by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications

Ken Weingartner

Freehold, NJ — World champion and 2013 Dan Patch Award-winning female trotter Maven has been retired, trainer Jimmy Takter said. The 7-year-old Maven was attempting to return from a suspensory injury, which she suffered in August while in Sweden.

“We did a scan on her (right hind) leg and it looked like it’s too high risk to get her where she could compete at the level she was,” Takter said. “It was tough, but the owners decided to breed her instead.”

Maven won 29 of 52 races in North America, earning $1.74 million in purses, before spending 2015 in Europe. She won 10 of 14 races in 2013, including a world-record 1:51.4 triumph in the Miss Versatility final at the Delaware County Fair in Ohio, on her way to being named the Dan Patch and O’Brien award winner for best older female trotter.

Her time in the Miss Versatility is the fastest race mile on a half-mile track in harness racing history.

USTA/Mark Hall photo

Maven was a world champion and 2013 Dan Patch Award winner.

Other top career wins for Maven included the 2012 and 2013 Breeders Crown, the 2013 Armbro Flight, the 2012 Moni Maker, 2014 Muscle Hill, and 2012 American-National. She finished second in the 2012 Elegantimage and 2014 Breeders Crown.

Last year, Maven won two of 15 races in Europe and earned $244,465 in U.S. dollars. One of her victories, in a Mares Open at Kalmar, Sweden, was in a track-record performance. She finished second by a neck to Robert Bi in the Group 1 Copenhagen Cup and was second to Timoko in the Group 1 Grand Criterium de Vitesse at Cagnes-sur-Mer. She also finished second in her Elitlopp elimination and seventh in the final.

Maven was trained by Jonas Czernyson from age 2 to October of the 5-year-old season and was owned by Bill Donovan until November 2014, when she was sold to Herb Liverman. She is currently owned by Liverman, John Fielding, and Joyce McClelland. Takter took over the training of Maven in November 2014.

A daughter of Glidemaster-M Stewart, Maven was purchased as a yearling for $37,000 under the name Bella Topona at the 2010 Lexington Selected Sale. She is a three-quarter sister to 2003 New Jersey Sire Stakes champion Glide About and a half-sister to multiple-stakes-winner Lanson. Her family also includes stakes-winners Furman and Egyptian Gentleman.

“She’s getting up in age,” said Takter, who added the plan is to breed Maven to 2002 Trotter of the Year Kadabra. “We have to give her a chance to show herself as a broodmare now.”