Varenne, The Captain
by Fabio Morelli
Some become legends by winning, others by making people fall in love. Varenne managed both feats, transforming the sport of harness racing into a popular tale, stepping beyond the boundaries of the racetrack to capture the hearts of ordinary people.
Varenne was born on May 19, 1995, at the Zenzalino breeding farm in Copparo, in the province of Ferrara. The son of the American stallion Waikiki Beach and the Italian broodmare Ialmaz, he carried a name from birth that already felt like a promise of international reach: he was named after Rue de Varenne in Paris, the street that houses the Italian Embassy in France. A destiny written before he even stepped onto the track.
“Il Capitano” (The Captain) is the nickname that perfectly describes his way of racing, marked by spectacular comebacks and that rare ability among horses to turn every race into an unforgettable scene. Between 1998 and 2002, Varenne competed in 73 races, winning 62 of them, with just six second places and two third places, establishing himself as the most winning trotter in history, with over six million euros in accumulated prize money.
The year 2001 remains the perfect year, the one in which Varenne conquered the most prestigious races on the global calendar all in a single year: the Prix d’Amérique in Paris, the Gran Premio della Lotteria in Agnano, the Elitloppet in Stockholm, and the Breeders Crown. A feat never achieved by any other trotter, before or since. It is no coincidence that Varenne remains the only horse in the history of world harness racing to have won the “Horse of the Year” title in three different countries: Italy, France, and the United States.
The mile record set at Meadowlands in the United States, which definitively enshrined Varenne in history before a cheering crowd, is forever etched in international trotting history.
Like Maradona for football or Senna for Formula 1, Varenne was something more than a simple thoroughbred athlete.
Retiring from racing in October 2002 after a world tour in which he continued breaking records until the very end, Varenne lived a long second life as a breeding stallion, passing through several Italian studs.
Varenne passed away yesterday at the age of 31, after a very long life for a stallion of his fame, always in high demand for breeding: it is estimated that his descendants now number in the thousands worldwide.
With his passing, not only an absolute champion departs, but a piece of Italian sports history capable, like few others, of stepping off the track and into the collective imagination.
What remains is the memory of a horse capable of running like few others know how: with his heart, even before his legs.
©2026 All rights reserved
Photo credits: Cover: Varenne – public domain (p.d.), Quia Magazine unless otherwise specified
