The Horse God Created
by Lisa Harkema
He set several world records, is one of few horses to beat Varenne fair and square and went on to become one of the best stallions the world has ever seen. To his trainer, though, Viking Kronos was more than just a spectacular racehorse and stallion. He was everything. “God has created him, he’s a phenomenon. Then I have been given the great honor of taking care of him, for which I am eternally thankful”, Kolgjini said after the horse’s win in the E3 final in 1998.
When Mosaique Face impressively beat Maven and Papagayo E to win in 1.09,0 (1:51f) in Gävle one week prior to the 2015 Elitlopp, the interviewer asked trainer-driver Lutfi Kolgjini “surely this is the best horse you have ever trained?” expecting a positive answer. Kolgjini, however, immediately responded “not even close, that honor belongs to Viking Kronos.”
Exactly how high did Kolgjini rate Viking Kronos? The 1998 Hambletonian was won by Muscles Yankee who was the outstanding 3-year-old in the US crop, but Kolgjini wasn’t exactly fazed.
Ridiculous to some, but “Ludde” meant it. Always believing in his horses, Kolgjini is a very emotional person who says exactly what is on his mind, something that has made him hated by a few but loved by most people.
To fully understand what Viking Kronos, affectionately “Vikingen”, “the Viking” in English, meant to Kolgjini one needs to briefly know the trainer’s story. Kolgjini’s family fled from Albania to Kosovo in 1948 when the communists took control, and some family members had already been killed at that time. In 1967 the family moved from Kosovo, then in Yugoslavia, to Sweden. He started working for a trainer at Jägersro in Malmo at 18 and at 25 started on his own. At a young age he was twice champion trainer at Jägersro before things started to go downhill in a negative circle: he lost some owners, the remaining horses failed to perform and his partner had left him. A very emotional person, it all culminated in a race at Jägersro in 1995 when Kolgjini deliberate drove his horse into Erik Adielsson and his horse because he felt the latter had taken a few liberties with him earlier in the race. He received a three months suspension and there was no end of negative press.