Stald Handshake’s six-year-old Slava Ukraini, who went unbeaten through his three-year-old season on the Scandinavian tracks with victory in, among others, the Danish Derby, has definitively ended his great career. “After a lengthy rehabilitation, in which he had been declared completely sound again, he suffered a new injury on Friday. Now he will instead be allowed to enjoy his retirement,” the stallion’s part-owner Tom Glæsner Larsen told GalopSport on Tuesday evening.
Slava Ukraini had not raced since 8 September 2024, when he won the Breeders’ Trophy Mile over 1,600 metres at Bro Park.
That was the Moohaajim son’s fourth triumph in a Breeders’ context, having previously also won the Breeders’ Trophy Classic and the Breeders’ Prize Classic as a three-year-old, and the Danish Breeders’ Cup as a four-year-old.
Already as a two-year-old, Slava Ukraini showed his enormous talent when, as part of Niels Petersen’s satellite stable at Klampenborg, he won both Dansk Galop’s Auction Race and the Basnæsløb.
To that, of course, came victory in the 2023 edition of the Danish Derby at Klampenborg, as well as the Jockeyklubbens 2000 Guineas at Bro Park and the Skandinavisk Mesterskap for three-year-olds at Øvrevoll.
Between his two- and three-year-old seasons, Slava Ukraini wintered in Dubai, where he was placed twice in three starts, before returning home to win five races in a row in Scandinavia.
Between his three- and four-year-old seasons he first went through a training stay in Chantilly, and then a trip to Saudi Arabia, where he finished ninth in the Saudi International Handicap.
Two months later he made his seasonal debut in the Danish Jockey Club Cup (L) at Klampenborg, finishing second behind Good Fortune (Appel Au Maitre), before the two further Breeders’ triumphs followed later in the year.
It is almost two years since we last saw Slava Ukraini at the races, but he never left Niels Petersen’s stable at Øvrevoll, and until last week there was genuine belief that he would be made ready for a comeback.
The stallion was, among others, entered for the Pokalløb (L) on Klampenborg’s Derby Day.
“Slava Ukraini is a big horse, in more than one sense, and he has given us so incredibly much joy. We can only thank him for the great pleasure it has been to be part of his career,” says Tom Glæsner Larsen, continuing:
“We are now thinking about finding a good home for him, and we all agree that he could become a really fine riding horse. If anyone is interested, or perhaps knows someone, they are very welcome to contact me or Niels Petersen.”
Behind Stald Handshake stand, in addition to Tom Glæsner Larsen, also Morten Buskop, Carsten Zink, Klaus Schmidt and Jakob Dalhoff.
It was the last-named, who lives in Ukraine, who came up with the big, strong, dark bay stallion’s striking name.
Slava Ukraini. Thank you for the memories.
