Son of a Mystery: Cornaro Dasolo’s retirement, Lemon Dra’s disappearance

by Melissa Keith

According to his registration papers, he was foaled on Oct. 31, 1986.

Italian trotting stallion Lemon Dra’s unusual Halloween birth date seems mysterious, but pales in comparison with the greater mystery of his disappearance. While new revelations came to light this year in the case of kidnapped Irish thoroughbred stallion Shergar, who was taken for ransom in 1983, Lemon Dra’s fate remains elusive. The top trotting racehorse and sire was taken from his stall at the Allevamento di Mariano stud farm in Noceto di Parma, Italy sometime overnight on April 6-7, 2006 and never seen again.

Two decades after Lemon Dra vanished, his importance to international trotting bloodlines lives on. In the 2024 Stallion Special edition of Il Trottatore magazine, writers Ezio and Davide Cipolat described his lasting impact: “Lemon Dra is notable for having solidified a sire line that regained momentum even in America, thanks to the brothers Conway, Angus, and Andover Hall… Lemon Dra is considered, by far, the best successor to the bloodline of the foundation sire Sharif di Iesolo.” (Translated from Italian with Google Translate.)

There was one son of Lemon Dra at stud in Canada, until recently. Cornaro Dasolo was imported in 2009 by Guy Polillo of Brantford, ON, with the intention of offering an outcross stallion in Ontario. Although Cornaro Dasolo retired from stud in 2025, he is alive and well at age 27.

“He’s still here at the farm,” said Paul Polillo, son of the late Guy, on Saturday (Oct. 24).

“He was some kind of champion in Italy, and at that time, there was a lot of horses that my dad was buying here in Canada and shipping over to Italy. There was a lot of buyers at that time; harness racing was big in Italy.”

Paul added that his father was primarily a “scout” of trotting talent for export.

“He was a horse owner and breeder, born and raised in Italy,” Paul said. “He came to Canada when he was 15 years old.”

Guy built a career in home renovations, but harness racing was his passion. Paul remembered the day that Cornaro Dasolo arrived at the family farm.

“There was an excitement about it, to see what we could do in Canada,” Paul said. “You know, my dad did an awful lot of work trying to promote him and get him in magazines… But I think he had a difficult time doing that, [even with help from friends like Chris Christoforou].”

Although Cornaro Dasolo was unable to break through in North America as a commercial stallion, the Polillos believed in his potential.

“So basically, what he became at the end was he became our stallion,” Paul said. “We bred all our mares to him, and actually we had a lot of luck with him through our mares. Our farm is basically all sons and daughters of Cornaro Dasolo now.”

Cornaro Dasolo’s only 2024 foal is Cornaro Kid.

“He’s a 2-year-old, and was racing this summer,” said Polillo, who shares ownership with trainer Julie Walker of Carlisle, ON and Dr. Terry Fried of Ayr, ON. “He’s off right now and going to start back up in a few months for a 3-year-old campaign. He’s the last baby of Cornaro.”

Cornaro Kid won his first-ever qualifier on July 22 at Grand River Raceway, trotting to victory in 2:03.1 for driver Jason Ryan. The gelding qualified at Woodbine Mohawk Park on July 31 with Jean-Bernard Renaud in the sulky, finishing fifth. In his first start, Aug. 7 at Grand River, Cornaro Kid overcame post 8 to finish third. He made breaks in his next two starts at Mohawk, but won his Sept. 11 qualifier there in 2:00.3 with the addition of trotting hopples.

“He’s actually down in the Campbellville area, where Julie’s at; he’s going to stay there for a few months and just be turned out,” said Polillo, adding that he looked forward to bringing Cornaro Kid back to the track in 2027.

“He is a sentimental favorite. It was tough to see him getting gelded, but he needed to, to get racing. So, we’re hoping for good things. He started out real positive this year, and then he started to get a little bit silly and have a problem at the gate and made a few breaks, so we decided to give him some time off and let him rest up and freshen up his mind until we can start back at it again.”

Cornaro Kid’s dam Fiorentina (4, 1:57.2s; $202,401) began her racing career at Mohawk in June 2011. The daughter of Angus Hall—Red Hot And Blue was a two-time Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots winner at age 3, becoming a multiple Batavia Downs open trot winner in 2013 and 2014. She retired in Nov. 2015 with 24 wins from 102 career starts. Fiorentina’s first foal was GP Dreamin (3, 1:53.3s; $104,434), a Cornaro Dasolo filly who broke her maiden in OSS Grassroots in her first career start at Mohawk and an OSS Gold winner there the following year.

Paul owns three broodmares: Fiorentina and her daughters, full sisters GP Dreamin and Seniorita Solo. Cornaro Dasolo lives with them on the Brampton farm.

“He’s just out in the field all day long, eating, having a good time, and relaxing, just enjoying his last few years of life, I guess,” said his owner. “We’ll take care of him and do whatever we need to do to keep him happy for the rest of his life.”
Cornaro Dasolo’s retirement stands in stark contrast to the little known about his sire’s final days. A ransom was demanded when Lemon Dra was taken. In a 2024 article published on the VendoPuledri.it site, Italian trotting journalist and breeder Brunetto Tommaseo noted that the aging stallion was unwell when kidnapped, and likely died enroute to southern Italy.

“I did not know about that,” Paul told HRU. “Maybe my dad heard something, but I never heard any stories about that.

“My dad took a chance and he did the best he could. We’re happy that Cornaro is still around. He’s been a great stallion for us and we’ve enjoyed his stay here with us… We’re hoping to keep the bloodlines going, now through our mares. Hopefully they can produce something and keep it going.”

As for Lemon Dra’s Halloween birthday, it turns out to be the date assigned to all Italian-born foals of 1986. Official Associazione Nazionale Allevatori del Cavallo Trottatore records did not have verified foaling dates for older generations, so horses were given Oct. 31 plus the actual year of their birth on their registration papers. The Gran Premio Orsi Mangelli, the top Italian race for 3-year-old trotters, traditionally takes place on the weekend leading up to Nov. 1, All Saints Day.