Winner of the 2018 International Trot, Cruzado Dela Noche’s racing career has come to a close as he transitions to stallion duty in 2020.
The seven-year-old son of Muscle Massive started his career in the US back in 2014 racing for trainer Nancy Johansson. As a two-year-old he finished third in the $355,500 Peter Haughton Memorial as well as in the $237,500. In his sophomore campaign he won an elimination for the Earl Beal Jr. Memorial but went off stride the $500,000, a trend which continued through the rest of the season. He galloped in the Stanley Dancer Memorial and in the Hambletonian elimination but finished second in the $100,000 Colonial consolation at Pocono. After breaking again a month later in a $35,000 division of the Liberty Bell, Cruzado Dela Noche left the US.
Over about three years in Sweden Cruzado Dela Noche competed 33 times for trainer Stefan Melander. As a four-year-old he won the Group 1 Grosser Preis Von Deutschland and the Group 2 Norrlands Grand Prix. He also finished third in the Group 1 Sprinter Mästaren Final. At five, Cruzado Dela Noche won the Group 1 Copenhagen Cup, then finished third in the same event as a six-year-old.
Following a fifth-place finish in the $340,239 Oslo Grand Prix, Cruzado Dela Noche readied for a return to the US. Sent over to the barn of Stefan Melander’s son Marcus, Cruzado Dela Noche prepped to represent Sweden for the $1,000,000 International Trot at Yonkers, which would become his claim to fame when launching off a helmet to pull a 30-1 upset going a mile-and-a-quarter in 2:24.3.
Cruzado Dela Noche won only once more over his 12-start US comeback. With a second-over trip he won the $175,200 Arthur J. Cutler Memorial going a mile-and-an-eighth in 2:07.3. He finished fifth when trying to defend his title in the International Trot and made his final start three weeks later at the Meadowlands, finishing sixth as the 8-5 favourite in a $30,000 Preferred.
Racing for Courant Inc., Cruzado Dela Noche won 16 races from 68 starts and earned $1,383,640. According to Anders Ström from Courant Inc., Cruzado Dela Noche will stand at Lutfi Kolgjini’s Vombs Nygård in Sweden. He stands for a booking fee of 3,000 SEK and has a stud fee of 25,000 SEK (roughly $3,500 CAD).