Background
True to his name, 2021 Dan Patch Two-Year-Old Trotting Colt of the Year and Breeders Crown champion, King Of The North (3,1:50.3 | $1,166,854), is now north of the border as the heir apparent to the trotting stallion throne.
Kountry Lane Standardbreds are delighted to announce that the richest son of siring sensation, Walner, is standing at Tara Hills Stud in Port Perry, Ontario, for stud duties in 2023.
King Of The North is to lead the charge of an exciting new generation of trotting genetics, ticking all the boxes expected of any world-class stallion with the pedigree, race resume, and striking good looks to match.
Few, if any, trotting stallions can lay claim to being a world champion, by a world champion, and out of a world champion like King Of The North.
Upon making his grand entrance to the stallion market in 2023, King Of The North will become the first son of boom sire, Walner, to be available to trotting breeders anywhere in the world!
Walner’s impact on the studbook has been nothing short of remarkable, with his first two crops taking the trotting world by storm. The magnificent son of Chapter Seven wasted no time in knocking his own sire off his perch, leading the money list for 2YO Trotters with his debut crop in 2021 with world champion juveniles such as Venerable (2,1:52 | $1,153,514), King Of The North, and millionaire Jiggy Jog S (2,1:52.2; 3,1:50 | $1,122,718).
Walner further asserted his dominant arrival by once again leading the 2022 money list for 2 & 3YO Trotters. Incredibly, with 78 fewer starters and only one-fifth of the foals on the ground, Walner sat in third place on the All-Age money list behind the great Muscle Hill, with less than $100,000 in earnings separating them.
Pedigree
King Of The North’s dam is the world champion Donato Hanover mare, Check Me Out (4, 1:51.2 | $1,903,795), who was both the Dan Patch and O’Brien Award-winning filly at age 2 and 3, setting world records for her age and sex along the way.
Check Me Out’s grand dam is the millionaire-earning world champion and 1997 3-year-old filly of the year, No Nonsense Woman, showcasing the great depth of the maternal family King Of The North inherits, something every great stallion requires.
Performance
On the track, King Of The North led all two-year-old colt trotters in earnings in 2021, with $657,140. He won six of his ten starts for trainer Ray Schnittker and driver Mark MacDonald and took a record of 1:52.4.
His triumphs included the $505,600 William Wellwood Memorial, $293,450 Peter Haughton Memorial, and $200,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes final, enough to see him crowned as the 2021 2-year-old Trotting Colt of the Year.
King Of The North won three of his last four starts in 2022 before retiring to stallion duty, including the $200,000 Carl Erskine Memorial at Hoosier Park and the elimination and final of the $591,300 Breeders Crown, where he took his lifetime mark of 1:50.3.
That was the fastest mile ever by a three-year-old trotter in the history of the Breeders Crown, it was also the fastest Canadian mile ever by a colt and a Woodbine Mohawk Park track record.
