The Moose
by Lisa Harkema
It’s almost like the story of the ugly ducking. When Jan-Erik Andresen bid on the colt as a yearling, he thought his future star looked more like a moose. Though the big, burly colt was never a swan, eventually Yarrah Boko grew into one of the best long-distance trotters in Europe.
The burly son of Coktail Jet was too big for his own good at first. At 3 he had not yet fully grown into his body, winning 2 of 8 races while breaking stride in the other 6. He needed time and fortunately, owner Andresen and trainer Trond “Bullern” Anderssen were prepared to give him plenty of that. Training in slow tempo in hilly forest roads around his farm, Anderssen gave Yarrah the physical foundation that served him so well later in life. In the winter training building up to his 4-year-season Anderssen noticed the pieces were starting to really fall into place.
At 4, a much stronger and more prepared horse came to the races – one that was finally starting to look like a complete package. Even though he still broke stride a few times that season, Yarrah had grown into his body and added the necessary muscles to make him strong enough to master his demanding gait. Yarrah Boko won 8 of 16 races at 4, unfortunately the only bad performances of the season came in the two biggest races, the Swedish Derby and the Grand Prix de l’UET. In the Swedish Derby he got tired after an extremely demanding race and broke stride in the final stretch, the race won by Maharajah in 1.12,8 (1:57.1), while in the Grand Prix de l’UET, also won by Maharajah, traffic problems had him boxed in most of the race and unable to be a factor. Despite these setbacks he showed plenty of promise. In particular, his win at Solvalla in a race for 4-year-olds on the Elitlopp Sunday was quite impressive, Yarrah winning in 1.13,6 (1:58.2f) over 2100 meters (1 5/16 mile). Anderssen was also impressed with how the burly colt behaved that day: the Elitlopp Sunday is a very noisy day by all standards, yet the phlegmatic and laid-back Yarrah fell asleep in his stall and his trainer had to wake him up for the warm-up.