The March of Dimes Trot was a

Standardbred The Standardbred is an American horse breed best known for its ability in harness racing, where members of the breed compete at either a trot or pace. Developed in North America, the Standardbred is recognized worldwide, and the breed can trace i ...

trotting The trot is a ten-beat diagonal horse gait where the diagonal pairs of legs move forward at the same time with a moment of suspension between each beat. It has a wide variation in possible speeds, but averages about . A very slow trot is someti ...

race that took place at

Garden State Park Racetrack Garden State Park was a harness and thoroughbred race track in Cherry Hill, Camden County, New Jersey. It is now the site of a high-end, mixed-use "town center" development of stores, restaurants, apartments, townhouses, and condominiums. Garden ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

on November 17, 1988. It is considered one of the most legendary races in trotting history. The race was connected with

March of Dimes March of Dimes is a United States nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies. The organization was founded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938, as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, to comba ...

charity foundation. The idea of the race was a duel between American world-record-breaker

Mack Lobell Mack Lobell (1984–2016) was a brown racing trotter by Mystic Park out of Matina Hanover by Speedy Count. He won $3,917,594 during his career and was elected Harness Horse of the Year in 1987 and 1988. Among his many stakes victories were the ...

, who had just been sold to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, and the famous

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

trotter

Ourasi Ourasi (7 April 1980 – 12 January 2013) was a chestnut French Trotter. He earned $2,913,314 during his career. His harness racing victories included three consecutive Prix d'Amérique at Vincennes, the second by approximately 18 lengths. Our ...

. Both horses had been racing in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

but they had never met. The one-mile race also featured eight other horses from Europe and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. Three of the European participants (Napoletano, Sugarcane Hanover and Friendly Face) were American-bred. The race evoked great interest in Europe. More than 70 reporters had flown to cover the race. A four-hour television coverage was sent to France and the race was also broadcast in Sweden. Surprisingly only a crowd of 8,000 people showed up at the racetrack. Hundreds of them were from Europe. Winner of the March of Dimes Trot was an American expatriate

Sugarcane Hanover Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalks t ...

who was trained in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. Ourasi finished second and Mack Lobell who took the lead was third.

Results

¹ Country of the owner

References

{{coord, 39.926, -75.037, type:event_globe:earth_region:US-NJ, display=title Harness races in the United States Discontinued harness races 1988 in sports in New Jersey 1988 in horse racing