This 2005-breeding season Strong Clan has been leased out to Ferme Jean-Guy Pepin in Quebec. You can contact Jean-Guy Pepin at phone/fax: 450-258-2220, address: C.P. 4383, St-Augustin, Mirabel, QC  J7N 2A7.

(Click here for the “Strong Clan Story”)

From only 33 2yo's in 2002, Strong Clan out-performed virtually all of the stallions in his price range - with 6 in 2:00, including Aurevoir Clan p, 3, 1:54.4 '03 ($50,000). Trainers love their Strong Clan horses, and his stats will only improve in coming years. Strong Clan was bred to his largest book yet in 2002 - as breeders took note of the early feedback on his offspring. You should strongly consider booking your mare to Strong Clan in 2004.

                               
(With Stew Firlotte)

 Elgin Strong brought Strong Clan to me in February of his 2-year-old season. He had already been training, and I continued the conditioning of Strong Clan at Ben White raceway. Strong Clan trained like a good horse all the way down, and when we moved up to Mohawk in June, I trained him behind the gate in 2:03f. After training we tube-wormed him, along with all the other horses in the barn.

“That night, Strong Clan was looking funny, and the vet told us to get him to Guelph immediately. He was diagnosed with an impaction of blood-worms, and was unable to have a bowel movement or pass urine. The vets at Guelph operated on him and eight days later he was home.

“But five days after he came back, he had to be rushed back to Guelph - and was operated on again. The doctors said that it was unlikely that Strong Clan would ever make it back to the races, and if did he would not amount to much.

“His 2-year-old year was obviously down the drain, but that wasn’t our real worry at the time. I remember Elgin (Strong) and I standing at the fence and looking at him. He was just a rack of skin and bones. Strong Clan was Elgin’s first horse, and it was very disappointing for him.

“In November, Elgin and I got together and tried to work out a plan for Strong Clan. We agreed that I would take him down to Florida and try to bring him back, and that Elgin would pay me a nominal fee for training, and we’d get rid of him in February if he was no good - and carry on with him if he showed any promise.

“By February, I told Elgin that Strong Clan was coming along okay, and said ‘I think I can get him to the races’. But there was no way we could justify paying him up to many stake races, and it wasn’t until a couple months later that we took the risk of making him eligible to some ‘late closers’.

“In March some people came around and offered $30,000 for Strong Clan, so I called Elgin and advised him. He asked me what I would do, and I asked him ‘Is $30,000 going to change your life. If not, you rode it this far and you might as well finish the ride.’

Strong Clan was second in his first start as a 3-year-old, pacing his last half first-over in :57.3 at Pompano Park. He broke his maiden at Pompano the following week, before trucking back north to Stew’s Mohawk training headquarters.

Strong Clan went into the $100,000 Burlington Pace (a late-closer) with 4 wins and 3 seconds in his first 8 starts. He raced hard on the outside for the last half, and fell just a neck shy of I Saw Him First in 1:52.2. While I Saw Him First was winning his North American Cup elimination a week later, Strong Clan (ineligible to the N.A. Cup) traveled to New Jersey, where he was parked from the 10-hole to finish second in a NJSS in 1:52.2.

Back home in Ontario, Strong Clan won a division and final of the Summertime series at Woodbine, then went back to take on the top 3-year-olds in the Confederation Cup. He finished third to Village Connection (1:55.4h) in the elimination, but the second heat found him in the 8-hole and parked the mile. In his next race, Strong Clan finished a close second to Village Connection in the Simcoe Stakes in the fastest (1:53.1f) of the three divisions - once again parked first-over in a :56 second last half.

Stew Firlotte continues: “The shame was that we never paid him up to the Little Brown Jug and the Breeders Crown. I’ve kicked my ass ever since, because at the time the Jug came around, Strong Clan was as good as any of them - and he stayed at that level until the end of the year.

“In the Provincial Cup, he went parked the whole mile, and nearly got Jenna’s Beach Boy. It’s a short stretch in Windsor, and he was flying so fast at the end of the mile, with a bit more stretch he’d have had Jenna in his back pocket.

“Strong Clan really was a ‘miracle horse’ you know. It is a miracle that he even recovered from not one - but TWO - operations. To make it back to the races was one thing, but to make it back to the top level and be within a length of the fastest 3-year-old in history? That is a miracle.

Everyone knows that Strong Clan went on to make over $430,000 as a 4 and 5-year-old, and his reputation has largely been that of an older performer. But he had early speed - and lots of it - before being knocked out of contention by his two operations.

And of course he has top bloodlines … Direct Scooter onto an Abercrombie mare … onto a Most Happy Fella mare … then to a Bret Hanover mare. Did you know that MACH THREE is a Matts Scooter onto an Abercrombie mare … onto a Most Happy Fella mare … then to a Bret Hanover mare?

But Strong Clan had more than just desire and ability and bloodlines, and the attributes that Stew Firlotte identifies in Strong Clan are being passed on to his offspring:

“Strong Clan was the nicest horse you’d ever want. He was neat in his stall, sensible, and had such a nice eye - a gleam in his eye. You might think it silly that I’m talking about a horse’s eyes when you’re asking about conformation. But the great ones have it. Historic and Ralph Hanover had it - and Strong Clan had it.

“When Strong Clan walked into the paddock, he knew exactly what he was there for. He’d look around as if he was sizing up the competition. He was always a very good horse to be around, but when it came to racing his attitude was tremendous - he just wanted to beat them. And no matter the trip, he would keep trying to the end.

“People have asked me if Strong Clan was skittish because he wore the mask all his life. The reason for that is that in his very first race at Pompano, he was following another horse. The guy was whipping away at his horse, and swung the whip back and hit Strong Clan right in the face. He dodged the whip, and from then on was ‘squirmish’ when the whips began flying.

?Strong Clan was never lame in his life. His vet bills were very low, except for the two operations at Guelph. He never wore a boot and his gait was absolutely flawless. He had no splints and no curbs - he was very neat and tidy.

“He was truly a ‘miracle horse’, and a super horse to be around in every way. What I wouldn’t give to have another like him.”