by Kimberly French, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Kimberly French

Louisville, KY — The unraced daughter of Royal Troubador and Miraculous Kosmos never earned her connections a dime on the racetrack, but four of Mercedes Kosmos’ five foals have earned more than $100,000. ABC Mercedes, the last of her progeny and an Indiana champion in all six years he has competed, is arguably the preeminent trotter ever to grace the confines of the Hoosier State.

“We had two of his full sisters prior to him and the first (ABC Glory 3,1:57.1s, $198,223) was a real nice filly,” explained Joe Putnam, the 7-year-old gelding’s trainer and pilot. “She was a multiple sire stake winner and the next sister (ABC Bay Bee 4,1:55.1, $306,180) was also a sire stake winner, so when this colt, obviously with the same breeding, came along we had high hopes for him right from the beginning. He broke easy and had a lot of talent early on.

“You never know if they are going to turn out like he did, but we thought he certainly had every chance to be a nice horse and it pretty much came true,” the Pendleton, Ind., resident continued. “He has been a blessing and knock on wood, should get over a million dollars this year. There are a lot of great horses that win two or three of the right races and get to a million, but this horse has ground it out the hard way. I think he’s won about 30 Invitational trots and he is the best trotter that’s ever raced in the state of Indiana.”

Linscott Photography

ABC Mercedes has banked $930,056 in his brilliant career.

A son of the above mentioned Mercedes Kosmos and ABC Garland, ABC Mercedes has been owned by Larry Miller of Springport, Ind., since he was a 2-year-old. The gelding has banked $930,056 from 88 trips to the gate with a record of 53-10-6 and a mark of 1:53.1 taken at age three. This year, he has amassed $61,920 from seven starts, four of which have been victories, while racing exclusively in the Open ranks at Hoosier Park.

In each of his five full seasons prior to this year, ABC Mercedes has earned more than $100,000, had his picture taken in nearly half of each campaign’s contests while rarely taking his show on the road and never having more than 21 races in each season.

“He was a great 2-year-old and then a great 3-year-old,” Putnam, who originally hails from Michigan, said. “When a lot of horses have to step up to the Open ranks at age four that is a big step and we were cautiously optimistic. He made the transition effortlessly and has been competing at that level ever since. He came back as good as ever this year at age seven and one of his strongest traits is his unbelievable will to compete. He has thrown an off race in for us here and there, but he’s been ultra-consistent his whole career. Nearly every time you race him, he gives you what he’s got.”

Another reason for the gelding’s success, other than his personality and physical ability, may be contributed to how he is cared for.

“He’s a really good animal and is real easy to be around,” Putnam said. “He spends a lot of time outside and we try to average about 20 starts a year. He does race hard, but we don’t gut him so to speak every time he races and he’s a big, spoiled baby in between races.

“He’s also been a very, very sound horse,” he continued. “The biggest thing he has had to overcome is atrial fibrillation in his first start last year. It set him back about six weeks in the spring, but it’s just one of those things that happen and he came through it fine. He hasn’t had any problems ever since and overall has been a really easy keeper.”

Throughout his career, many of ABC Mercedes’ triumphs have been special to Putnam, but there is one that stands out.

“The win that impressed me the most was when he was a 2-year-old,” he recalled. “He was already racing great and we knew he was a very talented colt, but in his first Sire Stake Final he had a really tough trip. There were some tough colts in there that day, I ended up being parked for the whole mile, there was no flow to the race so I was like third over clogged up and we were like three deep turning for home at Indiana Downs. The horse I thought was the one to beat had him by like six or seven lengths on the turn, but this horse flew home, caught that one at the wire and won. He’s had a lot of great wins, but that one showed me the horse had exceptional talent and he’s raced at the very highest level in the Midwest ever since.”

Putnam doesn’t plan on altering anything for the gelding’s 2012 schedule and he will remain at Indiana venues.

“It works out really good,” he said. “The races usually fill here with a lot of nice horses and they race for real good money, so that is great for us. We can stay in our backyard, race for good money, have lots of competition and don’t have the wear and tear of shipping all over the country. We don’t have anything set in stone for him, but he will stay where he is and as long as he is competitive, we will be racing him for awhile. That’s our hope anyway.

“We dreamed of having a great horse someday and have been blessed with him for sure,” Putnam continued. “He is the best I’ve ever had, has impressed us in so many ways and it’s kind of a personal sweet thing that his career has been so illustrious, as well as being able to say that you had one that earned a million dollars the hard way.”