Bolt The Duer (foaled 2009) is a bay

Standardbred The Standardbred is an American horse breed best known for its ability in harness racing where they compete at either a trot or pace. Developed in North America, the Standardbred is recognized worldwide, and the breed can trace its bloodline ...

racehorse who set or equaled two

World Record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

s for one mile.

Racing career

Bolt The Duer was bred at Carter Duer's Peninsula Farm in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city coterminous with and the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the city's population was 322,570, making it the List of ...

and would be purchased for $70,000 at the 2010 Harrisburg Yearling Sale. He was trained for owners John Como Sr. and John Jr. by Australian native Peter Foley for whom he won six of eight starts and $214,058 while competing as a two-year-old. He has won 23 different races, including the Kentucky Sire Stakes.

Triple Crown races

On November 10, 2012, Bolt The Duer won the 57th edition of the

Messenger Stakes The Messenger Stakes is an American harness racing event for 3-year-old pacing horses. It was organized in 1956 at Roosevelt Raceway in Westbury, New York (on suburban Long Island) to join with the Cane Pace and the Little Brown Jug to creat ...

, the third leg of the Pacing Triple Crown run that year at

Yonkers Raceway Yonkers Raceway & Empire City Casino, founded in 1899 as the Empire City Race Track, is a one-half-mile standardbred harness racing dirt track and slots racino located at the intersection of Central Park Avenue and Yonkers Avenue in Yonkers, Ne ...

. Driven by former Canadian driving champion Mark MacDonald, Bolt The Duer's winning time of 1:51 2/5 for the mile was the fastest time for the Messenger Stakes when held at that racetrack.

World records

On July 28, 2012 at

The Meadows Racetrack The Hollywood Casino at The Meadows, formerly The Meadows Racetrack and Casino, originally (1963) just The Meadows horse-racing track, is a Standardbred harness-racing track and slot-machine casino which is located in North Strabane Township, ...

three-year-old Bolt The Duer won the

Adios Pace The Adios Pace is a horse race for three-year-old Standardbred colts and geldings run annually since 1967 at a distance of one mile at The Meadows Racetrack and Casino, Meadows Racetrack in North Strabane Township, Pennsylvania. Historical race ev ...

with Mark MacDonald driving. His winning time of 1:47 4/5 was a new world record for one mile on a 5/8 mile oval. At age four, in the Ben Franklin Consolation at Pocono Downs, Bolt The Duer posted another win in 1:47 4/5 to make him the first horse in

harness racing Harness racing is a form of horse racing in which the horses race at a specific gait (a trot or a pace). They usually pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky, spider, or chariot occupied by a driver. In Europe, and less frequently in Australia ...

history to record wins in two sub-1:48 times over a five-eighths mile track. He would also equal a second world record for a half-mile track with a time of 1:49 while winning the Joe Gerrity Jr. Memorial Free-For-All Pace at Saratoga Raceway.

Retirement to stud

While preparing for the 2015 racing season, Bolt The Duer suffered a torn hind

suspensory ligament A suspensory ligament is a ligament that supports a body part, especially an organ. Types include: * Suspensory ligament of axilla, also known as Gerdy's ligament * Cooper's ligaments, also known as the suspensory ligaments of Cooper or Suspenso ...

and was retired. He stands at stud at Winbak Farm in

Walden, New York Walden is the largest of three Administrative divisions of New York#Village, villages of the town of Montgomery, New York, Montgomery in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 6,818 at the 2020 census. It has the ZIP Code 125 ...

. The first foal born from him was born at Winbank Farm in Maryland in 2017.

External links

Video of Bolt The Duer's World Record in the 2012 Adios Pace

References

{{Reflist 2009 racehorse births American Standardbred racehorses Harness racing in the United States Messenger Stakes winners