by Ed Teefey

Mt. Sterling, IL — King Mufasa, the 2013 Illinois Harness Horse of the Year, will be at the Brown County Fair in Mt. Sterling, Ill., on Sunday (Aug. 7) for his retirement ceremony.

As a 3-year-old King Mufasa won 14 of 18 starts, rattled off 12 consecutive victories, and earned $238,590.

In 2014 while en route to Hoosier Park in Anderson, Ind., the trailer King Mufasa was traveling in was clipped by a tractor-trailer in a rainstorm. The horse was severely injured and trapped inside. State troopers on site wanted to euthanize the horse but trainer Mike Brink wanted to save the horse.

During the ensuing year Brink nursed the horse not only back to good health, but back to the races, making his first start after the accident at last year’s Brown County Fair, where he won, to the cheers and tears of the crowd. He went on to win the Illinois State Fair Championship for older trotters a week later in Springfield.

The horse is owned by Bill Wright of Morton, Ill. and Mystical Marker Farms of Valparaiso, Ind. and is trained by Mike Brink of Springfield, Ill.

USTA Internet News Editor Kim French won a John Hervey Award in the feature writing category for her story on King Mufasa titled “Heart of a Lion: Champion trotter King Mufasa walks away from gruesome trailering accident,” which appeared in the November 2015 issue of Hoof Beats. Click here to read the story.

The retirement ceremony will take place during the nine-race pari-mutuel card at the Brown County Fairgrounds starting at 2 p.m. Sunday’s races will feature two $9,000 events for 3-year-old Illinois bred pacers, with top drivers including Sam Widger, Ridge Warren and Matt Krueger programed to drive. Additionally the fair will have an excellent seven-race program starting at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

The races will be broadcast live on WVIL 101.3 FM and on the web at www.wvilfm.com.