The Star Who Cost 20 sheep
by Lisa Harkema
In 1989 Olav Christiansen, a farmer in the Norwegian village Åsenfjord, lost the right to let his sheep grace in the nearby mountains in the summer, so he decided to quit sheep farming and focus on harness racing. Trading his remaining sheep for a a yearling filly and an unborn foal, Christiansen made one of the most lucrative and one-sided deals in harness history.
Fellow sheep farmer Jon Arne Sand got Christiansen’s remaining flock of sheep in exchange for yearling filly Tomina Sandy, by Speedy Tomali and Princess Anita, and her unborn full sibling. At the time there was little to suggest his two purchases would be anything but average: Speedy Tomali had been a good trotter in the 1983-crop in the US, winning the Matron and the New Jersey Sire Stakes final at 2, but in the biggest races, like the Hambletonian, he was found lacking. Exported to Norway ahead of the 1987 breeding season, his first crop was born there in 1988. At stud, Speedy Tomali proved to be a stellar stallion – but this was of course not known in 1989.
Similarly, Princess Anita had started only twice, at 3 in 1983, where she finished fifth and sixth, respectively. She was the only one of four siblings to even start and didn’t at all appear an elite broodmare prospect. That said, there were a few good trotters in the maternal family which descended from Yardley, imported to Norway in 1935 together with her filly foal by Mc I Win. Yardley, by Bogalusa, a paternal grandson of Axworthy, had a really interesting maternal pedigree as the penultimate daughter of the legendary Nervolo Belle. The above-mentioned filly foal by Mc I Win was also called Nervolo Belle, and the “Norwegian Nervolo Belle” was stellar in from 2 to 4. At two she dominated her crop, and the following year she was second in the somewhat comical 1938 Norwegian Criterium where the first three finishers were all (correctly) disqualified. At 4, she then won the Norwegian Derby. Despite these great origins, the Norwegian branch of this maternal family hadn’t produced any great stars. That was about to change, though.