11/03/2026
FRANCO CATAPULT N ~1999 – 2026 · "The Iron Horse" (From Carie Lynn Pickreign)
Franco Catapult N was a Standardbred pacer, born in New Zealand in 1999 — a son of Falcon Seelster, out of the mare Cherubic. Like all pacers, he raced pulling a sulky, the little two-wheeled cart his driver sat in.
THE RACER. He won 4 races in New Zealand as a young horse, then came to America and won 55 more — 59 wins in all, earning more than $629,000. His fastest mile was 1:49.4, fast enough to put his name on the "1:50 list" of one of harness racing’s most famous families. He won open races at Pocono Downs. At the Meadowlands in 2009, already a veteran, he drew the outside post, went off at 22-to-1 — and won anyway, in 1:52. At Scarborough Downs in Maine, he stumbled early in the Dirigo Pacing Series final, gathered himself, and won that too. Racing writers called him an iron horse, and he earned it.
THE FALL. Every racehorse’s story turns when the winning stops. By 2010 Franco was an old claiming horse at Scarborough, being claimed back and forth for $3,000 and $5,000 — the bottom of the racing world, and the doorstep of the slaughter pipeline that waits for horses exactly like him: old, used up, and out of people.
THE RESCUE. Sunshine Horses of Clay, New York — a rescue that has saved off-the-track Standardbreds from that fate since 2003 — saved him. And then he was adopted, by Carie and Tim Pickreign. She brought him home and loved him along with many many others , the rest of his long life . A horse born in 1999 lived to be 27 years old. That doesn’t happen by accident. That happens because people refused to let his story end at the claiming races.
He was a champion who became a rescue who became family. Fifty-nine times he crossed the finish line first — but the most important race he ever won was the one where somebody finally ran it for him.
Rest easy, Franco. 🌈♥️ You will be forever in our hearts .
