by Karsten Bønsdorf, USTA Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Donerail, a legend in the trotting world and grandfather of no less than four winners of the Hambletonian, died in Denmark at the age of 25 on Jan. 29, 2017.

Donerail, who was campaigned by Hall of Famer Stanley Dancer, was voted 2-year-old colt trotter of the year in 1994 after he won 13 races from 15 starts. Among his wins were the Peter Haughton Memorial and the Valley Victory.

Donerail failed to sparkle the following year and ended his racing career with 16 wins from 21 starts and earnings of $703,049.

Donerail went to stud and as one of the first sons of Valley Victory he was very popular and bred 187 mares in his first year, standing in New Jersey.

Though he had a lot of support in the following years, Donerail never managed to produce a real top trotter. His richest foal was Spellbound Hanover, who earned $962,395 and the fastest was Dr Ronerail, who took a mark of 1:52.1s.

But as a sire of broodmares Donerail made a name of himself. He is the grandfather of Donato Hanover, Broad Bahn, Royalty For Life and Marion Marauder, who all have earned more than $1 million and won the the Hambletonian.

In 2008 Donerail was sold and exported to Finland, where he has sired 191 foals. The best of these has been Good Dynamite, who took a mark of 1:55.3f and earned 122,339 Euros.

In 2016 he was sold and moved to Denmark, but did not manage to get any mares in foal.

He died peacefully at a farm in Jutland.