VIKING KRONOS
Viking Kronos was an excellent Italian trotter who had a significant impact on the development of horse racing, especially from a breeding point of view.
Born on 20 February 1995, out of the American stallion American Winner and the mare Conch, Viking Kronos had a successful career as a racehorse and, subsequently, earned an equally remarkable reputation as a breeding stallion. In his career he only competed in fourteen races, winning 12, coming second in one and finishing fourth in another, with earnings of around 600 thousand euros.
He was bred by the Kronos stud of the Carraretto family, trained and moulded by Lutfi Kolgjini, an Albanian by birth but a Swede by adoption, who drove for Stall November. At two years old he took to the track six times, always winning in an authoritative manner. His most prestigious victories were the Gran Premio Nazionale, the Gran Criterium and the Gran Premio Allevatori. His best chronometric references are 14.4 over 1600 metres and 13.7 over 2000 metres.
A racing career with great prospects cut short too soon due to an injury suffered in the 1998 Derby when he crossed hooves with Varenne for the second time.
Previously the two had met three months earlier in July 1998 in Milan at the Gran Premio Nazionale in which Viking Kronos inflicted one of the very few defeats of Varenne's career, so much so that the two came to the 1998 Derby with Viking Kronos as the clear favourite. The defeat and the resulting injury ended the career of the son of American Winner, who went on to have a brilliant career as a sire.
After his racing career, Viking Kronos became a highly sought-after breeding stallion, mainly in Sweden. He passed on his excellent genetics and produced numerous successful trotting horses.
Over the years Viking Kronos has been acclaimed not only for his personal racing successes, but also for his ability to pass on his genetic qualities to subsequent generations. His legacy is still evident through his high-performing descendants.
Among his sons, Joke Face, a great protagonist of Scandinavian trotting, is worth mentioning, but above all Maharajah, winner of a Prix d'Amérique and a stallion much sought after today by Italian breeders.
Viking Kronos died on 8 June 2023, at the age of 28.
