by Kimberly French, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Kimberly French

Louisville, KY — It was announced this past weekend that Daryl Bier trainee Wind Of The North has received an invitation to race in Sweden’s Elitloppet on May 31.

Wind Of The North caught the eyes of the organizers a couple of weeks ago when he won at the Meadowlands on April 10 in 1:53.1 and after his win this past Friday (April 17) in 1:52 the invitation was handed out.

A son of Cantab Hall and the Pine Chip mare Talk To The Wind, Wind Of The North was purchased for $5,000 at the 2011 Standardbred Horse Sale and was co-owned by Glen Zimmerman and Clifton Green until Bier and Joann Dombeck brought him home last October.

Conditioned by Green, Wind Of The North earned just under $16,000 as a freshman, nearly $100,000 as a sophomore and $105,150 in 2014. He trotted a world record mile of 1:51 on a five-eighths-mile track at Pocono Downs on June 28, 2014, with David Miller in the bike in a $21,000 non-winners contest. The gelding has a record of 58-16-11-6, collected $264,731 and his record this year stands at 7-3-1-1.

Lisa photo

Wind Of The North has banked $264,731 in his career.

Obviously the fact he is a world record holder possessed tremendous appeal, but Bier wanted Wind Of The North in his barn for one other very significant reason.

“He’s by Cantab Hall and so was (past Bier standout) Modern Family,” he said. “I think Cantab Hall is one heck of a stallion. His horses seem to improve as they get older and you don’t need to do any vet work with them.”

The 2003 Trotter of the Year as a freshman, Cantab Hall now resides at Hanover Shoe Farm. He was retired after a 3-year-old season where he collected just under $1 million.

Cantab Hall has certainly exhibited his prowess in the breeding shed as he was atop the leaderboard for North America’s trotting sires in 2014 for 2- and 3-year-old earnings ($5,847,916) and all-age purse money ($9,242,956). His 509 total starters have collected $48,830,183 on the racetrack.

Other than the same sire, connections and invitations to Elitloppet, as Modern Family was invited last year, Bier’s two stable stars definitely have divergent pedigrees.

The late Modern Family was a $110,000 yearling at the 2010 Lexington Selected Sale and his dam, the Yankee Glide mare Domestic Diva, is a full sister to Glide About 3,1:54.2 ($291,650) and Glide By 3,1:55.2s ($98,030) and a half-sister to Lanson 1:51.3 ($791,586) and Maven 4,1:51.4h ($1,756,966).

“I think Modern Family would have made an excellent sire,” Bier said. “I think Cantab Hall is going to be noted for being a sire of sires as well and he’s also the sire of Father Patrick, who is just starting out this year. Modern Family had the pedigree for it and there was an interest in standing him.”

Wind Of The North’s family lineage, however, is not quite so illustrious. Bred by Quantum Farms Corporation of St. Paul, Minn., the gelding’s four older siblings did not earn one penny on the racetrack and neither has his younger 3-year-old brother ABC Wind (by ABC Garland). His dam, the Pine Chip mare Talk To The Wind, made no money in two starts on the racetrack and her dam, the Armbro Goal mare Wind Be My Wings, earned just under $200,000, but only three of her seven foals made it to the pari-mutuel ranks. They were not prolific as her top money-making foal banked just over $28,000.

“Wind does not have the pedigree Modern Family did,” Bier said. “But right when I first saw him race and he came up to our wheel I knew he could be the same kind of horse as him. I told everyone I saw that before I could even buy him. They probably got sick of hearing it, but I just believed this horse was that talented.

“I really can’t explain how it feels that all this is happening to us. You can work in this business for years and not have two horses come along like Modern Family and Wind Of The North. We also have (pacer) Bandolito, too, who is special because when he won the Kentucky Sire Stakes championship, it was our first big stakes win.

“I’m thrilled to be able to have a horse this talented to be able to go to a race like the Elitloppet. It will be the experience of a lifetime and believe me, I plan on staying very loyal to the Cantab Halls. Look at where my faith in him has brought me so far.”