Anders Ström didn’t get Nagamori Hill for a song, but he renamed him after one.

Purchased as a yearling for a Swedish auction-record 3 million kronor, approximately $365,000 U.S., the Swedish-bred colt’s name was changed to Green Manalishi in tribute to the Peter Green-penned Fleetwood Mac song ‘The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown),’ which was released in 1970.

“I’m a big fan of the Peter Green/Fleetwood Mac tune as well as the cover that my favourite band, Judas Priest, made,” Ström said via email. “I had the name on my list for a long time once the right horse would show up. I like to name all horses born in the same year with the same beginning letter; this year it was the ‘G’ crop.”

So far, Green Manalishi, owned by Ström’s Courant Inc., has been grand. He has recorded three wins and two second-place finishes from five races and has earned $146,757 in purses. One of his setbacks was by a neck to Prospect Hill and the other came when he raced on the outside from Post 10 in the Peter Haughton Memorial, which was won by Dont Letem.

Last week, the colt won his elimination for the William Wellwood Memorial by four and three-quarter lengths over Kings County in 1:54.4 at Woodbine Mohawk Park. He will start Saturday’s $400,000 final from Post 3 with Tim Tetrick driving for trainer Marcus Melander.

What’s impressed Ström?

“About everything,” he said. “He made a break in one of the qualifiers, but there were good excuses for that. Otherwise he has done everything right, and the mile he trotted in the Peter Haughton Memorial was out of this world from that No. 10 spot. Oh, and I should not forget, he has a great psyche – everyone just loves the horse’s manners.

“He is certainly one of the absolute most interesting colts for the future and I don’t think I have had such a great prospect before. I really hope he can finish the season well and become a Hambletonian prospect next season.”

Green Manalishi is a son of Muscle Hill out of the Enjoy Lavec mare Naga Morich. His second dam, Dame Lavec, produced Raja Mirchi, who finished eighth in the 2009 Peter Haughton Memorial, but enjoyed success in Europe. All of which were contributing factors in Ström’s interest in Green Manalishi as a yearling.

“I liked the horse’s conformation; he is really a fantastic-looking colt,” Ström said. “But first and foremost he has the pedigree to become a superstar. He has the same maternal line as Raja Mirchi, who was a fantastic champion for Lutfi Kolgjini and now one of the most sought-after stallions in Europe. With Muscle Hill as a sire, you could argue that Green Manalishi has the potential to become ‘Raja 2.0!’”

The Wellwood Memorial is part of a card that also includes the second meeting between harness racing’s top-ranked horses, No. 1 Atlanta and No. 2 Manchego, in the $340,000 Elegantimage Stakes for three-year-old female trotters plus the $665,000 Canadian Trotting Classic for three-year-old trotters, $385,000 Peaceful Way for two-year-old female trotters, two eliminations for the Metro Pace for two-year-old pacers, and two eliminations for the Shes A Great Lady for two-year-old female pacers.

Green Manalishi is the 9-5 morning line favourite in the Wellwood. Union Forces, who won the event’s other elimination in 1:55.3, is 6-1 from Post 4. He will be driven by Scott Zeron for trainer Domenico Cecere. Swandre The Giant, second to Union Forces last week, is the 2-1 second choice on the morning line from Post 7 with Yannick Gingras at the lines for Jimmy Takter.

“There are several good horses, perhaps even better,” Ström said about this season’s group of two-year-old trotters. “I believe we will see a handful of horses that would have been a breakout No. 1 in any ‘normal’ crop.”

Ström hopes he has a couple of those horses in addition to Green Manalishi. Greenshoe has won two of four races, including the New Jersey Sire Stakes championship, despite having gone off stride in all four starts. Gimpanzee, owned with Lennart Agren’s S R F Stable, is five-for-five on the New York Sire Stakes circuit.

“Greenshoe has perhaps shown the highest capacity so far, but he has also acted a bit immaturely,” Ström said. “I think once he settles in he will be among the best in the crop. Gimpanzee is a less complicated horse. He has yet to race against top competition, but once he does it will be very interesting to see where he can rank among the other horses in this group.

“I give credit to Courant’s operational manager Sabine Kagebrandt for doing a great job to put these horses on the shortlist when we were working on the 2017 yearling purchases.”

Greenshoe, a son of Father Patrick out of Designed To Be, was purchased for $330,000 under the name Rifleman at the Lexington Selected Sale. Gimpanzee, a son of Chapter Seven out of Steamy Windows, was bought for $170,000 under the name Army Of Monkeys at the Standardbred Horse Sale.

“Greenshoe is a financial term that I came across when I worked with introducing one of my startups to the stock market,” Ström said. “Gimpanzee was originally named Army Of Monkeys and we nicknamed him ‘Monkey,’ so I simply had to come up with a fantasy name that could carry his nickname. Now that he is so good, the name is great!”

Racing will begin at 7:25 p.m. (EDT) with the Metro eliminations. The Peaceful Way will follow as race three, the Wellwood race five, Canadian Trotting Classic race seven, and Elegantimage race 10. The Shes A Great Lady elims are races six and eight.

The field for the William Wellwood Memorial appears below in post-position order.

PP-Horse-Driver-Trainer-Morning Line
1-White Tiger-Anthony MacDonald-Harry Poulton-10/1
2-Okeanos-Roger Mayotte-Roger Mayotte-12/1
3-Green Manalishi S-Tim Tetrick-Marcus Melander-9/5
4-Union Forces-Scott Zeron-Domenico Cecere-6/1
5-Hudson River-Jimmy Takter-Jimmy Takter-8/1
6-Smart As Hill-Bob McClure-Mike Keeling-15/1
7-Swandre The Giant-Yannick Gingras-Jimmy Takter-2/1
8-Kings County-David Miller-Domenico Cecere-8/1
9-Southwind Avenger-Trevor Henry-R. Nifty Norman-15/1
10-While Your Up-Sylvain Filion-Clark Beelby-20/1

To view the harness racing entries for Saturday at Mohawk, click the following link: Saturday Entries – Woodbine Mohawk Park.

(USTA)