by Charlene Sharpe, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Charlene Sharpe

Georgetown, DE — With lifetime earnings of $1,351 and a mark of Q2:04.3h, Quantum Natasha didn’t turn any heads on the racetrack. That didn’t stop her from generating a couple of young fans though.

The trotter’s gentle disposition made her a favorite with Rebecca and Grace Robinson on their visits to David Banks’ barn in southern Delaware. She first caught the eye of 3-year-old Rebecca.

“She and Natasha found each other,” said Dawn Robinson, the girls’ mother. “She said ‘that’s my horse.’”

Grace Robinson and 4-year-old trotter Quantum Natasha have been a winning combination.

When Robinson and her husband Aaron found out Banks was giving up on Quantum Natasha and was going to sell her, they decided they couldn’t see her go to anyone else. They bought her in May.

Six months later, you can find the 4-year-old daughter of Glidemaster-SOS Destination circling the show ring with 7-year-old Grace. The duo won leadline division champion in their first show. Aside from her freeze brand, she looks like any other show horse.

“Right from the beginning she’s been really good,” Dawn Robinson said.

Quantum Natasha has wasted no time finding success in her new career. Julia Jesu, the Maryland trainer working with Grace and Natasha, has nothing but good things to say about the Standardbred.

“Natasha has been a joy to work with,” Jesu said. “She has the best personality.”

Jesu said Natasha was just the second Standardbred she’d ridden, as she typically trains off the track Thoroughbreds, but she had little trouble with her. She said she did much of the same strengthening trot work with Natasha as she did with the OTTBs.

“You have to start with getting them to just trot out and learn to travel long and low and stretch out in their neck and back,” she said. “The trot work is helpful to strengthen them before you start asking for more technical things.”

Jesu said she had noticed how much more relaxed and easy-going Standardbreds were than Thoroughbreds.

“My favorite thing about Natasha is her work ethic,” she said. “She comes out every day ready to work — no matter the weather, or if she’s had a couple days off, she’s always the same horse every time. I can pick up right where we left off.”

Charlene Sharpe photos

Quantum Natasha and Grace Robinson in a leadline class at a show this past Saturday. They ended the day with a first, second, fourth and fifth place.

Grace, who’s been riding since she was five, also enjoys working with Natasha.

“She’s really sweet,” she said. “She has a nice trot.”

Dawn Robinson said that while she and her husband had planned on getting Grace a horse to show eventually, they hadn’t planned on getting her a Standardbred. She said she knew there might be a bit of a stigma surrounding the breed at some shows but that she didn’t want to pass up such a perfect horse.

“You couldn’t ask for a better nature,” she said, describing how her toddler could walk right under Natasha as the girls brushed her. “I’d recommend a Standardbred to anyone for a kid.”

Her husband agreed.

“I think this breed is overlooked,” he said. “There’s nothing standard about a Standardbred.”