Harrah's Philadelphia: American Kronos pondering a step up the class ladder

American Kronos was slowed a bit getting to the races, but quick to make a good impression. It might come as little surprise; she was viewed favorably since the time she was born.

A 2-year-old female trotter, American Kronos was bred in Italy at Antonio Carraretto’s Allevamento Kronos farm. Her sire Donato Hanover was 2007 Horse of the Year and dam Glide About was a New Jersey Sire Stakes champion and three-quarter sister to Dan Patch Award-winner Maven.

In addition to American Kronos, Glide About’s offspring include Treasure Kronos, a mare who won a Swedish Breeders Crown championship at age 3 and the prestigious Criterium Continental in France at 4.

Standardbred bloodstock agent Perry Soderberg saw American Kronos a week after her birth and she was subsequently purchased privately as part of a package with now 3-year-old male trotter Zephyr Kronos by a group that includes Canadian breeders Marvin Katz and Al Libfeld.

The Libfeld/Katz breeding partnership has received three consecutive O’Brien Awards for Breeder of the Year in Canada and a Dan Patch Award as Breeder of the Year in the U.S. in 2016.

“For the last two or three years, Perry Soderberg has gone to Europe in the early spring on our behalf looking for mares and families that we thought would be good additions for our breeding program,” Katz said. “One of his regular stops is Antonio’s farm. He saw (American Kronos) when she was a week old. That’s all she was when he saw her and he really liked her.

“She has a great pedigree. She has a license to be a top individual. I think you see Europeans coming here and buying our bloodstock and there is no reason why we can’t go over there and buy some of their bloodstock and bring it over here. I think it’s clearly becoming a two-way street. And it’s productive going both ways.”

American Kronos’ development was hindered by transportation issues, but the Julie Miller-trained filly has won three of four races since debuting in August. Each of her victories was by a minimum of 2-1/4 lengths and her mark of 1:55 3/5 is among the season’s best by a 2-year-old filly trotter on a five-eighths-mile track.

On Thursday, American Kronos is the 8-5 morning-line favorite in the second of three Simpson Stakes for 2-year-old filly trotters at Harrah’s Philadelphia. She will be driven by George Brennan, who guided American Kronos to her 1:55 3/5 victory in a division of the Liberty Bell Series on Sept. 20 at Philly.

“Julie has kept her on a slower program, but she has certainly developed into a very, very nice filly,” said Katz, who owns American Kronos with Libfeld and David Goodrow. “Julie has done a terrific job mapping out her program to make her life as easy as possible and let her continue developing.

“She’s performing very nicely and hopefully she will finish out the year that way and make a nice 3-year-old. That was the game plan all along and Julie has executed the plan perfectly. She deserves all the credit in the world.”

American Kronos’ wins in addition to the Liberty Bell came in a conditioned race in her career debut and in a division of the Pennsylvania Stallion Series. Her only loss came when she went off stride in a division of the Keystone Classic.

“She just didn’t handle the track that day at all,” Katz said of the lone miscue. “Otherwise, she’s done everything very nicely.”

Said Miller, “We just took our time training her down. She has really developed and matured these last few months. We’re very pleased with her progress.”

American Kronos is eligible to next month’s International Stallion Stakes and Breeders Crown. She also is eligible to the Kindergarten Series. Katz said the connections are taking a wait-and-see approach to the filly’s schedule.

“We’ve tried to avoid mixing it up with the big girls to this point,” Katz said. “We’ll take it step by step. All the options are on the table, but we’ll just go race by race and make our decisions as we go.”