Courant and David Heffering have come to an agreement to stand trotting stallion Green Manalishi at Tara Hills Stud for the 2021 breeding season for a living foal fee of $7,500 CAD.
Green Manalishi was the first horse since Father Patrick to win the Wm. Wellwood Memorial and Canadian Trotting Classic in consecutive seasons.
"Green Manalishi is a spectacular looking individual, with pedigree and racing lines to match his abilities," said David Heffering of Tara Hills Stud. "We feel that Green Manalishi will make a great addition to our already stellar line of stallions at Tara Hills.
"When Sabine Kagebrant reached out to me to arrange a visit to the farm on behalf of Courant, I was excited about the prospect to acquire a stallion from such a successful racing stable. Agent Robert Lindstrom eventually suggested that Green Manalishi could be a great addition for the Tara Hills Stallion roster. I couldn’t agree more, and I would like to thank Courant for putting their support behind Tara Hills as well as the Ontario racing and stakes program, which I believe is the best in North America."
Trained by 2019 Trainer of the Year Marcus Melander, Green Manalishi won 11 races in 23 starts in North America, amassed $1,306,827, and took a mark of 1:50.3, winning an elimination for the $1 million Hambletonian.
Green Manalishi exhibited top level talent early, winning two of his first three baby races at The Meadowlands in 1:57 and 1:56.3, then won his first two career starts before finishing second in his elimination and final of the $422,350 Peter Haughton Memorial.
Green Manalishi’s freshman season highlights also included dominant victories in his elimination and $400,000 final of the William Wellwood Memorial at Woodbine Mohawk Park with miles of 1:54.4 and 1:53.4. He followed up those efforts with another easy win in a division of the $85,000 Bluegrass at The Red Mile in 1:56.1. In addition, Green Manalishi finished second in a division of the International Stallion Stake, plus his elimination and $600,000 final of the Breeders Crown. In 2018, Green Manalishi had five wins and five seconds in 10 starts, with earnings of $560,157, third on the money list in his division.
Green Manalishi continued to blossom as a three-year-old, winning his first start out of the box in an elimination for the Earl Beal, Jr. Memorial at Pocono in 1:52.1 before finishing third in the $500,000 final. Next, at The Meadowlands, he was second in a $153,000 division of the Stanley Dancer Memorial, then romped in a $50,400 division of the Tompkins Geers in 1:52.4.
Green Manalishi took his mark of 1:50.3 pulling a 9-1 upset from post eight in a $70,000 elimination for the $1 million Hambletonian and finished fifth in the final. Following a second in the $330,000 Dr. Harry M. Zweig Memorial at Vernon Downs, Green Manalishi won a $174,503 division of the Simcoe in 1:53 at Woodbine Mohawk Park, before going wire-to-wire in the $605,000 Canadian Trotting Classic.
Green Manalishi is by the incomparable Muscle Hill, 2009 Horse of the Year, and the sport’s #1 trotting sire in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. From seven crops of racing age, Muscle Hill is the sire of 10 millionaires, led by Triple Crown Champion Marion Marauder. Muscle Hill sired his third Hambletonian winner in 2020, the filly Ramona Hill, and his fifth consecutive Hambletonian Oaks winner, Sorella.
Green Manalishi is out of the Enjoy Lavec mare Naga Morich S. His second dam, Dame Lavec, produced Raja Mirchi, a Group 1 race winner who enjoyed success in Europe and is an Elite Stallion in Sweden, which contributed to Courant owner Anders Ström’s interest in Green Manalishi, who was a 3,000,000 SEK (450,000 CAD, 340,000 USD) yearling on the Kolgjini Sale 2018.
(Tara Hills / Courant)