On To Norway’s season a dream for breeder Bennett Farms
On Friday, the sophomore trotter won his 23rd consecutive start at Harrah’s Hoosier Park.
by James Platz
Friday night (Nov. 28) sophomore trotting colt On To Norway put the finishing touches on a sensational sophomore campaign, capturing the $47,700 Thanksgiving Classic at Harrah’s Hoosier Park Racing & Casino. It was the 23rd consecutive win for the gelded son of Muscle Massive—One Class Act, a trotter whose only blemish in 2025 was a runner-up effort in his 3-year-old debut in April. For breeder Aaron Bennett and his family, the season has been surreal.
“It’s hard to win one race, let alone two in a row or three in a row,” he said. “And the pressure just mounts and so many things can go wrong. So, yeah, I mean, it’s just amazing. And 23 in a row at this level, right? We’re not talking 23 in a row at a lower level of racing. So it is really cool and really something that my family is extremely proud to be a part of. It’s just so neat.”
That one of Indiana’s brightest stars of 2025 began his life on a farm 300 miles north of Hoosier Park is a story all its own. Based in Fremont, MI, Bennett Farms Inc. has a long affiliation with horses.
“My wife and I are the sixth generation here on the farm, and our children are the seventh,” he said. “Horses cleared this land and then horses farmed this land. And now, you know, for years they served the farm through breeders awards and raising yearlings. So horses have been a big part of all of our generations. So we see the specialness in it for what it truly is and really embraced it as a family.”
That connection to horses is what led Aaron and his wife, Leslie, to travel to the Standardbred Horse Sales Company sale in Harrisburg, PA in 2017 in hopes of adding to their racing and breeding interests. They returned home with 3-year-old Donato Hanover filly One Class Act, a trotter with over $50,000 on her card and timed in 1:55.2. Even as the farm’s direction changed, horses were still a part of the operation’s identity, although greatly reduced.
“My family had gotten out of dairy farming in the ’90s and moved into a standardbred breeding operation here in Fremont and, you know, had a really nice string of trotting mares,” Bennett said. “As Michigan racing kind of dwindled, we scaled back quite a bit and went a little different direction and built a couple of hog barns. But always our heart was in standardbreds. No one ever gets out. It’s a sickness that you can treat, but not cure for sure. So we went to Harrisburg and just fell in love with this Donato mare.”
Prior to On To Norway, that “nice string of trotting mares” Bennett mentioned brought notoriety to the farm. Preceded in the business by his grandfather, Charles, and father, Dave, the family operation has bred and raised horses connected to some of the sport’s best. Benn’s Riverdance, a two-time Michigan champion and winner of $455,000 on the track is a product of the farm. After her racing career, she produced millionaire Stormy Kromer and is also the granddam of Dan Patch Award winner It’s Academic 1:50.1 ($2,762,283). Misty Tickles, a one-time member of the broodmare band, is the granddam of world champion Googoo Gaagaa. Aeropostale, another trotter, bred and raised on the farm, won 40 times during his career, earning just over $500,000.
“My dad, Dave, was very sharp at picking pedigrees and proper crosses,” Aaron said. “We have been very blessed with some great trotters.”
Bringing One Class Act to the farm, Aaron hoped to race and breed the trotter. Her first two foals, both by Whom Shall I Fear, made it to the races. The geldings each won a race, but combined, have less than $10,000 in earnings between them. They bred the mare to Muscle Massive in consecutive years – she caught the second time – and the result was a colt that immediately made an impression.
“He just had a little extra spark to him right from day one,” said the breeder. “He was really a neat, neat individual. As a colt, he was just a special individual. Now, not all special individuals turn out to be special racehorses, but he really was special.”
When naming the upstart trotter, they selected a moniker tied closely to both their family and another half a world away. The same year the colt was born, the Bennetts played host to exchange student Lily Isaac. At the age of 3, Isaac’s family left the east African country of Eritria, seeking a new start in Norway. Hearing the story, the family named their trotter On To Norway.
The Bennetts had planned to keep and race the homebred, but the challenge of three children in college and shipping to Hoosier Park created obstacles.
“We kind of had intentions of keeping this colt and training him and then as the summer went on, we had two in college and one heading off to college,” Aaron said. “We were going to have three of them in college and racing an Indiana bred 300 miles away at Hoosier Park, so kind of late in the summer we decided to put him in the sale.”
On To Norway brought $15,000 at the Midwest Classic Mixed Sale, purchased by Michael Detweiler’s Black And White Stable. Racing primarily on the Michigan fair circuit for Don and Krista Harmon, the then-freshman finished first or second in seven of nine seasonal starts.
“He showed a big, big gait for where he was at and what he was doing, and showed a lot of speed,” Aaron said. “He won a few races and did all right, and then went down to Hoosier Park and went a nice mile last fall. So I think he was one that I sure expected to come back as a 3-year-old.”
No one could have anticipated how the 2025 campaign would play out. After two starts under Leander Schwartz’s guidance, On To Norway was purchased privately by Burke Racing, Frank Baldachino, and Michael Rosenthal, with Black And White Stable staying onboard. The sophomore claimed the Chad E. Carlton Trotting Series final, then swept The Expresson before moving into Indiana Sires Stakes action. With John De Long steering, the streak reached double digits and kept climbing as On To Norway dominated the division.
With each win came increased attention. Back home in Fremont, the locals also took notice. The town’s watering hole, The Blind Squirrel Tavern, began showing his races live.
“I didn’t even realize they were doing that until some people texted me and said, ‘We just watched On To Norway,’” Aaron said.
Facing Grand Circuit foes in the Grade 2 $185,000 Carl Erskine, the gelding won by nearly two lengths for trainer Ron Burke, raising the streak to 19 wins at that time and bringing him to within one victory of Muscle Hill’s mark of 20 straight. Aaron was on hand in the winner’s circle that night, kissing On To Norway after the victory.
“My dad’s only kissed, I think, four horses in his lifetime,” said Aaron’s daughter Samantha. “He counted them the other day.”
The Bennett family has experienced winning streaks before. The aforementioned Benn’s Riverdance pieced together an 11-race streak. Banker Jackpot, a two-time Michigan champion, won 15 consecutive. But On To Norway tops them all. Besides winning 23 of 24, the gelding banked $636,294 while never leaving the state. That total ranks him fourth among all sophomore trotters in North America. The three ahead of him – Super Chapter, Yo Tillie and Emoticon Legacy – combined for 27 trips to the winner’s circle. His 23 victories is also tops in North America, one more than 13-year-old Music To My Gears, who is currently on a six-race streak of his own racing north of the border.
“One of my friends was teasing me about, you know, it takes a tremendous amount of luck to be part of this level of success with a horse,” Aaron said. “But it is the goal, right? I mean, you do buy the mare and you do the crosses of gold and you do raise them with this result in mind. It’s just such a tough business, it almost never happens. But it’s sure fun to be a part of. And that’s what makes it so addictive, and fun and challenging. Everybody left the yearling sale this year with this exact accomplishable thing. You know, few will do it, but the dream is alive, and it’s proven that it can happen.”
