Garland Lobell--A New Player in International Trotting

One of the newest players among sires on the world trotting stage is not a new horse at all, he's already 17 years old. And just a few scant years ago, if you asked almost anyone in the sport who he was, there is a good chance they would not have come up with the right answer.

Garland Lobell is a foal of 1981 and was, as you might have guessed from part of his name, he was bred by Lana Lobell Farms. He was a solid, respectable race horse who had his moments on the track, but his career was not one where it could be guessed that one day he would be one of the breed's most exciting stallions.

Garland Lobell's most prominent day in the sun may have been his 1:55.3 stakes record victory in a heat of the Kentucky Futurity at three for Gilles Gendron. Setting a stakes record in a race that began in 1893 and which has featured nearly all of the breed's greatest trotters is no paltry achievement. But Garland Lobell's entire racing career did not fulfill the promise of Futurity day in Lexington in 1984.

Garland Lobell won but 14 races in 63 career starts, winning just shy of $350,000. He won only one stake in Canada at two, the Futurity heat win was his only stakes win at three, and his victory in the Ontario Jockey Club Maturity at four was his only aged stakes triumph. Garland Lobell was part of the same crop of trotters that included Baltic Speed, Fancy Crown, Historic Freight, Sandy Bowl, Crowning Point and Why Not, among others. This was not an important group historically, except of course for the fact that Fancy Crown was a world champion and Baltic Speed later produced both Peace Corps and Valley Victory.

Garland Lobell raced through his 5-year-old season and then went to stud in the relative anonymity of Quebec. For many years in the mid-1960's and early 1970's, the racing in Montreal was some of the finest in North America. But in the past two decades, Quebec racing has declined. A major rebirth appears to be occurring now, and Quebec racing may once again return to the glory of its once shining past.

Garland Lobell first went to stud in 1987. They raced as 2-year-olds in 1990, and from first asking, they dominated Quebec racing. Garland Lobell's offspring would often dominate, winning nearly all of the money in the Quebec-sired events for several years running, despite the fact the horse never stood to big books of mares. During his first four seasons at stud, he bred less than 200 mares. From these humble beginnings has come a stallion with the opportunity to provide the breed with a viable alternative in the siring ranks.

Garland Lobell now stands in Kentucky, at Walnut Hall Limited, in the same stallion barn once occupied by Volomite, his paternal great, great grandsire. His initial success in Quebec was doubted by some observers because there is always a question mark about horses who succeed in regional programs. The competition is often suspect. It is very hard to get a bearing on whether or not the stallion is of real quality, or just the best in a mediocre program.

At least from the perspective of this Corner, Garland Lobell seems like the real deal. His son Conway Hall is as good a young trotter as I have seen in a long, long time. Conway Hall has pacing horse speed and if he can come to this year's 3-year-old classics in any kind of peak form, he will be a formidable contender. Of interest is the fact that his 2-year-old brother, Angus Hall, recently debuted in a division of the Simpson Stakes at Hoosier Park, and promptly won his initial stakes appearance. And a sister to this talented pair, the brilliant filly Emilie Cas El 3,1:57.1; $245,199; was undefeated throughout much of her 2-and 3-year-old season in North America before a successful European campaign. This brother-sister act is just the tip of the Garland Lobell iceberg. He has also produced other good trotters, such as Megarama 4,Q1:54.1; $368,471; Tak The Tuk 1:54.2; $529,658 and the good mare Garlapp 4,T1:55. Other stars sired by Garland Lobell include Jobie Tempest 3,1:57.2; $409,236 and Nuke It Freddie 2,1:57.1, among others.

Volomite Victory Song     Even Song Noble Victory     Star's Pride Emily's Pride     Emily Scott ABC Freight     Hoot Mon AC's Viking     Volo A C AC's Princess     Rodney Dear Rodney     Lusty Rhythm GARLAND LOBELL     Speedster (by Rodney) Speedy Scot     Scotch Love Speedy Crown     Florican Missile Toe     Sparkle Plenty Gamin Lobell     Star's Pride Ayres     Arpege Genya Hanover     Dean Hanover Gleeful Hanover     Golda

Garland Lobell is one of the most interesting sires to come along in some time, since he offers access to the historic blood of the Volomite male line but does not trace to either Speedy Crown or Super Bowl, the two great Volomite descendants whose offspring have dominated world trotting for the past 20 years. Garland Lobell is by ABC Freight, who it should be remembered, was once the fastest 2-year-old trotter in history, and ABC Freight is by the mutliple world champion Noble Victory, one of the most influential sires of the modern era and a horse clearly destined to take his place among the historical siring giants.

The Noble Victory male line blood was once thought headed toward extinction, but has had a happy and welcome resurgence in the past decade. The Canadian siring star Balanced Image traces to Noble Victory through Noble Gesture, and Noble Gesture also sired Mystic Park, the sire of the wondrous Mack Lobell. With the development of Garland Lobell's siring career, we have not one, but three different branches of the Noble Victory male line. This is a valuable and welcome development for the breed.

Maternally, Garland Lobell is from the 100% producing Speedy Crown mare Gamin Lobell, and her dam is the splendid Ayres producer Genya Hanover, dam of 12 winners from 12 foals. Garland Lobell's third dam Gleeful Hanover, is the granddam of the world champion Ginger Belle 3,1:56.2 in one of trotting's most historic lineages--the family of Mambrino Beauty, home to such historic figures as Rosalind, Worthy Boy, Peter Volo and Scott Frost.

As we know, however, good-bred horses have no guarantee as stallions. In fact, many of our most accomplished stallions have suspect pedigrees. This trend, however, is beginning to change since the quality of the modern pedigree is superior to its ancestral base. Garland Lobell is a good case in point.

Garland' sire ABC Freight stood in North America for only four seasons before he was exported to Sweden. Those four seasons produced a Hambletonian winner, Historic Freight 3,1:57; $668,392 and also the good Limbo Joe 4,1:57.1, winner of the Gran Premo della Lotteria after his export. ABC Freight's sire Noble Victory was one of the best-bred stallions ever to grace a breeding shed, as he was by the impeccably-bred Victory Song and from the Hambletonian-winning Star's Pride filly Emily's Pride. The combination of potent sire and dam gave Noble Victory one of the greatest pedigrees any modern trotter ever possessed, and he was every bit the classic trotter that his lineage promised. He was a world champion at two, three and four racing for Stanley Dancer.

Noble Victory's stud career, as we mentioned earlier, was once viewed as nearly a total failure. He did have a few high points, including Noble Gesture, one of the finest freshman trotters of the 1970's. Noble Gesture later produced both Balanced Image and Mystic Park while in stud at Castleton Farm. Balanced Image is currently the king of world trotting, as he has become the leading money-winning trotting stallion in the industry. There is a problem with his success, however. The Balanced Image colts are very aggressive horses and they often have to be castrated to become useful horses. Nearly all of his champion offspring to date have been geldings, so there is great concern about the maintenance of the Balanced Image branch of this sire line. Mystic Park, another son of Noble Gesture, produced Mack Lobell, whose stud career began in Sweden with limited successes. Mack Lobell is now at stud in Kentucky at Hunterton Farm at Stoner Creek and his North American career will be watched for future exploits.

The emergence of Garland Lobell on the world trotting scene, and the enormous opportunity he has been presented with since leaving Quebec, is a wonderful development for the breed, which always need new and different bloodlines to produce the hybrid vigor we all know is so valuable.