The 5-year-old trotting mare retires after an undefeated 2024 campaign.

by Debbie Little

Owner/breeder Steve Stewart has always said: “People plan, horses decide.” That certainly applies to Jiggy Jog S, whose unexpected retirement was announced on social media on Monday (Oct. 14).

According to Stewart, ‘Jiggy’ had some swelling in her ankle following her victory on Sept. 28 in the Dayton Derby.

Following two veterinary examinations and an MRI, it was determined that the daughter of Walner—Hot Mess Hanover had an issue unusual for standardbreds, a small tear in the ligament below the sesamoid.

Stewart said his veterinarian in Lexington, Dr. John Park, was very black and white explaining the situation.

“He said, ‘Even if you gave this filly time to heal, she’ll heal, but you run the risk of a catastrophic injury where she goes down on the track and you gotta put her down and that could happen like a thoroughbred,’” Stewart said.

The announcement was made prior to the deadline to enter for the Breeders Crown eliminations, but according to Stewart, the next two weekends were not their focus when it came to what was best for Jiggy Jog S. However, there were others to consider since her driver, Dexter Dunn, needed to know what was going on.

“So, we were kind of up against it for a decision, but the puffy ankles had already decided that she was not up to racing [in the Breeders Crown],” Stewart said.

Despite the disappointment in Jiggy Jog’s racing career being cut short, Stewart said he’s choosing to look at the positive side of this.

“Thank goodness that it wasn’t the boxer that went out and got his head beat in and then he decided to retire,” he said. “Thank goodness that she didn’t back through the field at The Meadowlands and everybody goes, ‘Oh, my gosh,’ and then you find out that she pulled a tendon.

“We knew she was not going to race in the Breeders Crown. This was a decision of whether we were going to race her in [2025] you know, six months from now.”

Despite the fact that Hunterton Farm, owned by Stewart and his wife, Cindy, boasts one of the top broodmare bands around, the plan was always to race Jiggy Jog S.

Steve told HRU earlier this year, that he and his partners — Ake Svanstedt Inc, John Lengacher and Hickory Hollow Stables — bought Jiggy Jog S back in February of 2024 to race her and that they hoped to do so for several years.

“We had met with Ake [Svanstedt, who also trains Jiggy] at Lexington and our plan was to race her and do what we did this year again and then this time next year, start packing her bags, or her stall up, to send her to Europe,” Steve said. “That was the plan, one more year here and then go.”

Steve said he spoke with Sarah Svanstedt on Monday before the news was officially released.

According to Steve, Sarah was reading him what she had put together but couldn’t get through it because she was in tears. He said what gets lost sometimes is how much the connections care for their animals.

In that release, the Svanstedts thanked Jiggy Jog’s “best friend and caretaker” Rene Lopez for his “professional support and care for her throughout these years,” as well as her driver Dunn.

Steve said it’s obvious to him how much everyone, especially Sarah, care about Jiggy Jog.

“She speaks about Jiggy Jog the way she would speak about her daughter that she does not have, she has two sons,” Steve said.

Jiggy Jog S is currently the top-ranked trotter in North America, according to the Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown Standardbred Poll, a position she has been in for six-consecutive weeks with a perfect six-for-six record in 2024 and $934,188 in earnings.

To truly understand what a remarkable talent Jiggy Jog S is, you just have to look at her career numbers, with 24 wins in 41 starts and over $3.1 million in the bank.

You could say, Jiggy Jog S really found her stride at 3, since from the start of her sophomore season until now, 30 starts in all, she finished worse than second only twice: a fourth-place finish in the Hambletonian and a seventh-place finish in the Delmonica Hanover after going off-stride. Since those two losses, she has had 22 starts with 18 wins and four seconds.

Jiggy Jog S also had no issue facing off against the boys. In fact, four of her six victories this year involved male competitors with two of the best being her all-out domination in the $1 million Yonkers International Trot and in the $282,000 John Cashman in a career-best 1:49.2 in a torrential downpour.

Jiggy Jog’s new career will begin with being bred to Muscle Hill.

“Obviously, we’re big owners in Tactical Landing and that would be a great consideration, but we know that at 18 or coming up on 19 years old, Muscle Hill won’t be around forever,” Steve said. “And so, our plan is to breed her to Muscle Hill. And our thought process is we will always have time to breed to Tactical Landing.”

Although the ride with racing Jiggy Jog S ended a little sooner than expected and before they had a chance to go to Europe and compete in the Prix d’Amerique, Steve said it was fun while it lasted.

“I just look at it as we’re very, very, very blessed and so fortunate when you think about it; what a dream to own her,” he said. “Forget about the money in, money out. When you get the opportunity, it’s an honor, and Cindy and I have always used that word over and over and over again. It’s an honor to own great athletes that these horses are.

“These broodmares are just unbelievable. We’ve got quite a collection of them now and she’ll just be another queen among queens. That’s what we would call her.”