He was the horse that made trotting a worldwide spectacle, capable of winning in Paris as well as in Stockholm, in Agnano as well as in New York. Varenne, the “Captain,” died today at 31 years old at the LJ breeding farm in Eboli, in the province of Salerno, where he spent the last period of his life. With him disappears the protagonist of one of the most extraordinary epics in the history of horse racing: 62 wins in 73 races, over six million euros in prizes, and a record built in the most prestigious racetracks in the world. The legendary horse was born on May 19, 1995, in Copparo, in the Ferrara area, at the Zenzalino breeding farm.
Son of the American stallion Waikiki Beach and the Italian mare Ialmaz, he had a name that already seemed to contain an international destination: Varenne, like the rue de Varenne in Paris, the street of the Italian embassy in France. That city would become, a few years later, one of the places of his consecration. In the world of trotting, he was rightly considered more than a champion. A phenomenon. The horse capable of turning a race into a story, a finish into a scene to remember, a victory into an event for an audience that went far beyond horse racing enthusiasts.
His record already tells part of the legend: 73 races run, 62 wins, six second places, and two third places, with over six million euros in prizes. The official website dedicated to the champion calls him the strongest horse of all time and recalls how he was the richest and most winning trotter in history.
But to understand Varenne, you have to go back to the beginning. And at the beginning, curiously, there is a disqualification. The debut came in Bologna, on April 4, 1998. Varenne broke into a gallop and was disqualified, but that day, which could have been just a setback, instead became the first clue of what was about to happen. Forced to give way to his opponents, the young horse made an impressive comeback and caught the attention of observers. Among them was Enzo Giordano, a horse racing enthusiast and Neapolitan money changer, who decided to buy him from the French trainer and driver Jean-Pierre Dubois for 150 million lire.
It was the beginning of the story of Scuderia Dany and, above all, of the partnership that would accompany Varenne in his golden age: the Finnish trainer Jori Turja and the Roman driver Giampaolo Minnucci. With Minnucci, except for the debut and two breaks in 2002 due to the disqualification of the Roman driver, Varenne would build a relationship destined to become an integral part of his legend. The first great consecration came in 1998, with the Italian Trotting Derby. Varenne faced Viking Kronos, the dominant horse of his generation, and beat him authoritatively. The following year was the year of his definitive explosion: Varenne won almost all the major events of the four-year-old circuit and appeared on the international scene at the Gran Premio delle Nazioni in San Siro, where he also beat the very strong American Moni Maker. 1999 ended with a figure that anticipated his nature: 14 races, 14 wins.
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In 2000 the competition became global. Varenne ran 18 times and won 13 races. In Paris, in his first Prix d’Amérique, he had to deal with a contested start that was repeated three times. He stayed in the back, then came back, took the lead, and only in the final paid the effort, finishing third. It was not yet a victory, but it was already a demonstration of strength. Two weeks later, on the same track, he beat Général du Pommeau in the Prix Louis Roederer. Then came the Gran Premio della Lotteria in Agnano and the Gran Premio Giubileo in Rome. Then came 2001. It was the year in which Varenne simply stopped being a champion and became a benchmark against which all others were measured. In January he won the Prix d’Amérique. In May, in Agnano, he repeated the Lotteria win. A few weeks later he flew to Stockholm and won the Elitloppet, beating the local favorite Victory Tilly on the straight. Three great races, three countries, three triumphs. And it was not over. In the summer he crossed the Atlantic to compete in the Breeders Crown in the United States. At Meadowlands, Varenne dominated and set the world record for the mile: 1’09″1 per kilometer, a time that then seemed to belong to another dimension. The result gave the Italian horse a definitively global dimension. The American victory, achieved in front of a cheering crowd and the tricolor flags of Italian-Americans, became one of the symbolic images of his career. 2001 was simply Varenne’s year. The Prix d’Amérique, the Lotteria, the Elitloppet, and the Breeders Crown represent a sequence that no other trotter had managed to achieve in the same year. The champion’s official website considers that season the peak of his legend: Varenne is the only trotter to have won the main trotting races worldwide in the same year. What makes his story even more extraordinary is the way those victories came. Varenne did not need to hide. He was a horse capable of running in front, imposing his own pace, waiting and then accelerating, coming back when he seemed lost. His superiority often had something theatrical, but not artificial: it was the consequence of an unrepeatable combination of speed, endurance, competitive intelligence, and the ability to perform on different tracks and distances.
In 2002 the Captain repeated the European Grand Slam: again Prix d’Amérique, again Lotteria, again Elitloppet. In Stockholm he won again and continued his world tour, accumulating successes and records. By then Varenne was already the richest and fastest trotter in history, as well as a true celebrity. His feats made the pages of sports newspapers but also those of the general press. His image even reached the cover of SportWeek, a sign of popularity that had gone beyond the boundaries of horse racing. His racing career ended on September 28, 2002, in Montreal, at the final stage of the World Cup. It was a defeat, unexpected for a horse used to winning, but the trophy was still his thanks to previous results. It is almost a statistical detail compared to what had happened in the previous four years. Varenne left the tracks with a legacy that no negative result can tarnish. From that moment on, a second life began. Varenne became a stallion. Since 2002 he has been used for breeding, and in the following years his fame passed on to new generations. More than 2,000 offspring are attributed to the Captain according to information on his official profile and biographies dedicated to the champion. Among them are winners of the Italian Derby such as Lana del Rio, Nadir Kronos, Olona Ok, Pascià Lest, and Testimonial Ok. Other offspring have built prominent international careers. Perhaps this is the most important aspect of the second part of his story: Varenne did not simply leave a roll of honor. He left a lineage. His name also became a genetic heritage of Italian and international trotting.
In his retirement years, he changed homes several times. After the Il Grifone breeding farm in Vigone, Piedmont, he moved to the Equicenter Monteleone in Pavese, and then to the Il Cigno estate in Villanterio. In March 2025 he arrived at the LJ breeding farm of Dario De Angelis, in Eboli, Campania. There he spent the last stretch of his life, now far from the tracks but still able to attract enthusiasts and visitors. His official website recalls how, even in recent years, he was a destination for visits from admirers from all over the world. Varenne was not unbeatable: he lost 11 of his 73 races. But it is precisely this that makes his story even more human, despite being the story of a horse. The debut with a disqualification, the impossible comeback, the defeats, the victories, the records, the world tour, and finally retirement. A short career, as the careers of great champions are short, but long enough to leave a mark that time will hardly erase.
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