Tulsa, OK – The Standardbred world knew Homicide Hunter as a record-breaker: the fastest male trotter in history, a 1:48.4 winner at The Red Mile in the Allerage Trot, and a horse who earned over $1.7 million on the racetrack. Now, the rest of the horse world knows him as something else entirely: a World Champion show horse.
Competing at the PtHA World Championship Show, Homicide Hunter won one World Championship title and two Reserve World Championship titles in the Amateur English division, facing horses from the mainstream stock-horse world, including Quarter Horses, Paints, Appaloosas, and other traditional show breeds. The win marks the first time a Standardbred has captured a major stock-show world title, a milestone that reaches far beyond one horse, one class, or one show ring.
“Homicide Hunter carried more than himself into that ring,” said Michelle Panebianco, a partner in Homicide Hunter through Crawford Farms Racing and an MMXX program sponsor through Deja Blu Stables. “He carried every Standardbred that has ever been overlooked because someone thought they did not belong. This win tells the riding world that Standardbreds are not charity cases. They are athletes. They are partners. They are competitors. And they deserve a place in the ring.”
Homicide Hunter is owned by Crawford Farms Racing and trained by MMXX Standardbreds. His historic performance at PtHA Worlds has sparked widespread media attention across the show-horse community, particularly among Quarter Horse and stock-breed audiences and publications including The Equine Chronicle, Pinto Horse Magazine and BetterHorses TV Program, where many are seeing Standardbreds in a new light for the first time. One of his performances at the Championship Show has been viewed over 320,000 times at the time of this publication.
Record on the Track; World Champion in the Tack
Homicide Hunter’s story has always been extraordinary. On the racetrack, his prowess came from his ability to harness speed, power, and straight lines. In the show ring, the questions are entirely different: rhythm, softness, cadence, expression, adjustability, bending and connection. At PtHA Worlds, he answered all of them.
The PtHA World Championship Show, also known as Pinto World, is a major stock-horse-driven championship event open to eligible registered horses. PtHA recognizes Standardbreds as an accepted outcross for Pinto registration, allowing qualified Standardbreds to compete on one of the industry’s most visible stages.
Homicide Hunter’s wins have created a wave of attention online, with riders, trainers, breeders, and fans across disciplines sharing his story and reconsidering what Standardbreds can do after racing. For decades, Standardbreds have often been underestimated in the saddle-horse world, despite arriving from the track with many qualities that make them highly suitable for second careers.
They are handled daily, accustomed to equipment, exposed to travel and traffic, conditioned through structured training, and often possess the temperament that makes them accessible to a wide range of riders. MMXX Standardbreds was created to turn those strengths into opportunities.