by Karsten Bonsdorf, USTA web newsroom correspondent

Even before a new movie featuring the trotter Tarok and his owners and breeders, the Laursen family, has hit the screen, Tarok is the talk of the town.

On Saturday (Oct. 26), two daily national newspapers each ran a special supplement of six to eight pages just featuring Tarok!

National and local TV stations, especially around the little town of Skive where Tarok was born and buried, aired several stories about the film, the horse and the people around him.

In Skive, the town hall, together with the local racetrack, has made four tours where fans can see the places where Tarok and his people lived. The local museum has even made an exhibition about Tarok.

Tarok was born in 1972 and raced 156 times. He won 111 races. In 1977 he raced in the International Trot at Roosevelt Raceway and no less than 600 Danish fans followed him to New York.

When he died in late January 1981 he was the top story in the news on national TV and in every newspaper in Denmark.

You can watch a trailer for the upcoming Tarok movie at this link.