Dancinginthedark M (USA)
READLY EXPRESS SWE-LEILA USA-ANDOVER HALL USA
By Peter Wharton
1st July, 2026
Dancinginthedark M (2, 1:52.2; 3, 1:49.3), the fastest two-year-old trotter to come to Australia and the fourth fastest trotting stallion of all-time, is slated to stand his fifth season at Aldebaran Park, Nagambie (Vic.) and will be available via frozen semen only. He has returned to Sweden where he stood last season at Menhammar Stuteri AB, north of Stockholm.
Dancinginthedark M has served more than 180 mares in his first four seasons at the stud in Australia and New Zealand and his first crop will race this season as two-year-olds.
Bred and raced by the Swedish global breeding giant Menhammar Stuteri AB, Dancinginthedark M proved himself a young trotter of great ability from the time he first hit the racetrack. He hoisted a race record of 1:55.3 – 0.4 second inside the previous mark – winning in breathtaking fashion on debut in the Arden Downs Stake at The Meadows as a two-year-old.
Dancinginthedark M’s other successes at two were a Kentucky Sires Stakes heat in 1:52.3 and a $105,100 division of the Bluegrass Stake at The Red Mile in 1:52.2 – the fourth fastest mile by a 2yo Colt in 2020.
As a three-year-old Dancinginthedark M won several races on the Grand Circuit at The Meadowlands including the $135,500 Stanley Dancer Memorial in 1:50.1 and the Reynolds Memorial in 1:51.4 on a sloppy track.
He took his record of 1:49.3 at three years, winning the $250,000 Kentucky Championship Series Final, in which he clocked a final quarter in a blistering 26.8secs to defeat the reigning 2YO of the Year Venerate.
Dancinginthedark M was the fastest trotter in North America in 2021 and is the equal eighth fastest trotter of ALL TIME.
In all, Dancinginthedark M won eight races with four placings from 23 starts for $362,204.
Champion trainer Marcus Melander, who prepared Dancinginthedark M throughout his career, said: “He’s really a super horse. He’s very strong – he can go really fast, but what makes him so great is that he can keep that speed a long, long time.”
Dancinginthedark M, a bay horse foaled in 2018, is the first son of the mighty Readly Express Swe (1:50.9), the winner of 12 Group 1’s and dual Swedish Horse of the Year, to be imported to this country.
Readly Express is a son of the dual Prix d’Amerique winner Ready Cash, the leading sire in France for the last 10 years and sire of Europe’s first 1:50 trotter Bold Eagle.
On his dam’s side, Dancingintherdark M belongs to the same maternal family as Game Pride, a leading sire and broodmare sire in both NZ and Australia for many years.
His dam, Leila, who left five winners including three in 1:56, was by Andover Hall from CR Royal Jeannie (1:59), by Royal Troubador, a Breeders Crown champion from Grand Performance, by the Hambletonian winner Bonefish.
There is not a drop of Valley Victory blood in his pedigree, making him an ideal outcross to mares boasting Muscles Yankee blood and the many daughters of Majestic Son, Sundon, Armbro Invasion, Pegasus Spur, Dream Vacation and Earl.
“Aldebaran Park are excited to be able to continue to offer to Australian breeders this outstanding stallion who has shown on track in the USA that he is “one for the ages”. Partnering with Menhammar Stuteri AB shows that Australian trotting is recognised as a market of growth and potential, as we strive continually to internationalise and globalise the sport,” Aldebaran Park Principal Duncan McPherson OAM said.
Dancinginthedark M’s Australian service fee is to be confirmed - frozen semen only payable on live foal. His progeny will be eligible for the Vicbred Super Series and the NZ Sires Stakes.