McDynamo (April 6, 1997 - December 1, 2019) was an American

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...

racehorse Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...

. He was a five-time winner of the Grade 1

Breeders' Cup Grand National Steeplechase The Grand National Hurdle Stakes is an American National Steeplechase Association sanctioned steeplechase race run each fall at Far Hills, New Jersey. It is a Grade 1 event run over miles. It has been known by a variety of names over the years, i ...

at the

Far Hills Races The Far Hills Races is a steeplechase horserace held annually in Far Hills, New Jersey, United States. The October 2021 event was the 100th running, and race day purses can equal up to or more than $1,000,000, with six races offering the highest ...

and a three-time honoree with the

Eclipse Award for Outstanding Steeplechase horse The American Champion Steeplechase Horse is an American horse racing honor awarded as part of the Eclipse Award program since its inception in 1971. It is awarded annually to the top horse in steeplechase racing. Flatterer is the only horse to wi ...

. McDynamo was sired by

Dynaformer Dynaformer (April 1, 1985 – April 29, 2012) was a Thoroughbred race horse and breeding stallion most notable as the sire of 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro (horse), Barbaro. Background Dynaformer was an unusually large horse, standing hig ...

Background

Foaled April 6, 1997, McDynamo was a son of

, who sired 25 Grade 1 winners, including

Kentucky Derby The Kentucky Derby is a horse race held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, almost always on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The competition is a Grade I stakes race for three-year ...

winner Barbaro. His dam was Rondonia, a daughter of Irish champion Monteverdi. Rondonia also produced Old Chapel, a graded stakes-winning full-brother to McDynamo, and Radonezh (by Barkersville), a graded stakes winner in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. McDynamo was bred in

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

by Richard Fox, Nathan Fox, and Richard Kaster. He was later bought by Michael Moran for $82,000 at the Keeneland yearling sale in September 1998.

Racing career

As a three-year-old, McDynamo came in seventh at the

Pimlico Race Course Pimlico Race Course is a thoroughbred horse racetrack in Baltimore, Maryland, most famous for hosting the Preakness Stakes. Its name is derived from the 1660s when English settlers named the area where the facility currently stands in honor of Ol ...

in May 2000 in his debut race. He won his next start at Pimlico at 1½-miles, but had just two more starts before being sidelined for a year after surgery to remove a hind ankle chip. He won only one of five races as a four-year-old. After unsuccessful efforts at

Saratoga Race Course Saratoga Race Course is a Thoroughbred horse racing track located on Union Avenue in Saratoga Springs, New York, United States. Opened in 1863, it is often considered to be the oldest major sporting venue of any kind in the country, but is actua ...

(ridden by

Pat Day Patrick Alan "Pat" Day (born October 13, 1953, in Brush, Colorado) is a retired American jockey. He is a four-time winner of the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey and was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1991 an ...

) and

Belmont Park Belmont Park is a major thoroughbred horse racing facility in the northeastern United States, located in Elmont, New York, just east of the New York City limits. It was opened on May 4, 1905. It is operated by the non-profit New York Racin ...

, Moran turned McDynamo to Sanna Hendriks, who specializes in training steeplechasers. McDynamo won his first jump race by 4¼-lengths at

on October 20, 2001. The 2004 running of the Grade 1 $175,000 Breeders' Cup Steeplechase saw McDynamo, then a 7-year-old gelding coming back for his first race in 11 months after recovering from

hock Hock may refer to: Common meanings: * Hock (wine), a type of wine * Hock (anatomy), part of an animal's leg * To leave an item with a pawnbroker People: * Hock (surname) * Richard "Hock" Walsh (1948-1999), Canadian blues singer Other uses: * A t ...

surgery, win the race for a second consecutive year, defeating Hirapour by 1½ lengths in a finishing time of 5:06.8. The race covered a 2⅝-mile distance and jumps over 14 fences. The crowd was estimated at 45,000. The 2007 running saw McDynamo running for a fifth consecutive title, one of nine horses running for the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Grand National, with a purse of $300,000. At the age of 10, McDynamo was the oldest of 43 horses competing at Far Hills that day. All starters in the race carried 156 pounds.Clancy, Joe
"BC Steeplechase: McDynamo in drive for five"
''

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

'', October 20, 2007. Accessed September 3, 2008. McDynamo was named Eclipse Award for Outstanding Steeplechase horse in 2003, 2005 and 2006.Staff
"McDynamo Wins Third Steeplechase Eclipse in Four Years"
''

The Blood-Horse magazine ''BloodHorse'' is a multimedia news organization covering Thoroughbred racing and breeding that started with a newsletter first published in 1916 as a monthly bulletin put out by the Thoroughbred Horse Association.

'', January 27, 2007. Accessed September 9, 2008. He was an Eclipse Award finalist every year from 2002 to 2007, and won at least one Grade 1 steeplechase race in each of those seasons. He was retired from racing at the end of 2007.

Honors

Along with his numerous Eclipse honors and nominations, McDynamo was inducted into the

National Museum of Racing & Hall of Fame The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred horse racing, Thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and Horse trainer, trainers. In 1955, the museum ...

in Saratoga Springs, NY in 2013. McDynamo holds the current U.S. Steeplechase record for earnings with $1,310,104.

Retirement and death

McDynamo lived out retirement at trainer Sanna Neilson's farm in Pennsylvania. He competed in

fox hunting Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of ho ...

in retirement and made many "celebrity" appearances at Fair Hill. McDynamo was a friendly horse and made friends with many animals on the farm, including a pony named Ted. McDynamo was humanely euthanized on December 1, 2019 at the age of 22; he had been suffering from arthritis and general infirmities of old age. “Nothing in particular happened,” Neilsen said. “He had one stifle that bothered him, and it was just arthritic and whatever and there was nothing to do to it. It got harder to keep weight on him, he never did well in the wintertime. He looked a little unsteady behind to me and he wasn’t going to get any better. He was happy and comfortable and everything. I was nervous with the weather coming in – he’d have a hard time on frozen ground – and it felt like the right thing to do.” He was buried on the farm.

References

{{Reflist

External links

McDynamo's pedigree
1997 racehorse births American steeplechase racehorses Racehorses bred in Kentucky Racehorses trained in the United States Eclipse Award winners United States Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame inductees