“No hoof, no horse,’ is an old racetrack axiom that Artic Son did his best to disprove.

The lanky bay gelding won 13 races and more than half a million dollars at Hastings despite having feet that required the constant attention of farrier Reg Peat. “He had quarter cracks every year, “ says Cindy Krasner who trained Artic Son for the Vahabzadeh family. “There’s no telling how many more races he would have won without them.”

Quarter cracks are splits in the hoof wall. Peat describes them as being like a cavity in a tooth, or an extremely bad hang nail. “I would put on an ordinary size shoe and then cut off about one-third. I’m sure he ran a lot of his career with hoof pain, but he was so resilient he just ran through it.”

Artic Son was bred by Rassul Vahabzadeh, who regrettably died just before Artic Son blossomed into a handicap star as a 4-year-old in 1997. Vahabzadeh had purchased the dam, Link Bracelet, in Kentucky when she was carrying a foal by Star de Naskra. That foal turned out to be Persian Star, a useful colt who won four races and banked $91,000.

Vahabzadeh, a native of Iran who had lived in England before coming to Canada, chose Washington sire Son of Briartic for her first mating on the West Coast and was rewarded with Artic Son. He was big and ungainly as a youngster but when he filled out he transformed into a powerhouse who could stay close to the pace and prevail in the homestretch.

His mile and one-eighth record of 1:46.4, set in the B.C. Cup Classic as a 5-year-old still has old-timers shaking their heads in disbelief. He was a gem of consistency. Three years in a row he won the Hong Kong Cup and 15 days later he prevailed in the Classic.

“We just prayed it wouldn’t rain,” says Krasner. “Because with those shoes he couldn’t handle the mud.”

He was a runaway winner of B.C.’s Horse of the Year honors in 1998 when he won his last four races in commanding fashion. Besides the Hong Kong and the Classic, he won the Randall Plate over Find Our Star and Second Chance and then romped in the Premier’s, six lengths clear of Victorious Type and Kid Katabatic.

He was retired at the end of his 6-year-old season despite having won four stakes. Rassul Vahabzadeh’s son Amir says he was sound except for his delicate hoofs.

His lifetime record was 13 wins, six seconds and five thirds, finishing in the money in 24 of his 34 starts. In one streak of 23 races he never finished worse than fourth.

All those paycheques amounted to earnings of $501,000.

Artic Son is now enjoying retirement at Amir’s farm in Aldergrove.

“He’s sort of a babysitter,” says Amir. “He loves to take care of all the young horses.”