Western Paradise Passes

Trot Insider has learned that prominent Maritime stallion Western Paradise has passed away at 25.

"He was like one of those horses I'd let out in the morning and at nighttime I whistle and he’d be galloping to you and go back in the stall,” said Tony Zuethoff, who owned the stallion and stood him at his Pictonian Farm in Pictou, N.S. “He was like a big pet.”

Western Paradise (Western Hanover - No Paradise) raced 84 times from 1999 through 2003 and won on 19 occasions. The Brittany Farms-bred stallion began his career at The Red Mile and raced up and down both coasts, eventually stepping into open stakes company as a four-year-old. He won a preliminary for the Presidential Series at The Meadowlands in 2002 and finished second in a dead-heat in the $300,000 Graduate Series while racing against and defeating a string of millionaires the likes of Rair Earth, Armbro Positive, Armbro Proposal, Intrepid Seelster and Color Me Best.

Because of his sire, Western Paradise had a bloodline which Zuethoff said had potential, but was difficult to acquire.

“Like the time when I got him, I was new in the breeding of Standardbreds,” Zuethoff said. “It took me awhile to convince the owners to sell him to me. Because I thought he had bloodlines that would hopefully make a stallion, and he did.

“I bought the stallion for the Western Hanover aspects of the line. I’ve seen his half brother, he’s doing very well here too — Stonebridge Terror. There’s definitely that line there that can produce some good ones.”

Beginning his stallion career in 2004, Western Paradise drew a large book of mares and produced impressively. He sired more than 300 horses up through 2018 including both the richest Maritime-bred ever in The Rev ($634,742; 1:50.2S) and the fastest Maritime-bred ever in Rancousy ($487,246, 1:49.1F). He was widely regarded as Atlantic Canada's top stallion of the 2010s.

“Western Paradise has been an extraordinary pacing sire in the Maritimes," Hall of Famer Bill Andrew told The Guardian. “Not only did he produce early speed but also many hard-hitting, big-money racehorses, who have competed against the best in North America.”

All told, Western Paradise offspring have earned more than $11.6 million, with average earnings per starter of $42,920 and 80.5 per cent of starters taking records.

“In his heyday, he would probably get 50 to 60 [mares] a year,” Zuethoff said. “I know the first year that I stood him, he bred an awful lot of mares. Everybody wanted to breed to him, and that probably helped a little bit too. But to me, breeding is to put the foals on the ground. You need the right lines. I was pleased. I don’t want to brag too much. He’s been good to me.”

Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the connections of Western Paradise.