Varenne, the greatest harness-racer of all time, has died.

The news, which is spreading on social media and the media, was confirmed to ANSA by the historic driver of the 'Captain', who celebrated his 31st birthday in May at the LJ stud farm in Eboli.

The trotter went to stud in 2004 after a glittering five-year career, and earned in the neighborhood of five million

euro since.

Varenne was without a doubt the greatest trotter Italy has ever produced and some would argue the best the world has ever seen.

He won 62 of the 73 races he ran in, raking in 6.3 million euro in prize money.

Varenne's final season was also a near-perfect one having won 13 races out of 14 races and setting new track records in six of them.

Varenne was born in Ferrara on May 19, 1995. He was the son of Waikiki Beach and Jalmaz and was named after the street in Paris where the Italian embassy is located.

The trotter quickly earned the nickname 'Il Capitano' (The Captain) for his commanding racing style.

He was bought in 1998 by enterprising Neapolitan stockbroker Enzo Giordano for 92,000 euro.

Two years later, after emerging as a money-spinning phenomenon, Italian bookies' organisation SNAI paid almost 20 times that figure for a 50% share in the horse.

Varenne won the prestigious Prix D'Amerique three times and Italy's premier event, the Gran Premio Lotteria di Agnano, for three years.

His 2001 victory in America's Breeder's Crown, the richest harness-racing event in the world, was the first by an Italian horse in 24 years and netted his owners half a million dollars.

Varenne was valued at about 7.5 billion euro at the end of his career.

An example of the trotter's immense popularity came when a man from a town just outside Naples named his newly born son Varenne and refused to be budged despite threats of legal action from his wife.

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