

The Blood Bay Colt is another 2-year-old with a trotting dad (Father Patrick) and a pacing mom from the family of Western Ideal. The book is still out on him with just one start where he finished fifth timed in 1:54.

The above are just a sampling of the crossbred horses we could find, but there are likely more, and that's something that Svanstedt feels could be good for the sport.

"I think they should do more. It is an outcross and Somebeachsomewhere is a top stallion," said Svanstedt specifically about Nordic Catcher S before speaking more generally. "Of course you need to find which outcrosses are the best so they don't get pacey."

Coming from Sweden where trotters are King, Svanstedt's work with pacers has been limited to more recent years here in the United States. He did train Stonebridge Helios to a Graduate Pace win in 2023 and sees something in them.

"The pacers are tougher mentally. I think they are tougher than the trotters, and stronger," said Svanstedt.

For Hansen, whose crossbred experimenting began with That Woman Hanover, Nordic Catcher S is just the beginning of what he sees as a vision for the future.

"This is something we definitely will do more," said Hansen. "This year [That Woman Hanover] is in foal to Walner, and the full brother yearling to Nordic Catcher is to sell at the Åby yearling sale in Sweden in October."

As far as Nordic Catcher S, he'll have plenty of opportunity to prove himself and perhaps even advance the breed in the coming years. Not only is he Breeders Crown eligible this year and beyond, but also to the 100th Hambletonian in 2025. And since he is co-owned by Jeff Gural's Little E LLC., you can assume we'll see him as a 4-year-old as well. So here's hoping he has a great career and paves the way for a whole new path to success.