Editor’s Note: To watch an interview with Sarah Svanstedt from the USTA’s Hambletonian Contenders series, presented by the Hambletonian Society and Winbak Farm, click here.
Cranbury, NJ – Sixteen months ago, Norwegian duo Rune Arild Hansen and Bjarne Morisbak were shooting the breeze with five other owners and amateur trainers when the topic turned to their 2-year-old in training in the U.S. with Ake Svanstedt. Their friends were curious if the colt could be a factor in the money-rich 2- and 3-year-old races in North America – and even the biggest one?
“You could have a starter in the Hambletonian, wouldn’t that be something?” one friend said, referring to America’s Trotting Classic for 3-year-olds at the Meadowlands.
Hansen just looked at him and laughed.
“Listen, if that horse makes it to the Hambletonian final, I’ll personally pay for you five to come over and watch the race,” he replied coolly.
At the time it seemed like a very safe thing to say.
A few years prior, Hansen and Morisbak had been two of several owners of ID Entity (by Explosive Matter), a decent mare who trotted in 1:56.3f at 4 but finished her career without a single win in 29 starts. At the conclusion of her career, Hansen, Morisbak and a third owner, Edel Therese Hoiseth, a five-time speed skating Winter Olympian, bought out the others. The trio bred the mare to Googoo Gaagaa, and in 2021 the filly Go For Gaagaa was born. ID Entity was then inseminated with Wishing Stone, but the owners realized they didn’t want to be in the breeding business.
“When ID Entity’s sister ID Diana was sold to the U.S. and then resold for $225,000 at Harrisburg, we were completely taken aback. Back in Norway we had tried to give ID Entity away as a broodmare, but nobody wanted her. Consequently, we decided to send her to the U.S. where the foal was born. We sold ID Entity for $25,000 and Bjarne and I kept the foal, thinking the money would be enough to pay the bills at Svanstedt’s. And that’s how this story started,” Hansen said.
Named Magic Punk in honor of an Angus Hall-son named Punk who won numerous races, including the German Breeders Crown, for Hansen and five other owners a few years ago, the little colt was one of the best 2-year-olds last year, finishing second to Apex (Walner) and Ardonne (Tactical Landing) in the Peter Haughton and William Wellwood, respectively.
This year he’s won the Dexter Cup, a division of the Reynolds and a Goodtimes elimination.
In his Hambletonian elimination this past Saturday, with driver Yannick Gingras, Magic Punk left from post 7 and trotted four- and three-wide around the first turn before reaching the front shortly after the quarter. He surrendered the lead to Big Ranger (In Range) close to the half and ended up battling it out for second with It Could Be Worse (Captain Corey) at the end.
The latter had clearly not gotten the memo about never going against the family as he snatched second-place at the line: It Could Be Worse’s maternal granddam Dunk The Donato is a sister to ID Entity, the dam of Magic Punk. Still, both colts made the final, so we can only surmise that it could be worse…
Bad puns aside – to Hansen it didn’t really matter since his colt advanced to Saturday’s (Aug. 8) $1 million Grade 1 Winning Key Farm Hambletonian final at the Big M. Before the elimination he had his misgivings, though.
“Magic Punk seems to subscribe to bad post positions. Post 7 in the elimination was no different, so I didn’t feel sure of anything. I was curious what tactic Yannick would employ; would he send the horse forward or pull up? He chose to go forward and used Magic Punk a lot in the first quarter, but that was clearly the right decision. Big Ranger was extremely good, but Magic Punk trotted in 1:50.4 and impressed me,” he said, before adding that with everything at stake he was a bundle of nerves during the race.
“We were terribly nervous before the race, in fact I’ve rarely, if ever, been so nervous, but that was because there was a spot in the final at stake. With that secured, I think I’ll be a lot calmer this Saturday.”
Magic Punk’s bad streak continued in the post position draw this past Tuesday. The only son of Wishing Stone to reach a Hambletonian final – and he will remain so since the diminutive stallion was found dead in his paddock in June 2022, shortly before Magic Punk was conceived – drew post 8 in Saturday’s race. Hansen and Morisbak have a stoic approach to it all.
“Growing up in Norway, the Hambletonian is a race we just read about. Having a horse in the field in unbelievable and incredible, so in a way everything now is a bonus – and even though the post is a disadvantage you never know how the race will unfold,” Hansen said. The feedback from Yannick and Ake after the elimination was that Magic Punk needed this race because he broke in the Zweig Memorial and did not get a proper workout there. But with the elimination under his belt we think he can be even better in the final.”
And on Saturday, Magic Punk will have a little fan club present, too. After the elimination, Hansen had to book and pay for plane tickets for his five friends – and for good measure he did the same for two other buddies, too. It’s a cost he’s only happy to carry.
“Well, yeah, I have to pay for my big mouth in that respect,” he said. “I truly felt it was a safe thing to dismiss the Hambletonian talk last spring; I never imagined that we would have a Hambletonian finalist, it’s truly a dream come true.”