Hightstown, NJ – When Michael Detweiler was watching On To Norway train down as a 2-year-old last season, he believed the young male trotter had some speed. He had no idea it would lead to this kind of rush.
On To Norway heads to Wednesday’s Grand Circuit card at the Indiana State Fair with an 11-race win streak. Two starts ago, the Ron Burke trainee equaled the track record for sophomore trotting geldings at Harrah’s Hoosier Park with a 1:51.2 score in a division of the Indiana Sire Stakes. The mark was originally set by multimillionaire Amigo Volo in his Breeders Crown elimination in 2020.
A son of Muscle Massive-One Class Act, On To Norway will face five foes in the $31,189 Horseman Stakes Open Trot for 3-year-olds on Wednesday in Indianapolis. He will leave from post six in a field of six, with regular driver John DeLong in the sulky.
“It’s amazing,” said Detweiler – whose Black And White Stable solely owned On To Norway last year and remains part of the ownership group this year with Burke Racing Stable, Frank Baldachino, and Michael Rosenthal – about the trotter’s success.
“He kind of showed speed as a 2-year-old. We trained him a lot with pacers, and he could make the pacers work, so I always knew he had some speed. But I didn’t know he was this caliber. But one thing about him is that he always liked his job. He tried every time you trained him. It seemed like he always had the will to do it.”
Bred by Bennett Farms Inc. of Michigan, On To Norway was purchased as a yearling for $15,000 at the 2023 Midwest Classic Mixed Sale. He raced primarily at the Michigan fairs last year, although he did win one of two starts at Hoosier, a 1:58.2 triumph in September. For the season, he hit the board in seven of nine races, with four wins and three seconds, earning $24,087.
This year, so far, On To Norway has competed only at Hoosier Park. He opened his campaign for trainer Leander Schwartz with a second-place finish in the first leg of the conditioned Chad E. Carlton Trotting Series, where he made up nearly six lengths coming for home thanks to a :27.4 last quarter. The following week, he won by six lengths in 1:55, at which point the Burke Brigade came calling.
Since joining the Burke Stable, On To Norway has captured the Carlton final, swept the conditioned Expresson Series, and won five times in Indiana Sire Stakes action. He has trotted his last quarter in :26.4 or faster in three consecutive races and earned $174,125 this season.
“I thought he would really have to step up his game when he went into the sire stakes,” Detweiler said. “But it seems like any time a better horse comes in with him, he steps up. I guess that’s what most impresses me, just the way he does it week in and week out. A lot of it is on the end of the miles. When he comes down the stretch, he just keeps going. It just seems like it’s an everyday job for him. He looks the part doing it.”
Detweiler hopes to watch On To Norway continue his winning ways but knows at some point the trotter’s streak is likely to end.
“I always say every horse is going to get beat sooner or later,” Detweiler said. “We hope not, but there are some good horses out there.”
Regardless, Detweiler has been enjoying the experience with the $15,000 purchase.
“It’s probably a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” he said. “The horse deserves the credit. We’re just along for the ride.”
Racing begins at 11 a.m. (EDT) Wednesday at the Indiana State Fair. The 11-race card features the $45,093 Fox Stakes for 2-year-old pacers and $34,731 Ralph Wilfong Memorial for 2-year-old trotters, as well as five Hoosier Stakes for 2-year-olds and four Horseman Stakes for 3-year-olds.
Fair race programs are available at the Indiana Standardbred Association website here. For the Indiana State Fair program, click here.