Italian Trotter

Horse

The Italian Trotter is a harness racing horse developed over the last century by crossing Thoroughbred stallions with French (Norman) trotters, Russian Trotters and American Standardbred mares. The goal of the selection was to blend the speed of the Standardbred with the stamina of the French Trotter. The result is a large, physically powerful horse standing up to 17 hands (68 inches, 173 cm) at the withers, with athletic ability and capable of defeating Standardbreds on the race track. Perhaps the most famous Italian trotter is Varenne, who held a speed world record of 1.09.1 per km for a while. Varenne won 62 of the 73 races in which he took part. (Varenne is 95.57% standardbred and 4.43% French trotter). Other legendary Italian trotters were Tornese, who raced in the 1950s and won 147 races, and his arch-rival Crevalcore.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Trotter