by Karsten Bønsdorf, USTA Senior Newsroom Correspondent

World champion Mack Lobell was euthanized Monday (Feb. 22) at Menhammar Stud in Sweden due to illness. He was 32 years old.

USTA photo

Mack Lobell was a two-time Horse of the Year and was inducted into the Living Horse Hall of Fame in 1998.

Mack Lobell (Mystic Park-Matina Hanover), who John Campbell hails as the best trotter he has ever been behind, became a living legend as a racehorse, and later as a sire. He was campaigned by Hall of Famer trainer Chuck Sylvester for Lou Guida’s powerful stable in the U.S. and was the 1987 and 1988 Horse of the Year. Guida sold 75 percent of the horse in 1988 to a group headed by John-Erik Magnusson and Mack Lobell finished his career in Europe.

Mack Lobell won 71 out of 94 career races, including the Hambletonian, Breeders Crown, Yonkers Trot, Nat Ray, Beacon Course, Statue of Liberty, Campionato Europeo and the Elitlopp twice, in 1988 and 1990.

He amassed more than $3.9 million in purse earnings on two continents and was undoubtedly one of the all-time greats. He set a total of eight world records and was inducted into the Living Horse Hall of Fame in 1998.

Mack Lobell sired 444 sons and daughters in Sweden, the best being Mack Action As, a mare who earned the equivalent of $500,000. He might have been even better as a broodmare sire, with credits including top international trotters like Commander Crowe, Malabar Circle As, Sanity, Jaded and Orechietti.