By Anna Uras and Mirko Miorelli
Aug 18 (Reuters) - Italian horse Varenne transcended sport during a record-smashing career as the world's greatest trotter, becoming a symbol of elegance and athletic prowess and appearing as a celebrity on popular TV shows.
Varenne died of a heart attack on Tuesday aged 31, leaving behind an estate of over 2,000 offspring and a wide community of adoring fans in Italy and abroad.
Trotting, especially popular in France, Finland, Italy and North America, is a form of racing
in which horses pull a light carriage called a "sulky", manned by a driver, while maintaining a specific two-beat gait called a "trot".
In a five-year racing career spanning 1998-2002 Varenne, widely known as "the Captain", achieved 62 victories in 73 races, including 53 Grand Prix, and earned over €6 million in prize money.
"He was a Ferrari with a brain", Varenne's loyal driver Giampaolo Minnucci told Italian daily La Stampa in an interview last month.
In 2002 Varenne thrilled the crowd when, during a presentation of horses and drivers at Milan's San Siro stadium at the height of his fame, he lowered his head and touched his muzzle with his right front leg, bowing to the public.
He became the only horse to be named Horse of the Year in Italy, France and the United States, winning all three honours in 2001, and he was inducted into the United States Harness Racing Hall of Fame in 2010.
Between 2004 and 2024, his semen was sold worldwide at between €10,000 and €20,000 per cover, yielding more than 2,000 horses. His first son, Italo Del Ronco, was sold for €150,000 ($173,580.00).
Born near the north-eastern Italian city of Ferrara on May 19, 1995, he owed his name to the Rue de Varenne in Paris, where the Italian Embassy in France is located.
He was acquired by his long-standing owner, Enzo Giordano, after his debut race in 1998, and quickly rose to fame after winning a streak of competitions, coming to be widely recognised as the greatest trotter of all time.
He set a world record at the mile distance in 2001 and the 1,000-meter track record in 2002.
At the 2002 World Cup in Vincennes, he set the still unbeaten speed record for 2100 meters, winning the title despite a broken sulky wheel.
"He toured the world, flew more often than a pilot and received honours from Pope Wojtyla and Italy's President Ciampi," Minnucci said.
($1 = 0.8642 euros)
(Reporting by Anna Uras, Mirko Miorelli in Gdansk, Cristina Carlevaro in Milan; editing by Gavin Jones)
