Last foal of famous Nova Scotia harness racing horse born
Somebeachsomewhere died in January 2018, his frozen sperm has been used to sire 15 foals
The last foal sired using frozen sperm from the famous Nova Scotia harness racing horse Somebeachsomewhere was born last week in Pennsylvania.
The baby horse, a female named The Legacy Hanover, was born at Hanover Shoe Farms on July 12.
"We've been waiting for them all to come. I think the first one is exciting and the last one is certainly exciting," said Brent MacGrath, Somebeachsomewhere's former trainer, driver and one of the owners.
"We have 15 in total and we're looking forward to seeing them all on the track. It's a very exciting time because with frozen semen, you don't have as good of luck as you do with chilled semen getting the mares in foal.
"And Beach, in his typical fashion — the way he'd done everything — he hit it out of the park with the frozen semen as well. We were very happy with what we've ended up with."
Somebeachsomewhere died Jan. 14, 2018, after battling stomach cancer.
He was the most successful harness racehorse from Nova Scotia — setting four world records.
During his career, he brought in $3.3 million in prize money. He was also a sought after breeding stallion in North America, producing offspring that collected more than $80 million in winnings.
Somebeachsomewhere was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall in 2009 — and posthumously inducted into the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame in 2018.
"He was bigger, stronger, faster and healthier than the competition for the two years that he raced and he carried that into the breeding shed too," MacGrath said.
"He's probably more prolific as a stallion than he was a racehorse if that's possible."
The Legacy Hanover has another Maritime connection. Her grandfather on her mother's side is Shadow Play — a horse with three owners, two of whom are Maritimers, from P.E.I. and New Brunswick.
"How ironic that those two horses — they raced against each other as well — and [Shadow Play] was one of Beach's toughest competition for sure," MacGrath said.
"For those two horses to end up in Maritime hands and then for the last resulting foal of Beach, being one of the greatest sires to ever live, to have that connection back to Shadow Play ... that certainly gives us Atlantic Canadians something to talk about."
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