The career of Irish bred coloured pacing sensation Cinderella Man has been nothing short of stellar since he hit the track as a 3 year old back in May of 2014.

Following a couple of placed efforts the son of Who Who Gives A Toss out of Wellfield Jet finally hit the target at the third time of asking in June, winning at Dublin venue Portmarnock in 2:00.8, a record in Europe for coloured pacers.

The winning time demonstrated that Cinderella Man was no ordinary performer and connections started to dream about just how far they could go with the strikingly marked colt.

Having finished off the season with another win, this time on the turf track Aberystwyth in Wales, he was brought back into training this January and hopes are high that his 4 year old campaign will bring more glory in the shape of his ultimate aim, the world record for a mile for coloured standardbred pacers.

The record is currently held by White Fire who paced a mile rate of 1:58 in New Zealand almost a decade ago. With improvement expected from 3 to 4, Cinderella Man will be targeted all season at lowering this mark and into the history books as the fastest coloured pacer of all time.

Cinderella Man is owned by the Boylan Brothers and his trainer and driver is the top reinsman Alan Wallace.

So where does the colour come from in his breeding?

It starts with his sire Who Who Gives a Toss (NZ).  Who Who Gives A Toss is by the skewbald stallion Wilkies Wonder out of top class producing New Zealand bay mare Philosophy.

In addition to Who Who Gives A Toss, Philosophy also produced a New Zealand Derby victor and million dollar winner The Court Owl. Wilkies Wonder, born back in 1976 traces directly back to his dam White Christmas (1971) her dam Christmas Snow (1959) her dam Elegant (1951) preceded by her Snowflake (1943) and foundation mare Silk Stockings back in the 1930’s.

All were skewbald in colour and this dynasty now forms, and is universally recognised, as the backbone of the most successful line of coloured pacers in the world.

Who Who Gives A Toss, the sire of Cinderella Man was imported into Ireland at the turn of the millennium and so far there are currently over 65 registered foals by him in the British Isles. In 2010 Who Who Gives a Toss was bred to the grey mare Wellfield Jet and the resultant offspring born in 2011 was subsequently named Cinderella Man.

On the dam side of Cinderella Man, Wellfield Jet is by US sire Jet Laag. The striking US bred grey paced 1:49 on a half mile track, a world record at the time whilst winning over $1 million dollars in his career on the track.

Wellfield Jet is out of Upfrontnbustnloose a Western Hanover mare who was imported into the UK by Roy Sheedy of the Wellfield Stud in Wales whilst in foal to Jet Laag, hence the name – Wellfield Jet.

Courtesy of the internet and via his very own Facebook page, word has spread of his achievements on the track sparking interest from mare owners worldwide. They were aware that he is likely be in high demand as a prospective stallion for those seeking something out of the ordinary. The connections spent the winter of 2014 subjecting him to the required quarantine regulations in order to officially and legally export frozen semen throughout the world for all purposes.

Part owner Derek Boylan confirmed that demand has been phenomenal so far and has exceeded expectations with interest from the US and Canada right down to Australia and New Zealand where there is a core following for coloured or pinto pacers as they are more widely known.

For those interested in seeing the phenomenon that is Cinderella Man, check out his Facebook page CinderellaMan Dublin.

by Thomas Bennett, for Harnesslink.com