Big Mama
by Lisa Harkema
She was voted the “Greatest of All Time” in an online poll in 2020, and for good reason: Moni Maker put in numerous memorable performances on two continents to forever cement her place as one of the best in trotting history. Her regular driver Wally Hennessy is certain: “She is the greatest trotter who ever lived.”
The story of Moni Maker starts with David and Fredericka Caldwell of Cane Run Farm buying Nan Hanover at yearling auction in 1978. She never made it to the races and became a broodmare at Cane Run Farm, delivering her first foal in 1982, at 5. The first two foals, both daughters by Lindy’s Pride never made it to the races, either. Her third foal, Our Nanny 1:59, by Bonefish, was a useful trotter who later was exported to Sweden where she was a good broodmare. Nan Hanover delivered her fourth foal in 1985, when Our Nanny’s full sister Nan’s Catch was born. A spectacular mare inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008, nobody actually wanted to purchase Nan’s Catch as a yearling as the mare was simply considered too big.
The Caldwells tried to get Jan Johnson, Hakan Wallner and Berndt Lindstedt’s Continental Farms to buy half of Nan’s Catch, but they were skeptical about her size, too, and ended up training her. Any doubts about her size were soon put to rest as Nan’s Catch showed herself a class above the rest, winning 19 of 29 starts, including a Breeders Crown final at 2 and the Hambletonian Oaks, World Trotting Derby Filly and Kentucky Filly Futurity at 3. In an interview with Murray Brown in Harness Racing Update, Jan Johnson picked out Nan’s Catch as the best he ever trained. “In my heart I know that if she had been in the Hambletonian, she would have won it. As it happens, we won the Hambletonian that year with Armbro Goal, with Nan’s Catch winning the Oaks. We also had another good trotter that year in Supergill. I believe that she was better than either of them. We’ve had more than our share of top horses through the years, but I truly believe she was the best.”